Bemaraha Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Early Bajocian-Early Bathonian ~ | |
Type | Geological formation |
Unit of | Morondava Basin |
Underlies | Sakaraha Formation |
Overlies | Isalo III Formation |
Lithology | |
Primary | Lime mudstone |
Other | Grainstone, limestone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 19°12′S45°00′E / 19.2°S 45.0°E |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 24°54′S21°48′E / 24.9°S 21.8°E |
Region | Morondava District, Menabe |
Country | Madagascar |
Extent | ~300 km (190 mi) |
Type section | |
Named for | Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park |
The Bemaraha Formation is a Middle Jurassic (early Bajocian to early Bathonian) geological formation of the Morondava Basin of Madagascar. The lime mudstones, grainstones and limestones of the formation were deposited in lagoonal and reefal environments. Fossils of groups of invertebrates and theropod and sauropod tracks have been found in the formation. [1] The Sahalaly River tracksite yielded a single trackway belonging to a quadrupedal dinosaur, possibly a sauropod. [2] Sauropod tracks are rare, making up as little as 1 percent of the present sample. The best-preserved tracks are assigned to the ichnogenus Kayentapus . [3]
The limestones of the Bemaraha Formation have been interpreted as a coastal barrier/lagoon complex of Middle Jurassic age (Bajocian, about 170 Ma). At that time, Madagascar had already separated from Africa, but was still attached to India and Antarctica. Since Antarctica was connected to southern Africa, a land bridge really existed between Madagascar and all major southern hemisphere landmasses. Faunal exchanges were possible and endemism was probably very low. Madagascar was to become an island only some 80-90 million years later, during the Late Cretaceous. During Bajocian times, a narrow seaway stretched between eastern Africa and western Madagascar, much in the same position as today's Mozambique Channel. Along the shores of western Madagascar, coral reefs separated wide lagoons from the open sea. The remnants of this reef/lagoon complex is what today, after the coastline shifted several tens of kilometers westward, is seen in the limestones of the Bemaraha Formation. [4]
The Bemaraha limestones stretches over an area of roughly 300 kilometres (190 mi), [5] and are best exposed in the area between the towns of Bekopaka and Antsalova, in the northern half of the Morondava Basin. The outcropping limestones can roughly be divided into a western and an eastern belt with different facies. [4]
In the western belt, the formation mainly consists of massive limestones with metre-scale bedding or no recognizable bedding at all. Oolites and fossils of reefal organisms (mainly corals) are common in places. This region is affected by the spectacular karst features known as "tsingy" and for this reason most of the area is part of the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list. The facies in the eastern belt is made up mainly of fine-grained and well-bedded limestones with the average thickness of the individual beds being a few tens of centimeters. Beds are often laminated and invertebrate fossils (gastropods, bivalves, brachiopods, echinoids and isolated coral fragments) are common in some beds, while others are devoid of fossils. [4]
In the south-western Majunga Basin, interbedded limestones and mudstones (shales and marls) above the Aalenian Sandstone were attributed to a Bajocian carbonate platform formed by the Bemaraha Formation. The carbonate platform at the Manambolo and Tsiribihina River gorges, which cut through the Bemaraha plateau, are likewise assigned to the Early Bajocian. At the eastern margin of the Bemaraha Plateau, the carbonate succession directly rests on Isalo sandstones. Farther south at Besabora (along National Road RN35), limestones with the foraminifera Mesoendothyra croatica and Protopeneroplis striata support a Middle Jurassic (Bajocian to Early Bathonian) age. [6]
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.
Lapparentosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur from the Middle Jurassic. Its fossils were found in Madagascar. The type species is L. madagascariensis.
Razanandrongobe is a genus of carnivorous ziphosuchian crocodyliform from the Middle Jurassic of Madagascar. It contains the type and only species Razanandrongobe sakalavae, named in 2004 by Simone Maganuco and colleagues based on isolated bones found in 2003. The remains, which included a fragment of maxilla and teeth, originated from the Bathonian-aged Sakaraha Formation of Mahajanga, Madagascar. While they clearly belonged to a member of the Archosauria, Maganuco and colleagues refrained from assigning the genus to a specific group because the fragmentary remains resembled lineages among both the theropod dinosaurs and crocodylomorphs.
