Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-hqrjx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-12T05:29:17.883Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Middle–Late Eocene vertebrate fauna (marine fish and mammals) from southwestern Morocco; preliminary report: age and palaeobiogeographical implications

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 May 2010

SYLVAIN ADNET ,
HENRI CAPPETTA  and
RODOLPHE TABUCE
SYLVAIN ADNET*
Affiliation:
UMR 5554: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier 2, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France
HENRI CAPPETTA
Affiliation:
UMR 5554: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier 2, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France
RODOLPHE TABUCE
Affiliation:
UMR 5554: Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier 2, Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 5, France
*
*Author for correspondence: sylvain.adnet@univ-montp2.fr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent field work in the southern Moroccan Sahara (‘Western Sahara’), south of the city of ad-Dakhla, has led to the discovery of several new fossiliferous sites with fossil vertebrates in sedimentary deposits previously reported for the Mio-Pliocene. The sedimentology and geological setting of the studied area are briefly reported here, and at least three units have been identified in successive stratigraphical sequences according to their fossil content. The first preliminary list of vertebrate associations is reported and consists mainly of isolated teeth belonging to selachian and bony fishes, a proboscidean tooth currently assigned to ?Numidotherium sp. and many remains of archaeocete whales (Basilosauridae). At least 48 species of selachians are presently identified; many of them are new and others are recorded in the late Middle Eocene (Bartonian) and Late Eocene (Priabonian) of Wadi Al-Hitan (Egypt) or Wadi Esh-Shallala Formation (Jordan) as in other African localities (e.g. Otodus cf. sokolowi, ‘Cretolamna’ twiggsensis, Xiphodolamia serrata, Misrichthys stromeri, Hemipristis curvatus, Galeocerdo cf. eaglesomi, Propristis schweinfurthi), probably indicating a Late Eocene age for unit 2 of the bedrock successions. The evolutionary trend noticeable on the proboscidean tooth is in agreement with such an assumption, by comparison with the close relative species known from the Eocene of Egypt, Libya and Algeria. Indeed, the faunal associations from the Dakhla area clearly demonstrate the erroneous age of these deposits, previously thought to be Mio-Pliocene. It suggests a correlation in age (late Middle Eocene–Late Eocene) and a similar environment with the famous marine deposits from Egypt and Jordan. It opens new opportunities to understand the biogeography and the surprising similarity of landscape between West and Northeast Africa during the Bartonian–Priabonian period.

Keywords

southwestern MoroccoEoceneselachiansmammalsstratigraphypalaeobiogeography

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 147 , Issue 6 , November 2010 , pp. 860 - 870
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Adnet, S., Antoine, P.-O., Hassan-baqri, S. R., Crochet, J.-Y., Marivaux, L., Welcomme, J.-L. & Metais, G. 2007. On the first modern and tropical Selachian association (Chondrichthyes) from the Late Eocene–early Oligocene of Balochistan, Pakistan. Dating interests, paleoenvironment and paleobiogeography. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 30, 303–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adnet, S., Hosseinzadeh, R., Antunes, M. T., Balbino, A. C., Kozlov, V. A. & Cappetta, H. 2009. Review of the enigmatic Eocene shark genus Xiphodolamia (Chondrichthyes, Lamniformes) and description of a new species recovered from Angola, Iran and Jordan. Journal of African Earth Sciences 55 (3–4), 197–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blainville, H. M. 1818. Sur les ichthyolites ou les poissons fossiles. Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle 37, 310–91.Google Scholar
