Bahariya Formation | |
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Stratigraphic range: Early Cenomanian [1] ~ | |
Type | Geological formation |
Underlies | El Heiz Fm., El Naqb Fm. [2] |
Overlies | Basement [2] |
Thickness | ≈100 m (330 ft) [2] |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Other | Mudstone, siltstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 28°24′20″N28°48′20″E / 28.40556°N 28.80556°E |
Region | Western Desert |
Country | Egypt |
Type section | |
Named for | Bahariya Oasis |
Named by | Said |
Year defined | 1962 |
The Bahariya Formation (also transcribed as Baharija Formation) is a fossiliferous geologic formation dating back to the early Cenomanian, which outcrops within the Bahariya depression in Egypt, and is known from oil exploration drilling across much of the Western Desert where it forms an important oil reservoir. [1] [3] [4]
The Bahariya Formation forms the base of the depression, the lower part of the enclosing escarpment and all of the small hills within. [5] The type section for the formation is found at Gebel El-Dist, a hill at the northern end of the Bahariya depression. [6]
Four depositional sequences have been recognised in the Bahariya Formation in the Bahariya depression, separated by three sub-aerial unconformities. The formation was deposited during a period of relative rise in sea level, with each unconformity representing a relative fall in sea level. [1] Each of the individual sequences contains sediments deposited under fluvial, shoreline and shallow marine conditions.
Thirty different genera are known from Bahariya, including megaflora. Much of the material is yet to be described. [7]
Vascular Plants | ||||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images | ||
Weichselia | W. reticulata | Dominant plant. | Xerophytic tree fern suggestive of a dry tropical climate. | |||
Agathis / Wollemia | An Araucarian conifer, now restricted to Australasia. | |||||
Cladophlebis | A water fern. | |||||
Liriodendrites | ||||||
Marsilea | Water fern. | |||||
Nelumbites | ||||||
Other taxa include Sapindales, Piperaceae, Lauraceae, Platanaceae, Magnoliopsida, Nymphaeaceae, Cornaceae, Proteaceae and Vitaceae not identified at genus level; and miospore and pollen species.
Foraminifera of the Bahariya Formation | ||||||
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Genus | Species | |||||
Charentia | C. cuvillieri | |||||
Favusella | F. washitensis | |||||
Mayncina | M. orbignyi | |||||
Rotalipora | R. cushmani R. reicheli | |||||
Thomasinella | T. aegyptia T. fragmentaria T. punica | |||||
Whiteinella | W. archaeocretacea |
Other microorganisms of the Bahariya Formation | ||||||
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Genus | Species | Images | ||||
Botryococcus | ||||||
Coronifera | C. oceanica | |||||
Cyclonephelium | C. edwardsii C. vannophorum | |||||
Dynopterigium | D. cladoides | |||||
Exochosphaeridium | ||||||
Florentinia | F. cooksoniae F. mantlii | |||||
Kallosphaeridium | ||||||
Mudrongia | M. simplex | |||||
Palaeoperidinium | P. cretaceum | |||||
Pediastrum | ||||||
Pseudoceratium | P. anaphrisum P. securigerum | |||||
Scenedesmus | ||||||
Spiniferites | ||||||
Subtilisphaera | S. perlucida S. senegalensis | |||||
Xiphophoridium | X. alatum |
Molluscs of the Bahariya Formation | ||||||
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Genus | Species | Notes | Images | |||
Baculites | A heteromorph ammonite with a nearly straight shell. | |||||
Cardium | A cockle. | |||||
Exogyra | A reef-forming true oyster associated with solid substrates and warm temperatures. | |||||
Gastrochaena | A saltwater clam. | |||||
Neolobites | N. vibrayeanus | A typical rolled ammonite. | ||||
Nucula | A small saltwater clam. | |||||
Ostrea | O. flabeata | An edible oyster. |
Crustaceans of the Bahariya Formation | ||||||
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Genus | Species | Notes | Images | |||
Amphicytherura | A. sexta | |||||
Anticythereis | A. gaensis | |||||
Bairdia | B. bassiounii B. elongata | |||||
Brachycythere | B. ledaforma porosa | |||||
Bythoceratina | B. avnonensis B. tamarae | |||||
Bythocypris | B. eskeri | |||||
Cythereis | C. algeriana C. bicornis levis C. canteriolata | |||||
Cytherella | C. ovata C. paenovata C. parallela C. sulcata | |||||
Fabanella | ||||||
Looneyella | L. sohni | |||||
Loxoconcha | L. clinocosta L. fletcheri | |||||
Metacytheropteron | M. berbericum | |||||
Ovocytheridea | O. caudata O. producta O. reniformis | |||||
Paracypris | P. acutocaudata P. angusta P. mdaouerensis P. triangularis | |||||
Pterygocythere | P. raabi | |||||
Veeniacythereis | V. jezzineensis | |||||
Xestoleberis | X. obesa | |||||
Direct fossils are sparse, though plant leaves with extensive damage from folivorous insects have been documented.
