First Dinosaurs from Saudi Arabia (original) (raw)

Late Cretaceous (Campanian—Maastrichtian) marine reptiles from the Adaffa Formation, NW Saudi Arabia

Geological Magazine, 2008

Marine reptile remains occur in the Upper Cretaceous (lower Campanian to lower Maastrichtian) Adaffa Formation of NW Saudi Arabia. This is the first detailed report of late Mesozoic marine reptiles from the Arabian Peninsula. The fossils include bothremydid (cf. Taphrosphyini) turtles, dyrosaurid crocodyliforms, elasmosaurid plesiosaurs, mosasaurs (Prognathodon, plioplatecarpines) and an indeterminate small varanoid. The assemblage is compositionally similar to contemporary faunas from elsewhere in the Middle East/North Africa, and comprises taxa that are typical of the southern margin of the Mediterranean Tethys.

A review of aquatic vertebrate remains from the Middle-Upper Triassic Jilh Formation of Saudi Arabia

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria , 2010

A recent field survey of the Middle–Upper Triassic (upper Anisian to lowermost Carnian) paralic ma- rine deposits of the Jilh Formation in central Saudi Arabia has yielded large quantities of vertebrate fossils. These finds prompt a revision of the existing faunal list and include at least one novel stratigraphical oc- currence for the Arabian Peninsula. The remains comprise sauropterygian marine reptiles (Psephosauriscus sp., Nothosaurus cf. tchernovi, Nothosaurus cf. giganteus, Simosaurus sp.), a lungfish (Ceratodus sp.), hybodontiform sharks (Hybodus sp.) and saurichthyform actinopterygians (Saurichthys sp.). Palaeobiogeo- graphical assessment reinforces Tethyan affinities for the assemblage and reflects the close proximity of the Arabian region to the ‘Sephardic Realm’, a compositionally distinct circum-Mediterranean faunal province characterized by hypersaline Muschelkalk facies.

Biofacies and palaeoenvironments of the Jurassic Shaqra Group of Saudi Arabia

2006

The Jurassic succession in Saudi Arabia consists of seven formations, forming the Shaqra Group, of which most are carbonate and some are partly evaporitic, and is of economic importance because it hosts twelve hydrocarbon reservoirs, including the Arab-D Reservoir within the world’s largest oilfield at Ghawar. The Minjur-Marrat formational boundary marks the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, of which the Marrat is dated as Toarcian. A significant unconformity separates this unit from the overlying Dhruma Formation, of Bajocian to Bathonian ages. The Tuwaiq Mountain Formation, of Callovian age, overlies the Dhruma Formation, with reduced hiatus. The Hanifa Formation, of Oxfordian age, is separated from the Tuwaiq Mountain Formation by a minor hiatus, as are the successive Jubaila, Arab and Hith formations, of Kimmeridgian to Tithonian ages. The Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary is currently placed within the lower part of the overlying Sulaiy Formation. A combination of semi-quantitative microp...

Sedimentological and micropalaeontological evidence to elucidate post-evaporitic carbonate palaeoenvironments of the Saudi Arabian latest Jurassic

2008

The Hith Formation forms the youngest lithostratigraphic unit of the Jurassic Shaqra Group. It represents the culmination of a succession of hypersaline and euryhaline cycles that characterise the Late Jurassic of Saudi Arabia. The Formation is poorly exposed in central Saudi Arabia, but it has been studied in detail in subsurface eastern Saudi Arabia where the upper carbonate member hosts an important hydrocarbon reservoir called the Manifa Reservoir. Chronostratigraphic control is absent from the formation itself, and the Tithonian age is suggested for the Hith Formation based on its stratigraphic position between the underlying Arab Formation of Late Kimmeridgian age, and the overlying Sulaiy Formation, of Late Tithonian to Berriasian age. The Hith Formation needs redefining in the light of new lithological evidence, and a tripartite member scheme is suggested. This includes the lower anhydrite-dominated member here termed the “anhydrite” member, and considered to represent hyper...