• Source: Ouled Abdoun Basin

The Oulad Abdoun Basin (also known as the Ouled Abdoun Basin or Khouribga Basin) is a phosphate sedimentary basin located in Morocco, near the city of Khouribga. It is the largest in Morocco, comprising 44% of Morocco's phosphate reserves, and at least 26.8 billion tons of phosphate. It is also known as an important site for vertebrate fossils, with deposits ranging from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) to the Eocene epoch (Ypresian), a period of about 25 million years.




Geography


The Oulad Abdoun is located west of the Atlas Mountains, near the city of Khouribga. The Oulad Abdoun phosphate deposits encompass some 100 by 45 kilometres (62 by 28 mi), an area of 4,500 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi). The Oulad Abdoun is the largest and northernmost of Morocco's major phosphate basins, which from northeast to southwest, include the Ganntour, Meskala, and Oued Eddahab (Laayoune-Baa) basins.




Paleobiota



The Oulad Abdoun Basin stretches from the late Cretaceous to the Eocene and contains abundant marine vertebrate fossils, including sharks, bony fish, turtles, crocodilians, and other reptiles, as well as sea birds and a small number of terrestrial mammals.




= Fish

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Bony fish




Sharks




Other cartilaginous fish





= Dinosaurs

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Bird fossils are common in the Basin, which includes the oldest birds in Africa. At least three orders and several families of sea birds are represented, including Procellariiformes (albatrosses and petrels, fossils assignable to Diomedeidae and Procellariidae), Pelecaniformes (pelicans and allies, fossils assignable to Phaethontidae, Prophaethontidae, Fregatidae and Pelagornithidae), and Anseriformes (waterfowl, including fossil Presbyornithidae).



Ornithischians




Saurischians





= Mammals

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Afrotheres




Hyaenodonts





= Molluscs

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= Pterosaurs

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= Reptiles

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Crocodylomorphs




Lepidosaurs




= Mosasaurs
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= Serpentes
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Plesiosaurs




Turtles





See also



Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event
Fauna of Africa
List of dinosaur bearing rock formations




References






External links


Fossil Vertebrates from the Phosphate Basins of Morocco, paleontological research from the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Phosphatodraco
• Ouled Abdoun Basin
• Minqaria
• Ocepeia
• Barbaridactylus
• Phosphatherium
• Hadrogeneios
• Eritherium
• Alcione elainus
• Thalassotitan
• Simurghia