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Chondrichthyes of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Aegyptobatus | A. kuehnei | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Asteracanthus | A. aegyptiacus | A hybodont shark. | ||
Baharipristis | B. bastetiae | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Cretodus | C. longiplicatus | A shark. | ||
Cretolamna | C. appendiculata | A mackerel shark. | ||
Distobatus | D. nutiae | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Gymnura | G. laterialata | A butterfly ray. | ||
Haimirichia | H. amonensis | A shark previously classified in the genera Odontaspis , Serratolamna , and Carcharias . | ||
Isidobatus | I. tricarinatus | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Marckgrafia | M. lybica | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Onchopristis | O. numida | One complete cranium and associated vertebrae. | A sclerorhynchid rajoid. | |
Peyeria | P. libyca | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Ptychotrygon | P. henkeli | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Renpetia | R. labiicarinata | A sclerorhynchiform. | ||
Rhinoptera | A batoid ray. | |||
Schizorhiza | S. stromeri | An unusual sclerorhynchid sawfish that retained its rostral teeth after they were replaced. | ||
Squalicorax | S. baharijensis | A large shark. | ||
Scapanorhynchus | S. subulatus | A mitsukurinid similar to the modern goblin shark. | ||
Squatina | An angelshark. | |||
Tribodus | T. aschersoni | A hybodont. |
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Osteichthyes of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Bawitius | B. bartheli | A giant bichir. | ||
Concavotectum | C. moroccensis | Possibly synonymous with Paranogmius doederleini. | ||
Ceratodus | A lungfish. | |||
Coelodus | A pycnodontid. | |||
Enchodus | One tooth. | A predatory fish. | ||
Lepidotes | Isolated scales. | Possibly misidentified from Bawitius bartheli. | ||
Mawsonia | M. lybica | Considered a "signature taxon" of the formation. | A giant freshwater coelacanth. Species assignation deemed provisional due to the lack of neotype. | |
Neoceratodus | N. africanus | A lungfish related to the living Australian species. | ||
Palaeonotopterus | P. greenwoodi | Nomen conservandum of the two Plethodus species previously described. | ||
Paranogmius | Paranogmius doederleini | One vertebra. | Holotype lost in World War II. Could be synonymous with Concavotectum moroccensis. | |
Plethodus | P. libycus P. tibniensis | Holotypes destroyed in World War II, but now believed to have been misidentified Palaeonotopterus greenwoodi. | ||
Retodus | R. tuberculatus | A lungfish species identified from remains previously assigned to Neoceratodus . | ||
Saurodon | Identified by Stromer in 1936, but now rejected due to this genus appearing only in post-Cenomanian Europe and North America. Now listed as Ichthyodectidae incertae sedis . | |||
Stromerichthys | S. aethiopicus | A predatory bowfin relative. |
Testudines of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Apertotemporalis | A. baharijensis | A small pleurodiran turtle, likely belonging to Bothremydidae. Other unnamed species are also present. |
Squamates of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Simoliophis | Abundant | First known sea snake, with functional hind legs. Now believed to include elements from different species and at least one of a different, unnamed genus. |
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Plesiosaurs of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Leptocleidus | L. capensis | A small plesiosaur that visited brackish or fresh water systems. Though known from both South Africa and England, the Egyptian material lacks diagnostic traits of the genus and is now referred as Polycotylidae incertae sedis . |
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Crocodyliformes of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Aegyptosuchus | A. peyeri | A poorly known, possibly stomatosuchid crocodile. | ||
Hamadasuchus | H. rebouli | A terrestrial, dog-like peirosaurid. It is possible that some material previously attributed to Libycosuchus actually belongs to this species. | ||
Libycosuchus | L. brevirostris | A terrestrial crocodile of uncertain affinities, possibly related to Notosuchus . | ||
Stomatosuchus | S. inermis | A complete cranium | A large, flat-headed stomatosuchid with multiple small conical teeth, and possibly a pelican-like throat pouch. The only remains were destroyed in World War II. | |
Stromerosuchus | S. aegyptiacus | Fragmentary remains | Nomen dubium assigned to material found in 1911, that were badly damaged in 1922 while being shipped to Germany for study. Some material may belong to Aegyptosuchus and other to Stomatosuchus . |
