Tropical forests and Combretaceae woodland at Usno in the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia), 3.3–3.2 Ma ago

In this paper, we describe anatomical structures of 11 fossil wood samples collected from two localities (Brown Sands and Flat Sands) of the Usno Formation, in the Lower Omo valley, Ethiopia. On the basis of former stratigraphy and new investigation, notably Ar/Ar dating of intercalated tuffs and palaeomagnetic studies, the samples are dated between 3.33 and 3.21 Ma. The identified wood samples have been collected within two distinct stratigraphic layers deposited during this time range. The oldest one from Brown Sands includes Albizia sp., Entada sp. and a possible Combretaceae or Leguminosae. The youngest assemblage from White Sands includes many representatives of Combretaceae including Combretum molle and Terminalia sp. associated with Erythrina sp. These assemblages strongly differ from other Miocene and Pliocene wood assemblages known from Ethiopia. Palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the identified tree taxa support affinities with the extant mid-elevation Albizia forest replaced by Combretum/Terminalia woodland in about one hundred thousand years. In the Lower Omo valley, the more humid character of the Pliocene vegetation strongly contrast with the arid Acacia/Commiphora steppe widely spread over the region today. Such past vegetation attests to much wetter and favourable climatic conditions under seasonal climate. However significant changes in the floristic composition of tree cover occurring within a timespan of hundred thousand years, plays in favour of climatic and palaeo-environmental instabilities at a time when Australopithecus afarensis existed in the Turkana basin and flourished elsewhere in Ethiopia.