Böhm, J. 1926. Über tertiäre Versteinerungen von den Bogenfelser Diamantfeldern. In Die Diamantenwüste Südwest-Afrikas 2 (ed. Kaiser, E.), pp. 55–87. Berlin: BGR Berlin.Google Scholar
Bourdon, E. 2006. A new avifauna from the early Tertiary of the Ouled Abdoun Basin, Morocco: contribution to higher-level phylogenetics of modern birds (Neornithes). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26, 44A.Google Scholar
Cappetta, H. 1981. Additions a la faune de sélaciens fossiles du maroc. 1: sur la présence des genres Heptranchias, Alopias et Odontorhytis dans l'Yprésien des Ouled Abdoun. Géobios 14, 563–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cappetta, H. 1987. Chondrichthyes II Mesozoic and Cenozoic Elasmobranchii, Handbook of Paleoichthyology, vol. 3B. Stuttgart, New York: Gustav Fischer Verlag, 193 pp.Google Scholar
Cappetta, H. & Stringer, G. 2002. A new batoid genus (Neoselachii: Myliobatiformes) from the Yazoo (Late Eocene) of Louisiana, USA. Tertiary Research 21, 51–6.Google Scholar
Cappetta, H. & Traverse, M. 1988. Une riche faune de sélaciens dans le bassin à phosphate de Kpogamé-Hahotoé (Eocène moyen du Togo): Note préliminaire et précisions sur la structure et l'âge du gisement. Geobios 21, 359–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cappetta, H., Pfeil, F. & Schmidt-Kittler, N. 2000. New biostratigraphical data on the marine Upper Cretaceous and Palaeogene of Jordan. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 38, 81–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Case, G. R. 1981. Late Eocene selachian from south-central Georgia. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 176, 52–79.Google Scholar
Case, G. R. & Borodin, P. D. 2000. Late Eocene selachian from the Irwinton Sand Member of the Barnwell Formation (Jacksonian), WKA mines, Gordon, Wilkinson County, Georgia. Münchner Geowissenschafliche Abhandlungen 39, 5–16.Google Scholar
Case, G. R. & Cappetta, H. 1990. The Eocene Selachian Fauna from the Fayum Depression in Egypt. Palaeontographica, Abteilung A 212, 1–30.Google Scholar
Case, G. R. & West, R. M. 1991. Geology and Paleontology of the Eocene Drazinda Shale Member of the Khirthar Formation, central Western Pakistan, Part II Late Eocene fishes. Tertiary Research 12, 105–20.Google Scholar
Casier, E. 1971. Sur un materiel ichthyologique des ‘Midra (and Saila) shales’ du Qatar (Golfe Persique). Bulletin de l'Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique 47, 1–9.Google Scholar
Cavin, L., Bardet, N., Cappetta, H., Gheerbrant, E., Iarochene, S. M. & Sudre, J. 2000. A new albulid (Teleostei: Elopomorpha) from the Danian of the Phosphate basin of Ouled Abdoun, Morocco. Geological Magazine 137, 583–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choubert, G., Faure-Muret, A. & Hottinger, L. 1966. 1:500 000, Rabat: Service géologique du Maroc. 1 carte en coul. + notice ‘Aperçu géologique du bassin côtier de Tarfaya’. Notes et mémoires du Service Géologique 175, 219.Google Scholar
Compagno, L. J. V. 2005. Checklist of living Chondrichthyes. In Reproductive biology and phylogeny of Chondrichthyes (sharks, batoids and chimaeras) (ed. Hamlett, W. C.), pp. 503–48. Science Publishers Inc.Google Scholar
Court, N. 1995. A new species of Numidotherium (Mammalia, Proboscidea) from the Eocene of Libya and the early phylogeny of the Proboscidea. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 15, 650–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dames, W. 1883. Über eine tertiäre Wirbelthierfauna von der westlichen Insel des Birket-el-Qurun im Fajum (Aegypten). Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin VI, 129–53.Google Scholar
Dartevelle, E. & Casier, E. 1959. Les poissons fossiles du Bas-Congo et des régions voisines (Troisième partie). Annales du Musée du Congo Belge, Série A (Minéralogie, Géologie, Paléontologie) 2 (3), 257–568.Google Scholar
Davison, I. 2005. Central Atlantic margin basins of North West Africa: Geology and hydrocarbon potential (Morocco to Guinea). Journal of African Earth Sciences 43 (1–3), 254–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delmer, C. 2009. Reassessment of the generic attribution of Numidotherium savagei and the homologies of lower incisors in proboscideans. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 54 (4), 561–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deperet, C. 1912. Sur l'âge des couches du Rio de Oro. Compte rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 13, 123–4.Google Scholar
