Kalahari Deposits

Kalahari Deposits
Stratigraphic range: Campanian-Maastrichtian ~80–66  Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Type	Geological formation
Lithology
Primary	Conglomerate
Other	Mudstone
Location
Coordinates	29°30′S18°24′E / 29.5°S 18.4°E / -29.5; 18.4
Approximate paleocoordinates	44°12′S2°18′E / 44.2°S 2.3°E / -44.2; 2.3
Region	Western Cape
Country	South Africa
Type section
Named for	Kalahari Desert
Kalahari Deposits (South Africa)

The Kalahari Deposits is an Late Cretaceous (Campanian to Maastrichtian) ^{[1] [2]} geologic formation in South Africa. Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. ^[3] The depositional environment is described as a crater lake where poorly lithified, concretionary conglomerate and volcaniclastic, intraclastic, calcareous mudstone were deposited under quiet subaqueous conditions, probably a "crater-fill succession above an olivine-melilitie intrusion". ^[4]

Fossil content

Color key Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon		Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

Dinosaurs

Ornithischians

Ornithischians of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image
Kangnasaurus [5] [6]	K. coetzeei	Western Cape	Campanian to Maastrichtian	Tooth, Postcranial Elements Including a Femur	A elasmarian ornithopod

Sauropods

Sauropods of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Theropods

Theropods of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Crocodylomorphs

Crocodylomorphs of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Mosasaurs

Mosasaurs of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image
Prognathodon [7]	P. currii	Western Cape	Campanian to Masstrichtian	Tooth Fragment	A prognathodontin mosasaurine

Plesiosaurs

Plesiosaurs of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Birds

Birds of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Mammals

Mammals of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Amphibians

Amphibians of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

Fish

Fishes of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image
Squalicorax	S. africanus	Western Cape	Campanian to Maastrichtian		A crow shark
	S. pristodontus

Molluscs

Cephalopods

Cephalopods of the Kalahari Deposits
Genus	Species	Location	Stratigraphic position	Material	Notes	Image

See also

• List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
  • List of stratigraphic units with few dinosaur genera

References

1. Ruiz-Omeñaca, José Ignacio; Pereda Suberbiola, Xavier; Galton, Peter M. (2007). "Callovosaurus leedsi, the earliest dryosaurid dinosaur (Ornithischia: Euornithopoda) from the Middle Jurassic of England". In Carpenter Kenneth (ed.). Horns and Beaks: Ceratopsian and Ornithopod Dinosaurs. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. pp. 3–16. ISBN   978-0-253-34817-3.
2. Forster CA, de Klerk WJ, Poole KE, Chinsamy-Turan A, Roberts EM, Ross CF (2022). "Iyuku raathi, a new iguanodontian dinosaur from the Early Cretaceous Kirkwood Formation, South Africa". The Anatomical Record. 306 (7): 1762–1803. doi:10.1002/ar.25038. PMID   35860957. S2CID   250730794.
3. Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607.
4. Kangnas farm, portion Goebees at Fossilworks.org
5. "Table 19.1," in Weishampel, et al. (2004). Page 417.
6. Haughton, Sidney H. (1915). "On some dinosaur remains from Bushmanland". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa. 5 (1): 259–264. Bibcode:1915TRSSA...5..259H. doi:10.1080/00359191509519723.
7. Woolley, M. R.; Caldwell, M. W.; Rey, K.; Amiot, R.; Chinsamy, A. (2025). "A multi-method approach to deciphering the paleobiology of a mosasaur from South Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 44 (6). e2486069. doi:10.1080/02724634.2025.2486069.

Bibliography

• Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; Osmólska, Halszka (2004), The Dinosauria, 2nd edition, Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1–880, ISBN   0-520-24209-2 , retrieved 2019-02-21