A B S T R A C T
The rocks of the Beaufort Group of South Africa record a remarkably complete
depositional sequence incorporating a rich fossil tetrapod succession from the
mid-Permian to mid-Triassic. This represents one of the best preserved ecological
assemblages of pre-mammalian terrestrial tetrapods documenting the stem
lineages of both mammals and dinosaurs.
For more than a century large collections of fossils from the Beaufort Group have
been built up at various museums in South Africa. With the co-operation of all the
South African museums curating collections of Karoo fossils, a single
standardised database has been compiled for the fossils collected from the
Beaufort Group as well as a GIS system incorporating all the South African
databases of fossil records.
Major problems which had to be overcome related largely to the non-standardised
nature of different databases, locality, and taxonomic information. Particularly
problematic was entering ambiguous and vague locality information onto the GIS
database, so that it would still be useful for qualitative evaluation. The created
GIS database is a useful analytical tool, but requires streamlining to make it
accessible to all users. Completion of the foundation phase of the GIS database
has highlighted problems which need to be addressed in the future to make the
database an effective tool for research purposes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/5391 |
| Date | 15 August 2008 |
| Creators | Nicolas, Merrill Victoria Mary |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 45211944 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf |
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