The Isalo III Formation is a geological formation in Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. It dates back to the Middle Jurassic. The use of the term "Isalo III" is somewhat controversial as the two prior units Isalo I and II are Triassic cross-bedded sandstone units that form a continuous depositional sequence, while the "Isalo III" sandstones are not part of the same depositional sequence, and were deposited considerably later. and are perhaps better treated as part of several separate formations. It is traditionally divided into two subunits the lower, Bajocian aged Isalo IIIa unit also known as the Beronono Formation and the upper, Bathonian aged Isalo IIIb unit also known as the Sakaraha Formation or Sakahara Formation. The Sakaraha Formation consists of sandstones, marls and carbonates and represents a coastal plain environment, and is laterally equivalent to the predominantly carbonate Bemaraha Formation, which represents a coastal barrier lagoon complex. The formation is found in the northwest and in the southeast of the country and has provided a variety of fossils.
The Purgatoire River track site, also called the Picketwire Canyonlands tracksite, is one of the largest dinosaur tracksites in North America. The site is located on public land of the Comanche National Grassland, along the Purgatoire ("Picketwire") River south of La Junta in Otero County, Colorado.
The Aganane Formation is a Pliensbachian geologic formation in the Azilal, Béni-Mellal, Ouarzazate, Tinerhir and Errachidia provinces, central Morocco, being the remnant of a local massive Carbonate platform, and known mostly for its rich tracksites including footprints of thyreophoran, sauropod and theropod dinosaurs. It may also include the fossiliferous levels of the Calcaires du Bou Dahar, if true, it would be one of the richest Early Jurassic formations in the entire tethys area.
The White Limestone Formation is a Bathonian geologic formation in the United Kingdom, dating to the Middle Jurassic, 168.3 to 166.1 million years ago. Fossil sauropod tracks have been reported from the formation. It is the lateral equivalent of the Blisworth Limestone. It predominantly consists of grey-yellow limestone, typically wackestone and packstone with subordinate ooidal grainstone. The Woodeaton Quarry locality has yielded microvertebrates.
The Kurek Formation is a late Oxfordian geologic formation of the Kugitang Svita in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Fossil sauropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
Tetrapodium is an ichnogenus of fossil footprints found in the Etjo Sandstone and Omingonde Formations of Namibia. The Etjo Sandstone fossils were initially identified as rounded, featureless depressions presumed to have been made by a quadrupedal animal, but more recent examination in 2016 could not identify such tracks and concluded they are most likely non-biogenic features of the rock surface.
The Etjo Sandstone is an Early Jurassic geologic formation in northern Namibia. The formation overlies the Omingonde Formation in the Waterberg Basin and the Doros and Gai-As Formations in the Huab Basin and has a total thickness of 140 metres (460 ft). Fossil theropod tracks of Prosauropoda indet., Theropoda indet., Tetrapodium elmenhorsti, Saurichnium anserinum, S. damarense, S. parallelum and S. tetractis have been reported from the formation, deposited in an aeolian environment.
The geology of Madagascar comprises a variety of rocks of Precambrian age which make up the larger part of the east and centre of the island. They are intruded by basalts and rhyolites of Mesozoic to Cenozoic age. In contrast, the western part of the island is formed from sedimentary rocks of Carboniferous to Quaternary age. Archean rocks occur from the northeast portion of the island down to the south in the Ranotsara shear zone. Rocks in the northern portion of Madagascar are greenstone belts, from the Archean or Paleoproterozoic age.
