Fish fossils from Miocene palaeolakes in the East African Rift valley in Kenya

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Sediments of palaeolakes can record the taxonomic diversity of ancient fish faunas in greater detail than river sediments because selective destruction is less prominent than in rivers or floodplains. However, the preservation quality of fishes in sediments of palaeolakes depends on certain physical and chemical conditions and such archives are rare throughout the world. The Miocene palaeolake deposits in the Tugen Hills in Kenya, within the eastern branch of the East African Rift System, offer a unique, sub-continuous record of fish fossils (Teleostei) from the middle and upper Miocene, which is largely unexplored. This raises the question as to whether this exceptional record of fish fossils can be used to better understand the Miocene environmental and climate changes within the East African Rift System. However, the project is designed as a pilot project because no fish fossils were available to me during the preparation phase of the project. It focuses on systematic collections of fish fossils from outcrops in the Tugen Hills that are known to bear abundant fish fossils, and a preliminary survey of the diversity, at least down to the family level. The collaboration with French researchers that are already active in the Tugen Hills (they are interested in the study of mammals) provides a perfect background for this pilot project. If fish fossils are as abundant and diverse as expected, a follow up project will be designed to further assess the palaeoecological information provided by the fossil fish assemblages from the Tugen Hills.