Dupéron-Laudoueneix, M. & Dupéron, J. 1995. Inventory of Mesozoic and Cenozoic woods from Equatorial and North Equatorial Africa. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 84, 439–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutheil, D. B. 1991. A checklist of Neoselachii (Pisces, Chondrichtyes) from Paleogene of Paris Basin, France. Tertiary Research 13, 27–36.Google Scholar
Font y Sague, N. 1911. Les formations géologiques du Rio de Oro, Sahara espagnol. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France (4), t. XI, 212–17.Google Scholar
Gheerbrant, E. 2009. Paleocene emergence of elephant relatives and the rapid radiation of African ungulates. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 106 (26), 10717–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gheerbrant, E., Cappetta, H., Feist, M., Jaeger, J.-J., Sigé, B., Sudre, J. & Vianey-Liaud, M. 1993. La succession des faunes de vertébrés d'âge paléocène supérieur et éocène inférieur dans le Bassin d'Ouarzazate, Maroc. Contexte géologique, bilan biostratigraphique et paléogéographique. Newsletters on Stratigraphy 28 (1), 33–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gheerbrant, E., Domning, D. P. & Tassy, P. 2005. Paenungulata (Sirenia, Proboscidea, Hyracoidea, and Relatives. In The Rise of Placental Mammals. Origins and Relationships of the Major Extant Clades (eds Rose, K. D. & Archibald, J. D.), pp. 84–105. The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Gheerbrant, E., Sudre, J. & Cappetta, H. 1996. A Palaeocene proboscidean from Morocco. Nature 383, 68–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gheerbrant, E., Sudre, J., Cappetta, H., Iarochene, M., Amaghzaz, M. & Bouya, B. 2002. A new large mammal from the Ypresian of Morocco: evidence of surprising diversity of early proboscideans. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47 (3), 493–506.Google Scholar
Gheerbrant, E., Sudre, J., Tassy, P., Amaghzaz, M., Bouya, B. & Iarochene, M. 2005. Nouvelles données sur Phosphatherium escuilliei de l'Eocène inférieur du Maroc, apports à la phylogénie des Proboscidea et des ongulés lophodontes. Géodiversitas 27 (2), 239–333.Google Scholar
Gheerbrant, E., Iarochene, M., Amaghzaz, M. & Bouya, B. 2006. Early African hyaenodontid mammals and their bearing on the origin of the Creodonta. Geological Magazine 143, 475–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 1992. Marine Mammals (Cetacean and Sirenia) from the Eocene of Gebel Mokattam and Fayum, Egypt: Stratigraphy, age and paleoenvironnments. University of Michigan Papers on Palaeontology 30, 1–84.Google Scholar
Gingerich, P. D. 2007. Early evolution of whales: a century of research in Egypt. In Elwyn Simons: A Search for Origins (eds Fleagle, J. G. & Gilbert, C. C.), pp. 107–24. New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Guiraud, R., Bosworth, W., Thierry, J. & Delplanque, A. 2005. Phanerozoic geological evolution of Northern and Central Africa: An overview. Journal of African Earth Sciences 43, 83–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernandez Pachero, E., Hernandez Pachero, F., Alia Medina, M., Vidal Box, C. & Guiinea Lopez, E. 1949. El Sáhara español. Estudio geológico, geográfico y botánico. Instituo de Estudios Africanos. CSCU, Madrid, 806 pp.Google Scholar
Hua, S. & Jouve, S. 2004. A primitive marine gavialoid from the Paleocene of Morocco. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 24, 341–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Illiger, C. D. 1811. Prodromus systematis mammalium et avium additis terminis zoograaphicis utriusque classis. Sumptibus C. Salfeld (Berolini).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaekel, O. 1895. Unter-Tertiäre Selachier aus Südrussland. Mémoires du Comité Géologique de Saint-Pétersbourg 9, 19–35.Google Scholar
