First record of Triassic Rhynchosauria (Reptilia: Diapsida) from the Lower Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe

True rhynchosaurids are described from Zimbabwe for the first time. The fossils occur as partially associated skeletons and scattered isolates in upward-fining, micaceous fluvial sandstones of the Pebbly Arkose Formation (late Triassic) in the Western Cabora Bassa Basin, Lower Zambezi Valley. On the grounds that the dentary of the Zimbabwean form possesses a row of small, conical lingual teeth in addition to a palisade row of penicillate teeth on the occlusal surface, it is concluded that the taxon present is Hyperodapedon sp., and that it is closely related to a rhynchosaurid described from Tanzania. One bone identified as a prosauropod dinosaurian femur was found associated with the Zimbabwean rhynchosaurids. The late Triassic age suggested by the presence of advanced rhynchosaurids is supported by the occurrence of the typical Triassic fossil plant genus Dicroidium, and by the general stratigraphy of the beds which contain the fossils (i.e. the fossil-bearing beds are underlain by beds of mid-Triassic age or younger, and are overlain by beds of latest Triassic or early Jurassic age

Extension directions and strain near the failed triple junction of the Zambezi and Luangwa Rift zones, southern Africa

A system of four orthorhombic faults sets is found the Lower Zambezi Valley near the junction of the Zambezi and Luangwa Rift zones in southern Africa. The fault sets all formed as normal faults in the same event which occurred during the rift phase from Lower Triassic to Upper Cretaceous. The odd-axis construction has been used to deduce that the maximum extension direction was NNE, and that the ratio of the intermediate to maximum strains was 0.7. The maximum extension was perpendicular to the Lower Zambezi Rift zone. These strains which approach axial symmetry may relate to a failed triple junction at the intersection of the Mid-Zambezi, Lower Zambezi and Luangwa Rift zones