Magnetostratigraphy and paleoecology of the hominid-bearing locality Çorakyerler, Tuglu Formation (Çankiri Basin, Central Anatolia)

ABSTRACTOuranopithecus turkae, from the late Miocene of Corakyerler in Central Anatolia, is considered one of the last known occurrences of great ape in the eastern Mediterranean. The Corakyerler fauna has previously been correlated with MN 11 to early MN 12 on the basis of biochronology, and its faunal composition has been found to contrast with those from contemporaneous sites. In this paper, we present the magnetostratigraphy of the Corakyerler site and an expanded interpretation of its paleobiogeographical and paleoecological contexts. The paleomagnetic results reveal two intervals of normal polarity and an intervening interval of reversed polarity in the main fossiliferous section. Of the three likely age correlations spanning 8.13–7.15 Ma (MN 11–MN 12), we favor correlation with chron 4n, with a possible age range of the fossiliferous deposit between 8.11 and 7.64 Ma (late MN 11). The geographic distribution of genus-level faunal similarity and mean hypsodonty show that Corakyerler is a typical repr...