Echkar Formation

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Echkar Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Albian-Cenomanian
~100–95  Ma
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Type Geological formation
Unit of Tegama Group
Underlies Farak Formation
Overlies Elrhaz Formation
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Other Claystone
Location
Coordinates 17°54′N5°36′E / 17.9°N 5.6°E / 17.9; 5.6
Approximate paleocoordinates 2°48′N0°24′E / 2.8°N 0.4°E / 2.8; 0.4
Region Agadez Region
CountryFlag of Niger.svg  Niger
Extent Iullemmeden Basin
Type section
Named forEchkar, Aderbissinat
Niger relief location map.jpg
Green pog.svg
Echkar Formation (Niger)

The Echkar Formation is a geological formation comprising sandstones and claystones in the Agadez Region of Niger, central Africa.

Contents

Description

Its strata date back to the Late Albian to Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian stages, about 100-95 million years ago). Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. [1]

Fossil content

[2]

Vertebrates

Archosaurs
GenusSpeciesMaterialNotesImages
Aegyptosaurus A. baharijensis Aegyptosaurus LM.png
Araripesuchus A. rattoides
Araripesuchus patagonicus SEND.jpg
Bahariasaurus B. ingens Bahariasaurus ingens, like megaraptora.jpg
Carcharodontosaurus [3] C. iguidensis [4]
C. saharicus [2]
Carcharodontosaurus.png
Ceratodus C. sp. Ceratodus.jpg
Elaphrosaurus E. iguidiensis (=Theropoda indet.)Likely an indeterminate theropod. Elaphrosaurus.jpg
Elosuchus E. sp. Elosuchus BW.jpg
Fortignathus F. felixi
Inosaurus I. tedreftensis
Kaprosuchus K. saharicus
Kaprosuchus NT.jpg
Laganosuchus L. thaumastos
Laganosuchus thaumastos.jpg
Lepidotes L. sp. 2015 museum Le Havre Lepidotes.jpg
Onchopristis O. numida Onchopristis numidus 052013.JPG
Platyspondylus P. foureaui
Rebbachisaurus R. tamesnensis
R. sp.[ citation needed ]
Rebbachisaurus BW.jpg
Rugops R. primus
Rugops (cropped).png
Spinosaurus S. aegyptiacus
Spinosaurus aegyptiacus.png
?Stegosauria indet.No genus given. May not actually belong to Stegosauria.
Testudines indet.No genus given.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Carcharodontosaurus</i> Genus of carcharodontosaurid dinosaur from the Cretaceous period

Carcharodontosaurus is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived in North Africa from about 100 to 94 million years ago during the Cenomanian age of the Late Cretaceous. Two teeth of the genus, now lost, were first described from Algeria by French paleontologists Charles Depéret and Justin Savornin as Megalosaurus saharicus. A partial skeleton was collected by crews of German paleontologist Ernst Stromer during a 1914 expedition to Egypt. Stromer did not report the Egyptian find until 1931, in which he dubbed the novel genus Carcharodontosaurus, making the type species C. saharicus. Unfortunately, this skeleton was destroyed during the Second World War. In 1995 a nearly complete skull of C. saharicus, the first well-preserved specimen to be found in almost a century, was discovered in the Kem Kem Beds of Morocco; it was designated the neotype in 1996. Fossils unearthed from the Echkar Formation of northern Niger were described and named as another species, C. iguidensis, in 2007.

<i>Aegyptosaurus</i> Titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur genus from late Cretaceous Period

Aegyptosaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived in what is now Africa, around 95 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous Period.

<i>Afrovenator</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Afrovenator is a genus of megalosaurid theropod dinosaur from the Middle or Late Jurassic Period on the Tiourarén Formation and maybe the Irhazer II Formation of the Niger Sahara region in northern Africa. Afrovenator represents the only properly identified Gondwanan megalosaur, with proposed material of the group present in the Late Jurassic on Tacuarembó Formation of Uruguay and the Tendaguru Formation of Tanzania.

<i>Rugops</i> Genus of dinosaur

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 (14–17 ft) and weight of 410 kilograms (900 lb). 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.

<i>Bahariasaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Bahariasaurus is an enigmatic genus of large theropod dinosaur. The genus 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.

<i>Rebbachisaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Rebbachisaurus is a genus of sauropod dinosaur of the superfamily Diplodocoidea, that lived during the Late Cretaceous period in Africa and possibly also South America about 99-97 million years ago. Remains attributed to Rebbachisaurus have been found in Morocco, Niger, Algeria, Tunisia and possibly also Argentina, although only the Moroccan remains can be referred to the genus without doubt. The discovery of Rayososaurus, a South American sauropod nearly identical to Rebbachisaurus which may have actually have been the same animal as Rebbachisaurus, supports the theory that there was still a land connection between Africa and South America during the Early Cretaceous, long after it was commonly thought the two continents had separated.

