Ouled_Abdoun_Basin

Ouled Abdoun Basin

Ouled Abdoun Basin

Phosphate basin in Morocco


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.[1][2] 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.[3]

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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).[2] 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.[1][2]

Paleobiota

Life restoration of Ouled Abdoun Basin paleoenvironments during the late Cretaceous: Sidi Chennae (left) and Sidi Daoui (right).
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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.

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.[3][4]

Fish

Bony fish

More information Bony fish from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Sharks

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Other cartilaginous fish

More information Other cartilaginous cish from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Reptiles

Crocodylomorphs

More information Crocodylomorphs from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Lepidosaurs

Mosasaurs
More information Mosasaurs from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...
Serpentes
More information Snakes from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Plesiosaurs

More information Plesiosaurs from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Turtles

More information Turtles from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Pterosaurs

More information Pterosaurs from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Dinosaurs

Late Maastrichtian dinosaurs of Ouled Abdoun Basin, including Minqaria, Ajnabia, Chenanisaurus, and several unnamed specimens

Bird fossils are common in the Basin, which includes the oldest birds in Africa.[4] 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).[4]

Ornithischians

More information Ornithischians from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Saurischians

More information Saurischians from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Mammals

Afrotheres

More information Afrotheres from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Creodonts

More information Creodonts from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

Molluscs

More information Mollusca from the Khouribga Phosphates, Genus ...

