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Geological Formations

Witpoort Formation

Sedimentary and Stratigraphic Formations

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The Witpoort Formation is a Late Devonian sandstone formation exposed near Grahamstown in South Africa's Eastern Cape, roughly three hundred and sixty million years old, containing the Waterloo Farm Lagerstatte, a fossil deposit preserving an unusually complete estuarine ecosystem from high southern latitudes, including early tetrapod-like fish and plants, from a part of the world where fossils of this age are otherwise rare. The site fills an important geographic gap in understanding Late Devonian life outside the better sampled tropics.

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