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Pterosaurs of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
Pterosauria indet. [8] | Indeterminate | Left first wing phalanx | A medium-sized pterosaur. The first record of a pterosaur from Egypt. | |
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Sauropods of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Genus | Species | Material | Notes | Images |
Aegyptosaurus [3] | A. baharijensis [3] | Partial postcranial skeleton [9] | A titanosaur of about 15 meters. All remains were destroyed in World War II. | |
Dicraeosaurus | D. hansemanni | Isolated scapula and vertebra | Identified by Stromer in 1932. Subsequently considered a rebbachisaurid, or a third, unnamed titanosaur. | |
Paralititan [3] | P. stromeri [3] | Partial postcranial skeleton [10] | One of the largest titanosaurs of the Cretaceous, with a 1.69 meters long humerus and an estimated total length of 26 meters. | |
Color key
| Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; |
Theropods of the Bahariya Formation | ||||
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Genus | Species | Abundance | Notes | Images |
Abelisauridae indet. [11] | Indeterminate | "MUVP 477, an isolated caudal (tenth) cervical vertebra" | A medium-sized abelisaurid, estimated around 5.77 meters (~18.9 feet) long. The first unambiguous abelisaurid known from the Bahariya Formation. | |
Bahariasaurus | B. ingens [3] | A medium-sized theropod of uncertain affinities. Possibly a megaraptoran, a relative of Deltadromeus , or both. | ||
Carcharodontosaurus [3] | C. saharicus [3] | A large carcharodontosaurid allosauroid. | ||
Elaphrosaurus | E. bambergi | Material now considered to be indeterminate theropod remains. [3] | ||
Sigilmassasaurus [3] | S. brevicollis | Previously considered a species of Spinosaurus, or a synonym of S. aegyptiacus. | ||
Spinosaurus | S. aegyptiacus | Most common dinosaur of the formation. | A large spinosaurid. | |
In addition, there are isolated theropod teeth disputedly assigned to dromaeosaurids, or to abelisaurids.
Ernst Freiherr Stromer von Reichenbach was a German paleontologist best remembered for his expedition to Egypt, during which the discovery of the first known remains of Spinosaurus was made.
Bahariya Oasis is a depression and a naturally rich oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. It is approximately 370 km away from Cairo. The roughly oval valley extends from northeast to southwest, has a length of 94 km, a maximum width of 42 km and covers an area of about 2000 km².
Aegyptosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Africa, around 95 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.
Rugops is a monospecific genus of basal abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from Niger that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in what is now the Echkar Formation. The type and only species, Rugops primus, is known only from a partial skull. It was named and described in 2004 by Paul Sereno, Jeffery Wilson and Jack Conrad. Rugops has an estimated length of 4.4–5.3 metres and weight of 410 kilograms. The top of its skull bears several pits which correlates with overlaying scale and the front of the snout would have had an armour-like dermis.
Bahariasaurus is an enigmatic genus of large theropod dinosaur. Bahariasaurus is known to have included at least 1 species, Bahariasaurus ingens, which was found in North African rock layers dating to the Cenomanian and Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous. The only fossils confidently assigned to Bahariasaurus were found in the Bahariya Formation of the Bahariya oasis in Egypt by Ernst Stromer but were destroyed during a World War II bombing raid with the same raid taking out the holotype of Spinosaurus and Aegyptosaurus among other animals found in the Bahariya Formation. While there have been more fossils assigned to the genus such as some from the Farak Formation of Niger, these remains are referred to with much less certainty. Bahariasaurus is, by most estimations, one of the largest theropods, approaching the height and length of other large bodied theropods such as Tyrannosaurus rex and the contemporaneous Carcharodontosaurus. The aforementioned estimations tend to put it at around 11–12.2 metres in length and 4-4.8 tonnes in overall weight.
The Forest Sandstone is a geological formation in southern Africa, dating to roughly between 200 and 190 million years ago and covering the Hettangian to Sinemurian stages of the Jurassic Period in the Mesozoic Era. As its name suggests, it consists mainly of sandstone.
