An extensive deposit of fossil conifer wood from the Mesozoic of Mali, southern Sahara

Examination of an extensive deposit of silicified fossil wood in Continental Intercalaire rocks of northeastern Mali suggests that the logs found at this locality were deposited under high energy conditions sometime between the Late Jurassic and the Early Cretaceous. The woods have been identified as Metapodocarpoxylon libanoticum (Edwards) Duperon-Laudoueneix and Pons, an extinct member of the Podocarpaceae which has a restricted geographic and stratigraphic distribution: northern Gondwana and Tethys from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous time. Anatomical analysis indicates that the tree rings are indistinct, which supports previous suggestions that West Africa was under an equable climate during this part of the Mesozoic. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.