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Lukeino Formation

{{short description|Geologic formation in Kenya}}

{{Infobox rockunit

| name = Lukeino Formation

| image =

| caption =

| type = Geological formation

| period = Miocene

| age = Late Miocene, Messinian,
~{{fossil range|6.1|5.8}}

| prilithology = Clay and loam

| otherlithology = Volcanic ash, carbonates and diatomites

| namedfor =

| namedby =

| region = Baringo County

| country = Kenya

| coordinates =

| paleocoordinates =

| unitof =

| subunits =*Aragai Member

  • Cheboit Member
  • Kabogongoi Member
  • Kapcharar Member
  • Kapsomin Member

| underlies =Kaparaina Basalts and Toluk Beds

| overlies = Kabarnet Trachyte and Mpesida Beds

| thickness =

| extent = Tugen Hills, Kenya

| area =

| map =

| map_caption =

}}

The Lukeino Formation is a geologic formation located in Kenya and it dates to the Late Miocene (Messinian).{{Cite journal |last=Pickford |first=M. |date=1975 |title=Late Miocene sediments and fossils from the Northern Kenya Rift Valley |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/256279a0 |journal=Nature |volume=256 |issue=5515 |pages=279–284 |doi=10.1038/256279a0 |bibcode=1975Natur.256..279P |s2cid=4149259 |issn=0028-0836}}

The Lukeino Formation is believed to have been formed through continued tectonic plate activity, and it was located within a well-forested region{{Cite journal |last1=Pickford |first1=Martin |last2=Senut |first2=Brigitte |last3=Mourer-Chauviré |first3=Cécile |date=2004 |title=Early Pliocene Tragulidae and peafowls in the Rift Valley, Kenya: evidence for rainforest in East Africa |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crpv.2004.01.004 |journal=Comptes Rendus Palevol |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=179–189 |doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2004.01.004 |bibcode=2004CRPal...3..179P |issn=1631-0683}} that was located nearby to Paleolake Lukeino.{{Cite journal |last1=Dericquebourg |first1=Perrine |last2=Person |first2=Alain |last3=Ségalen |first3=Loïc |last4=Pickford |first4=Martin |last5=Senut |first5=Brigitte |last6=Fagel |first6=Nathalie |date=2015 |title=Environmental significance of Upper Miocene phosphorites at hominid sites in the Lukeino Formation (Tugen Hills, Kenya) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.07.005 |journal=Sedimentary Geology |volume=327 |pages=43–54 |doi=10.1016/j.sedgeo.2015.07.005 |bibcode=2015SedG..327...43D |issn=0037-0738}}

History

From 1971 to 1978, Martin Pickford had carried out extensive research in the Tugen Hills under a permit issued by the Kenyan Office of the President.

In 1974, Pickford found the first hominid fossil from the Lukeino Formation, a lower molar, which is included within the holotype of Orrorin tugenensis. The rest of the holotype was found by Pickford and Brigitte Senut in 2000.{{Cite journal |last1=Senut |first1=Brigitte |last2=Pickford |first2=Martin |last3=Gommery |first3=Dominique |last4=Mein |first4=Pierre |last5=Cheboi |first5=Kiptalam |last6=Coppens |first6=Yves |date=2001 |title=First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya) |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1251805001015294 |journal=Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science |language=en |volume=332 |issue=2 |pages=137–144 |doi=10.1016/S1251-8050(01)01529-4|bibcode=2001CRASE.332..137S |s2cid=14235881 }}

Pierre & Pickford (2006) described eight hundred new micromammal fossils from the Kapsomin Member were described.{{Cite journal |last1=Mein |first1=Pierre |last2=Pickford |first2=Martin |date=2006 |title=Late Miocene micromammals from the Lukeino Formation (6.1 to 5.8 Ma), Kenya |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/linly_0366-1326_2006_num_75_4_13628 |journal=Bulletin mensuel de la Société linnéenne de Lyon |language=fr |volume=75 |issue=4 |pages=183–223 |doi=10.3406/linly.2006.13628 |issn=0366-1326}}

Altner & Reichenbacher (2015) named the first fish from Paleolake Luekino: Kenyaichthys kipkechi.

A P4 discovered at the Lukeino Formation has been proposed to belong to an amphicyonid by Morales et al. (2016), as both its age and dimensions are similar to Bonisicyon.{{Cite journal |last1=Morales |first1=Jorge |last2=Pickford |first2=M. |last3=Valenciano |first3=Alberto |date=2016 |title=Systematics of African Amphicyonidae, with descriptions of new material from Napak (Uganda) and Grillental (Namibia) |url=https://digital.csic.es/handle/10261/137042 |journal=Journal of Iberian Geology |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=131–150 |doi=10.13039/501100003329 |issn=1698-6180 |hdl=10261/137042}}

Until the mid-1990s, only a few partial remains of cercopithecoideans were known from the Lukeino Formation, and then after surveys were conducted from 1998 onwards by the Kenya Palaeontology Expedition led to the discovery of new material within the Aragai Member,{{Cite journal |last1=Gommery |first1=Dominique |last2=Senut |first2=Brigitte |last3=Pickford |first3=Martin |last4=Nishimura |first4=Takeshi D. |last5=Kipkech |first5=Joseph |date=2022-04-21 |title=The Late Miocene colobine monkeys from Aragai (Lukeino Formation, Tugen Hills, Kenya) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5252/geodiversitas2022v44a16 |journal=Geodiversitas |volume=44 |issue=16 |doi=10.5252/geodiversitas2022v44a16 |issn=1280-9659}} a site situated in the lower levels of the Lukeino Formation. Most of the collection consists of craniodental specimens generally well-preserved in a hard matrix but there are three postcranial bones. As a result of this discovery, a new species was described by Kipkech et al. (2022): Sawecolobus lukeinoensis.

Paleofauna

References

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Category:Geologic formations of Kenya

Category:Messinian