Libycosuchus is an extinct genus of North African crocodylomorph possibly related to Notosuchus; it is part of the monotypic Libycosuchidae and Libycosuchinae. It was terrestrial, living approximately 95 million years ago in the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Fossil remains have been found in the Bahariya Formation in Egypt, making it contemporaneous with the crocodilian Stomatosuchus, and dinosaurs, including Spinosaurus. It was one of the few fossils discovered by Ernst Stromer that wasn't destroyed by the Royal Air Force during the bombing of Munich in 1944. The type species, L. brevirostis, was named in 1914 and described in 1915.
The Bauru Group is a geological group of the Bauru Sub-basin, Paraná Basin in Minas Gerais, São Paulo, General Salgado, Itapecuru-Mirim, Mato Grosso, Brazil whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Río Limay Subgroup is a geological unit of the Neuquén Group in the Neuquén Basin of Neuquén, Mendoza and Río Negro Provinces, northern Patagonia, Argentina. The strata date back to the Late Cretaceous (Early Cenomanian to Early Turonian. The Río Limay Subgroup overlies the Lohan Cura Formation, separated by an unconformity dated to 98 Ma. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formations it contains.
The Wadi Milk Formation is a geological formation in Sudan whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Originally, the formation was thought to be Albian to Cenomanian, later research has provided dating to the Campanian to Maastrichtian. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. It stretches from the lower Wadi Al-Malik across the Wadi Muqaddam into the Bayuda Desert.
The Ankarafantsika Formation is a Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian) geologic formation of the Mahajanga Basin in the Boeny region of Madagascar, Africa. The fine-grained sandstones of the formation were deposited in a fluvial to lacustrine environment.
The Pebbly Arkose Formation is a Late Triassic geologic formation found in southern Africa.
Stromerosuchus is a dubious genus of Late Cretaceous crocodyliform. Fragmentary remains have been found from the Cenomanian-age Bahariya Formation of Egypt. The genus was named in 1936 by Oskar Kuhn. It is named in honor of Ernst Stromer, the German paleontologist who found the fossils in the Bahariya Oasis in 1911 and described them in 1922. After their discovery, the fossils, along with many others found from Bahariya, were in the possession of the Egyptian Geological Survey. In 1922, the fossils were sent back to Stromer, but they were badly crushed in shipment from Egypt. Because the known remains are so poor, the genus is now regarded as a nomen dubium. Some material has been referred to the genera Aegyptosuchus and Stomatosuchus, both named by Stromer from the Bahariya material.
Oxalaia is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what is now the Northeast Region of Brazil during the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous period, sometime between 100.5 and 93.9 million years ago. Its only known fossils were found in 1999 on Cajual Island in the rocks of the Alcântara Formation, which is known for its abundance of fragmentary, isolated fossil specimens. The remains of Oxalaia were described in 2011 by Brazilian palaeontologist Alexander Kellner and colleagues, who assigned the specimens to a new genus containing one species, Oxalaia quilombensis. The species name refers to the Brazilian quilombo settlements. Oxalaia quilombensis is the eighth officially named theropod species from Brazil and the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered there. It is closely related to the African genus Spinosaurus, and/or may be a junior synonym of this taxon.
Bawitius is an extinct genus of giant polypterid from the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya Formation of Egypt. The type species is B. bartheli, named as a species of Polypterus in 1984, and the genus etymology comes from Bawiti, the principal settlement of the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt. It is known from the holotype TU-B SFB 69 Vb 003 : left ectopterygoid scales and some sparse scales.
Paralititan was a giant titanosaurian sauropod dinosaur genus discovered in coastal deposits in the Upper Cretaceous Bahariya Formation of Egypt. It lived between 99.6 and 93.5 million years ago.
Mansourasaurus is a genus of herbivorous lithostrotian sauropod dinosaur from the Quseir Formation of Egypt. The type and only species is Mansourasaurus shahinae.
Hesham Sallam is an Egyptian paleontologist and the founder of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center (MUVP-C), the first vertebrate paleontology program in the Middle East. He works as an associate professor at the American University in Cairo and Mansoura University. Sallam led the discovery and description of Mansourasaurus shahinae, a species of sauropod dinosaur from Egypt, which has improved understanding of the prehistory of Africa during the latest Cretaceous period. His work has helped popularize paleontology in Egypt.
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