Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 2
Phosphate basins of
Morocco (Noubhani and Cappetta
1997
)
Reptiles are well represented in Moroccan phosphates
with approximately 50 species divided between turtles,
squamates (snakes; Rage and Wouters
1979
), crocodiles
(Arambourg
1952
; Jouve
2004
; Jouve et al.
2005
), sauro-
pods (some bones, a femur; Pereda Suberbiola et al.
2004
),
plesiosaurs (cervical vertebrae) and elasmosaurs (Vincent
et al.
2011
), mosasaurs including the formidable marine
predators at the end of the Cretaceous (Bardet et al.
2004
,
2005
,
2010
), and pterosaurs, extinct
2
Palaeontology of the Phosphates
In Morocco, marine phosphates had been deposited from the
late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) through the lower Paleogene
(Eocene), for over 25 Ma. They are world famous for the
abundance of fossil remains, mainly selachian
sh, the group
of sharks and rays whose teeth have been collected in large
quantities, and have an historical value. Indeed, the stratig-
raphy of these deposits was established in the 1930s
ying reptiles (Pereda
Suberbiola et al.
2003
; Bardet et al. forthcoming).
Five species of birds have also been recognized, which
may represent the oldest modern seabirds in Africa (Bourdon
2006
,
2011
; Bardet et al. forthcoming).
Fossil mammals of the Moroccan phosphates have been
popularized by the discovery of the oldest proboscidean
known, Phosphatherium escuilliei, published in the journal,
Nature (Gheerbrant et al.
1996
; see Fig.
5
). This proboscidean
species, close to the ancestral stock of living elephants, was
fl
1950s
through systematic study (Arambourg
1935
,
1952
). They
have, subsequently, been intensively studied for more than
40 years (Herman
1973
; Cappetta
1981
,
1983
,
1992
;
Noubhani
1993
,
2010
; Noubhani and Cappetta
1992
,
1997
,
2002
). In 1993 a systematic faunal list was developed
which includes 218 species (Noubhani
1993
; Noubhani and
Cappetta
1997
). This list is, however, far from exhaustive,
having since been expanded to include approximately 250
species (Bardet et al. forthcoming).
-
rst described on the basis of an upper jawbone, which