The Duntulm Formation is a sedimentary geologic formation deposited in the Inner Hebrides, Scotland. The formation was previously known as the 'Lower Ostrea Beds', and dates to the Bathonian stage of the Middle Jurassic. The formation is noted for its highly fossiliferous oyster beds, which compose of the species Praeexogyra hebridica. The sedimentary sequence also forms part of the Great Estuarine Group.
The Kilmaluag Formation is a Middle Jurassic geologic formation in Scotland. It was formerly known as the Ostracod Limestone for preserving an abundance of fossil freshwater/low salinity ostracods. Gastropods, bivalves, trace fossil burrows, and vertebrate fossil remains have also been recorded from the formation. Vertebrate fossils include fish, crocodylomorphs, mammals, small reptiles, amphibians, theropod and sauropod dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
The Kandreho Formation is an Early Jurassic geological formation of the Mahajanga Basin of Madagascar. The marly limestones of the formation were deposited in a subtidal lagoonal environment. The formation overlies the Bouleiceras and Spiriferina beds of the early Toarcian and has been correlated to the Marrat Formation of Saudi Arabia. Fossils of the marine crocodylian "Steneosaurus" as well as bivalves and the ammonite Nejdia have been found in the formation. The name Kandreho Formation was proposed by Geiger in 2004.
The Rotzo Formation is a geological formation in Italy, dating to roughly between 192 and 186 million years ago and covering the Pliensbachian stage of the Jurassic Period in the Mesozoic Era. Has been traditionally classified as a Sinemurian-Pliensbachian Formation, but a large and detailed dataset of isotopic 13C and 87Sr/86Sr data, estimated the Rotzo Formation to span only over the Early Pliensbachian, bracketed between the Jamesoni-Davoei biozones, marked in the Loppio Oolitic Limestone–Rotzo Fm contact by a carbon isotope excursion onset similar to the Sinemu-Pliens boundary event, while the other sequences fit with the a warm phase that lasts until the Davoei biozone. The Rotzo Formation represented the Carbonate Platform, being located over the Trento Platform and surrounded by the Massone Oolite, the Fanes Piccola Encrinite, the Lombadian Basin Medolo Group and Belluno Basin Soverzene Formation, and finally towards the south, deep water deposits of the Adriatic Basin. The Pliensbachian Podpeč Limestone of Slovenia, the Aganane Formation & the Calcaires du Bou Dahar of Morocco represent regional equivalents, both in deposition and faunal content.
The Budoš Limestone is a geological formation in Montenegro and maybe Albania, dating to 192-182 million years ago, and covering the Pliensbachian-Toarcian stage of the Jurassic Period. It is located within the High karst zone, and represents a unique terrestrial setting with abundant plant material, one of the few know from the Toarcian of Europe. It is the regional equivalent to the Toarcian-Aalenian units of Spain such as the Turmiel Formation and the El Pedregal Formation, the Sinemurian Coimbra Formation in Portugal, units like the Aganane Formation or the Tafraout Group of Morocco and others from the Mediterranean such as the Posidonia Beds of Greece and the Marne di Monte Serrone of Italy. In the Adriatic section, this unit is an equivalent of the Calcare di Sogno of north Italy, as well represents almost the same type of ecosystem recovered in the older (Pliensbachian) Rotzo Formation of the Venetian region and the Podpeč Limestone of Slovenia, know also for its rich floral record.
The Aire Range Dinosaur Tracks Natural Monument, also known as Ourém - Torres Novas Dinosaur Tracks Natural Monument, is a natural monument in the Serras de Aire e Candeeiros Natural Park, Portugal, known for its long and well-preserved sauropod trackways. When discovered, it had the single longest known sauropod trackway in the world at 147 m (482 ft) long.
The Coimbra Formation is a geological formation of Sinemurian age in the Lusitanian Basin of Portugal. The unit represents a series of peritidal to intertidal facies of a Carbonate platform mostly of Obtusum–Oxynotum age, that gradually evolve to open marine/hemipelagic units Vale das Fontes Formation and Lemede formation. This unit is known for its fossil content, including Invertertebrate and vertebrate ichnofossils and fossils.