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Stable isotope analysis of the tooth enamel of Chaingzauk mammalian fauna (late Neogene, Myanmar) and its implication to paleoenvironment and paleogeography
The tooth enamel of a mammalian fauna from the uppermost Miocene/lower Pliocene Irrawaddy sediments at Chaingzauk, west-central Myanmar were analyzed using stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. The δ13C values of porcupines, tragulids, rhinocerotids, suids and proboscideans show that these mammals pref...
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Published in: | Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 2011-02, Vol.300 (1-4), p.11-22 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
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Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | The tooth enamel of a mammalian fauna from the uppermost Miocene/lower Pliocene Irrawaddy sediments at Chaingzauk, west-central Myanmar were analyzed using stable carbon and oxygen isotopes. The δ13C values of porcupines, tragulids, rhinocerotids, suids and proboscideans show that these mammals preferentially consumed C3 plants in a wooded environment, whereas the δ13C values of bovids and hippopotamids indicate that they were grassland-adapted grazers to mixed feeders. In contrast to the thorn scrub, grassland and shrubland vegetation of present-day central Myanmar, stable carbon isotope results of the Chaingzauk fauna suggest a presence of wooded environment in the Chaingzauk area at that time. Present-day arid conditions are likely to have been caused by the uplift of the Indo-Burman Ranges due to the Himalayan Orogeny during the late Miocene to Pliocene, resulting in a rainshadow effect in central Myanmar. Furthermore, southward marine regression due to the rapid influx of sediments from the Indo-Burman Ranges, Eastern Himalayan Ranges and Sino-Burman Ranges into the Central Myanmar Basin in the Miocene to Pliocene might have played an important role in the aridification of this region since the lower Pliocene. |
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ISSN: | 0031-0182 1872-616X |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.11.016 |