RIS ID
12315
Abstract
Summary Pleistocene sea-level fluctuations were the primary determinant of geological deposition and biotic evolution on Bermuda. The island is composed of carbonate sand deposited on the eroded summit of a submarine volcano during ele- vated sea-levels of interglacial periods. A few vertebrate remains have been recovered directly from interglacial sandstones, mainly of mid-Pleistocene age. Glacial intervals are marked by red soils derived mainly from atmospheric dust. Vertebrate fossils of glacial age are not preserved at the surface and are known only from caves and fissure fills. Fossil faunas are known on Bermuda from the last two glacial episodes but none of the earlier ones. Certain or probable extinctions of vertebrates are correlated with at least four interglacial rises in sea-level—-Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 11, 9, 5, and 1. The history of verte- brate paleontology on Bermuda is reviewed and fossil vertebrate localities are listed and briefly described.
Link to publisher version (URL)
Proceedings of the International Symposium Insular Vertebrate Evolution
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Life Sciences Commons, Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons, Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons
Publication Details
Hearty, P., Olson, S., Wingate, D. & Grady, F. (2005). Prodromus of vertebrate paleontology and geochronology of Bermuda. In J. Alcover & P. Bover (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Symposium Insular Vertebrate Evolution: the Palaeontological Approach (pp. 219-232). Spain: Societat d'Historia Natural de les Balears.