Joleaud, L. 1907. Note sur quelques dents de poissons fossiles du Rio de Oro (Sahara occidental). Bulletin de la Société géologique de France t.VII, 514.Google Scholar
Koeniguer, J. C. 1967. Etude paloxylologique du Rio de Oro. Notas y Comunicaciones Insituto Geologico y Minero de España 96, 39–66.Google Scholar
Labails, C., Olivet, J. L. & the Dakhla study group. 2009. Crustal structure of the SW Moroccan margin from wide-angle and reflection seismic data (the Dakhla experiment). Part B: The tectonic heritage. Tectonophysics 468, 83–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lecointre, G. 1962. Sur la géologie de la presqu'ile de villa Cisceros, Rio de Oro. Comptes rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 254, 1121–2.Google Scholar
Lecointre, G. 1963 a. Note sur le Néogène et le Quaternaire marins du Sahara espagnol (Seguiet el Hamra et Rio de Oro). Notas y Comunicaciones del Instituto geologico y minero de España 71, 5–38.Google Scholar
Lecointre, G. 1963 b. Recherche sur le néogène et le quaternaire marins de la côte atlantique du Maroc. Notes et mémoires du service géologique du Maroc 174, 5–75.Google Scholar
Lecointre, G. 1966 a. Néogène et quaternaire du Rio de Oro. Compte rendus de l'Académie des Sciences 10, 404.Google Scholar
Lecointre, G. 1966 b. Néogène et quaternaire du bassin cotier de Tarfaya. Notes et mémoires du service géologique du Maroc 175, 255–88.Google Scholar
Lecointre, G. & Koeniguer, J. C. 1965. Détermination d'un bois fossile récolté au Rio de Oro. Notas y Comunicaciones Insituto Geologico y Minero de España 80, 95–9.Google Scholar
Long, D. J. 1992. Sharks from the la meseta formation (Eocene), Seymour Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 12, 11–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahboubi, M., Ameur, R., Crochet, J.-Y. & Jaeger, J.-J. 1986. El Kohol (Saharan Atlas, Algeria): a new Eocene mammal locality in northwestern Africa. Palaeontographica 192 (1–3), 15–49.Google Scholar
McKenna, M. C. 1975. Toward a phylogenetic classification of the Mammalia. In A phylogeny of the primates. A multidisciplinary approach (eds Luckett, W. P. & Szalay, F. S.), pp. 21–46. New York: Plenum Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meulenkamp, J. E. & Sissingh, W. 2003. Tertiary palaogeography and tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Northern and Southern Peri-Tethys platforms and the intermediate domains of the African–Eurasian convergent plate boundary zone. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 196, 209–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, K. G., Kominz, M. A., Browning, J. V., Wright, J. D., Mountain, G. S., Katz, M. E., Sugarman, P. J., Cramer, B. S., Christie-Blick, N. & Pekar, S. F. 2005. The Phanerozoic record of global sea-level change. Science 310, 1293–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Müller, A. 1999. Ichthyofaunen aus dem atlantischen Tertiär der USA. Leipziger Geowissenschaften 9–10, 1–360.Google Scholar
Murray, A. M. 2004. Late Eocene and Early Oligocene teleost and associated ichthyofauna of the jebel Qatrani Formation, Fayum, Egypt. Palaeontology 47, 711–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mustafa, H. A. & Zalmout, I. S. 2002. Elasmobranchs from the late Eocene Wadi Esh-Shallala Formation of Qa'Faydat ad Dahikiya, East Jordan. Tertiary Research 21, 77–94.Google Scholar
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 8, 1–327.Google Scholar
Noubhani, A., Hautier, L., Jaeger, J.-J., Mahboubi, M. & Tabuce, R. 2008. Variabilité dentaire et crânienne de Numidotherium koholense (Mammalia, Proboscidea) de l'Éocène d'El Kohol, Algérie. Géobios 41, 515–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ortlieb, L. 1975. Recherche sur les formations plio-quaternaire du littoral Ouest-Saharien (28°30′–20°40′ latitude Nord). Travaux et Documentation ORSTOM 48, 267 pp.Google Scholar
Peters, S. E., Antar, M. S. M., Zalmout, I. S. & Gingerich, P. D. 2009. Sequence stratigraphic control on preservation of late Eocene Whales and other vertebrates at Wadi Al-Hitan, Egypt. Palaios 24, 290–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ratschiller, L. K. 1967. Sahara, correlazioni geologico-lithostratigrafiche fra Sahara Centrale ed Occidentale (con note gologiche generali e brevi cenni sulle possibilita dell'Africa Nord-Occidentale). Memorie del Museo Tridentino di Scienze Naturali 16 (1), 55–190.Google Scholar
