Primary report of first documentation of mammal footprints from the late Oligocene in the Sivas Basin, Turkey

Abstract

The footprints in this study, which were considered to have been made by ungulates, were discovered on mudstone that was approximately 5 cm thick, near an abundant mud-cracked plane located on the stratigraphic subsurface of the late Oligocene Karayün Formation, which crops out over wide areas in southern Sivas (Turkey) and has terrestrial, fluvial sediment characteristics. These ungulate footprints documented from the late Oligocene of the Karayün Formation in southern Sivas represent the first reported vertebrates in Anatolia. The footprints of three different species of ungulates were identified. The shapes, depth, and widths of the footprints provided some basic ichnotaxonomic and TrackMaker information, but based on the poor preservation of the footprints, ichnotaxa identification is difficult. This study aimed to use an ichnotaxonomic approach to contribute to the late Oligocene biochronology in Anatolia due to the small amount of footprint findings in the literature. Ungulate herds left mixed footprints in wetland areas along the banks of flooding rivers. The late Oligocene period was a time characterized by large climate changes in Anatolia; hence, it may have hosted different ecosystems and taxa.