Jeffrey A. Wilson, also known as JAW, is a paleontologist and professor of geological sciences and assistant curator at the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Michigan.

<i>Cristatusaurus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Cristatusaurus is a genus of theropod dinosaur that lived during the Early Cretaceous Period of what is now Niger, 112 million years ago. It was a baryonychine member of the Spinosauridae, a group of large bipedal carnivores with well-built forelimbs and elongated, crocodile-like skulls. The type species Cristatusaurus lapparenti was named in 1998 by scientists Philippe Taquet and Dale Russell, on the basis of jaw bones and some vertebrae. Two claw fossils were also later assigned to Cristatusaurus. The animal's generic name, which means "crested reptile", alludes to a sagittal crest on top of its snout; while the specific name is in honor of the French paleontologist Albert-Félix de Lapparent. Cristatusaurus is known from the Albian to Aptian Elrhaz Formation, where it would have coexisted with sauropod and iguanodontian dinosaurs, other theropods, and various crocodylomorphs.

Inosaurus is the name given to a dubious genus of theropod dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous-aged "Continental intercalaire" and Early Cretaceous (Albian)-aged Echkar Formation of Niger and possibly from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)-aged Baharija Formation of Egypt The type, and only species, is Inosaurus tedreftensis.

<i>Sigilmassasaurus</i> Spinosaurid theropod dinosaur genus from Cretaceous Period

Sigilmassasaurus is a controversial genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived approximately 100 to 94 million years ago during the Late Cretaceous Period in what is now northern Africa. Named in 1996 by Canadian paleontologist Dale Russell, it contains a single species, Sigilmassasaurus brevicollis. The identity of the genus has been debated by scientists, with some considering its fossils to represent material from the closely related species Spinosaurus aegyptiacus, while others have classified it as a separate taxon, forming the clade Spinosaurini with Spinosaurus as its sister taxon.

<i>Spinostropheus</i> Extinct genus of dinosaurs

Spinostropheus is a genus of carnivorous neotheropod theropod dinosaur that lived in the Middle Jurassic period and has been found in the Tiouraren Formation, Niger. The type and only species is S. gautieri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lameta Formation</span> Geologic formation in India

The Lameta Formation, also known as the Infratrappean Beds, is a sedimentary geological formation found in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh, India, associated with the Deccan Traps. It is of the Maastrichtian age, and is notable for its dinosaur fossils.

The Continental intercalaire, sometimes referred to as the Continental intercalaire Formation, is a term applied to Cretaceous strata in Northern Africa. It is the largest single stratum found in Africa to date, being between 30 and 800 metres thick in some places. Fossils, including dinosaurs, have been recovered from this formation. The Continental intercalaire stretches from Algeria, Tunisia and Niger in the west to Egypt and Sudan in the east.

The Tiourarén Formation is a geological formation in the Agadez Region of Niger whose strata were originally thought to be Early Cretaceous. However, re-interpretation of the sediments showed that they are probably Middle or Late Jurassic (Bathonian-Oxfordian) in age. Other works suggested it reaches the Barremian. It is the uppermost unit of the Irhazer Group. Dinosaur remains & other vertebrates are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. Originally part of the "Argiles de l'Ihrazer", the Tiouaren Formation primarily comprises reddish to purple siltstones with occasional marls, limestones, and scarce channel sandstones.

The Farak Formation is a geological formation in Niger, central Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kem Kem Group</span> Geological group in eastern Morocco

The Kem Kem Group is a geological group in the Kem Kem region of eastern Morocco, whose strata date back to the Cenomanian stage of the Late Cretaceous. Its strata are subdivided into two geological formations, with the lower Ifezouane Formation and the upper Aoufous Formation used for the strata on the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains (Tinghir), with the Gara Sbaa Formation and Douira Formation used in the southern Tafilalt region. It is exposed on an escarpment along the Algeria–Morocco border.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elrhaz Formation</span>

The Elrhaz Formation is a geological formation in Niger, West Africa.

The Irhazer Shale or Irhazer II Formation is a Middle Jurassic geologic formation of the Irhazer Group in the Agadez Region of Niger. Fossil ornithopod tracks have been reported from the formation. The dinosaur Spinophorosaurus is known from the formation.

References

  1. Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Africa)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 571-573. ISBN   0-520-24209-2.
  2. 1 2 In Abangarit-Tamesna at Fossilworks.org
  3. Brusatte, S. and Sereno, P.C. (2005). "A new species of Carcharodontosaurus (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Niger and its implications for allosauroid phylogeny." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 25: 40A.
  4. Brusatte, S.L. and Sereno, P.C. (2007). "A new species of Carcharodontosaurus (dinosauria: theropoda) from the Cenomanian of Niger and a revision of the genus." Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(4)

Bibliography

Further reading