See also


References

  1. S. Zouhri; A. Kchikach; O. Saddiqi; F.Z. El Haimer; L. Baidder; A. Michard (2008). "The Cretaceous-Tertiary Plateaus". In A. Michard; O. Saddiqi; A. Chalouan; D. Frizon de Lamotte (eds.). Continental Evolution: the Geology of Morocco. Berlin: Springer. pp. 331–358. ISBN 978-3-540-77075-6.
  2. Office Chérifien des Phosphates (1989). "The Phosphate Basins of Morocco". In A.J.G. Notholt; R.P. Sheldon; D.F. Davidson (eds.). Phosphate Deposits of the World. Volume 2, Phosphate Rock Resources. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press. pp. 301–311. ISBN 978-0-521-67333-4.
  3. Yans, Johan; Amaghzaz, M'Barek; Bouya, Baadi; Cappetta, Henri; Iacumin, Paola; Kocsis, László; Mouflih, Mustapha; Selloum, Omar; Sen, Sevket; Storme, Jean-Yves; Gheerbrant, Emmanuel (2014). "First carbon isotope chemostratigraphy of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate Basin, Morocco; implications for dating and evolution of earliest African placental mammals". Gondwana Research. 25 (1): 257–269. Bibcode:2014GondR..25..257Y. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2013.04.004.
  4. Gheerbrant, E.; Sudre, J.; Cappetta, H.; Mourer-Chauviré, C.; Bourdon, E.; Iarochene, M.; Amaghzaz, M.; Bouya, B. (2003). "Les localités à mammifères des carrières de Grand Daoui, bassin des Ouled Abdoun, Maroc, Yprésien: premier état des lieux" [The mammal localities of Grand Daoui Quarries, Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco, Ypresian: A first survey] (PDF). Bull. Soc. Géol. Fr. (in French and English). 174 (3): 279–293. doi:10.2113/174.3.279.
  5. Martill, D. M. (2023). "A sturgeon (Actinopterygii, Acipenseriformes) from the Upper Cretaceous of Africa". Cretaceous Research. 148. 105546. Bibcode:2023CrRes.14805546M. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105546. S2CID 257863907.
  6. Vullo, Romain; Cavin, Lionel; Khalloufi, Bouziane; Amaghzaz, Mbarek; Bardet, Nathalie; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Jourani, Essaid; Khaldoune, Fatima; Gheerbrant, Emmanuel (2017-07-28). "A unique Cretaceous–Paleogene lineage of piranha-jawed pycnodont fishes". Scientific Reports. 7 (1): 6802. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-06792-x. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 5533729.
  7. Brito, P.M.; Martill, D.M.; Eaves, I.; Smith, R.E.; Cooper, S.L.A. (2021). "A marine Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) coelacanth from North Africa". Cretaceous Research. 122: 104768. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104768. S2CID 233551515.
  8. Capobianco, A.; Zouhri, S.; Friedman, M. (2024). "A long-snouted marine bonytongue (Teleostei: Osteoglossidae) from the early Eocene of Morocco and the phylogenetic affinities of marine osteoglossids". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. doi:10.1093/zoolinnean/zlae015.
  9. Noubhani, A.; Cappetta, H. (1997). "Les Orectolobiformes, Carcharhiniformes et Myliobatiformes (Elasmobranchii, Neoselachii) des bassins à phosphate du Maroc (Maastrichtien-Lutétien basal). Systématique, biostratigraphie, évolution et dynamique des faunes". Palaeo Ichthyologica.
  10. Jouve, S.; Iarochène, M.; Bouya, B.; Amaghzaz, M. (2005). "A new dyrosaurid crocodyliform from the Palaeocene of Morocco and a phylogenetic analysis of Dyrosauridae". Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. 50 (3): 581–594.
  11. Jonet, S.; Wouters, G. (1977). "Maroccosuchus zennaroi, crocodilien eusuchien nouveau des phosphates du Maroc". Notes et Mémoires du Service Géologique du Maroc. 38: 177–202.
  12. Jouve, Stéphane; Bardet, Nathalie; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Suberbiola, Xabier Pereda; Bouya, Baâdi; Amaghzaz, Mbarek (2008). "The oldest African crocodylian: phylogeny, paleobiogeography, and differential survivorship of marine reptiles through the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary" (PDF). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 28 (2): 409–421. doi:10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28[409:TOACPP]2.0.CO;2. S2CID 86503283.
  13. Strong, Catherine R. C.; Caldwell, Michael W.; Konishi, Takuya; Palci, Alessandro (2020-09-28). "A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon 'Platecarpus' ptychodon". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (21): 1769–1804. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1818322. ISSN 1477-2019.
  14. Longrich, Nicholas R.; Polcyn, Michael J.; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Bardet, Nathalie (2024-03-01). "A bizarre new plioplatecarpine mosasaurid from the Maastrichtian of Morocco". Cretaceous Research: 105870. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2024.105870. ISSN 0195-6671.
  15. Longrich, N. R.; Bardet, N.; Khaldoune, F.; Khadiri Yazami, O.; Jalil, N.-E. (2021). "Pluridens serpentis, a new mosasaurid (Mosasauridae: Halisaurinae) from the Maastrichtian of Morocco and implications for mosasaur diversity". Cretaceous Research. 126: Article 104882. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104882.
  16. Longrich, Nicholas R.; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Bardet, Nathalie (2023). "Stelladens mysteriosus: A Strange New Mosasaurid (Squamata) from the Maastrichtian (Late Cretaceous) of Morocco". Fossils. 1 (1): 2–14. doi:10.3390/fossils1010002. hdl:10810/64193. ISSN 2813-6284.
  17. Longrich, Nicholas R.; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; Khaldoune, Fatima; Yazami, Oussama Khadiri; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Bardet, Nathalie (24 August 2022). "Thalassotitan atrox, a giant predatory mosasaurid (Squamata) from the Upper Maastrichtian Phosphates of Morocco". Cretaceous Research. 140: 105315. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2022.105315. S2CID 251821884.
  18. Longrich, N. R.; Bardet, N.; Schulp, A. S.; Jalil, N.-E. (2021). "Xenodens calminechari gen. et sp. nov., a bizarre mosasaurid (Mosasauridae, Squamata) with shark-like cutting teeth from the upper Maastrichtian of Morocco, North Africa". Cretaceous Research. 123: Article 104764. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104764. S2CID 233567615.
  19. Houssaye, Alexandra; Rage, Jean-Claude; Bardet, Nathalie; Vincent, Peggy; Amaghzaz, Mbarek; Meslouh, Said (2013). "New highlights about the enigmatic marine snake Palaeophis maghrebianus (Palaeophiidae; Palaeophiinae) from the Ypresian (Lower Eocene) phosphates of Morocco". Palaeontology. 56 (3): 647–661. doi:10.1111/pala.12008.
  20. Bardet, Nathalie; Jalil, Nour-Eddine; de Lapparent de Broin, France; Germain, Damien; Lambert, Olivier; Amaghzaz, Mbarek (2013). "A giant chelonioid turtle from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco with a suction feeding apparatus unique among tetrapods". PLOS ONE. 8 (7): e63586. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...863586B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063586. PMC 3708935. PMID 23874378.
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