Rjimati, E., Zemmouri, A., Benlakhdim, A., Amzaehou, M., Essalmani, B., Mustaphi, H., Haimouk, M. & Hamidi, F. 2008. Carte Geologique du Maroc: Ad-Dakhla, 1/100000. Editions du service Géologique du Maroc, Notes et mémoires no. 487.Google Scholar
Roman, J. 1963. Les Rotules du Sahara espagnol. Notas y Comunicaciones del Instituto geologico y minero de Espana 70, 103–21.Google Scholar
Saadi, M. 1988. Schéma structural du Maroc au 1:4 000 000. Rabat: Service géologique du Maroc, 1988. 1 carte. Notes et Mémoire du Service Géologique, no. 278B.Google Scholar
Sanders, W. J., Kappelman, J. & Rasmussen, D. T. 2004. New large-bodied mammals from the late Oligocene site of Chilga, Ethiopia. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 49 (3), 365–92.Google Scholar
Shoshani, J., West, R. M., Court, N., Savage, R. J. G. & Harris, J. M. 1996. The earliest Proboscideans: general plan, taxonomy and palaeoecology. In The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and Relatives (eds Shoshani, J. & Tassy, P.), pp. 57–75. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stromer, E. 1905. Die Fischreste des mittleren und oberen Eocäns von Aegyten. Beiträge zur Palaeontologie und Geologie Oesterreich–Ungarns und des Orients Bd XVIII 1(3), 37–58, 163–92.Google Scholar
Stromer, E. 1910. Reptilien und Fishreste aus dem marinen Alttertiär von Südtogo (West africa). Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Geowissenschaften 52, 478–505.Google Scholar
Strougo, A., Cappetta, H. & Elnahas, S. 2007. A remarkable Eocene ichthyofauna from the El Gedida glauconitic sandstone, Bahariya oasis, Egypt, and its stratigraphic implications. Middle East Research Center, Aïn Shams University, Earth Science Series 21, 81–98.Google Scholar
Swezey, C. S. 2009. Cenozoic stratigraphy of the Sahara, Northern Africa. Journal of African Earth Sciences 53, 89–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabuce, R., Delmer, C. & Gheerbrant, E. 2007. Evolution of the tooth enamel microstructure in the earliest proboscideans (Mammalia). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 149, 611–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomas, H., Roger, J., Sen, S., Bourdillon-de-Grissac, C. & Al-Sulmainai, Z. 1989. Découverte de vertébrés fossiles dans l'Oligocène inférieur du Dhofar (Sultanat d'Oman). Geobios 22, 101–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uhen, M. D. 2008. Basilosaurids. In Encyclopedia of marine mammals, 2nd edition (eds Perrin, W. F., Würsig, B. & Thewissen, J. G. M.), pp. 91–4. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Villeneuve, M. 2005. Paleozoic basins in West Africa and the Mauritanide thrust belt. Journal of African Earth Sciences 43, 166–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Von Raad, R. U. & Wissmann, G. 1982. Stratigraphy, facies, and tectonic development of on- and offshore Aaiun–Tarfaya Basin – a review. In Geology of the North West African Continental Margin (ed. Von Raad, U.), pp. 86–104. Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ward, J. W. & Wiest, R. L. 1990. A checklist of Palaeocene and Eocene sharks and rays (Chondrichthyes) from the Pamunkey Group, Maryland and Virginia, USA. Tertiary Research 12, 81–8.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1926. Eocene fishes from Nigeria. Bulletin of the Geological Survey of Nigeria 10, 1–82.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1955. Notes on African Tertiary sharks. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Nigeria 5, 319–25.Google Scholar
White, E. I. 1956. The Eocene fishes of Alabama. Bulletins of American Paleontology 36, 123–50.Google Scholar
Zalmout, I. S., Mustafa, H. A. & Gingerich, P. D. 2000. Priabonian Basilosaurus isis (Cetacea) from the Wadi Esh-Shallala Fomration: First Marine Mammals from the Eocene of Jordan. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 20, 201–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar