The Elrhaz Formation is a geological

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondary ...

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

. Its strata date back to the

Early Cretaceous The Early Cretaceous (geochronology, geochronological name) or the Lower Cretaceous (chronostratigraphy, chronostratigraphic name) is the earlier or lower of the two major divisions of the Cretaceous. It is usually considered to stretch from 143.1 ...

, about 125 to 112 million years ago. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, alongside those of multiple species of crocodyliformes.

Gadoufaoua

Gadoufaoua (

Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym, depending on variety: ''Imuhaɣ'', ''Imušaɣ'', ''Imašeɣăn'' or ''Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group, traditionally nomadic pastoralists, who principally inhabit th ...

for "the place where camels fear to go") is a site within the Elrhaz Formation (located at ) in the Tenere desert of

known for its extensive

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

graveyard. It is where remains of '' Sarcosuchus imperator'', popularly known as

SuperCroc ''Sarcosuchus'' (), from Ancient Greek σάρξ (''sárx''), meaning "flesh", and σούχος (''soúkhos''), meaning "crocodile", is an extinct genus of crocodyliform a that lived during the Early Cretaceous, from the late Hauterivian to the ...

, were found (by

Paul Sereno Paul Callistus Sereno (born October 11, 1957) is a professor of paleontology at the University of Chicago who has discovered several new dinosaur species on several continents, including at sites in Inner Mongolia, Argentina, Morocco and Niger. ...

in 1997, for example), including vertebrae, limb bones, armor plates, jaws, and a nearly complete skull. Erlhaz Formation

Gadoufaoua is very hot and dry. Based on the sedimentary and fossil record, Gadoufaoua had trees, plants, and wide rivers 112 million years ago. The river covered the remains of dead animals, the fossilized remains of which were protected by the drying rivers over millions of years.SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Nov. 13: Digest - 12 November 2001 Voice of America
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Vertebrate paleofauna

Chondrichthyes

Sarcopterygii

Actinopterygii

Testudines

Crocodyliformes

Dinosaurs

Ornithischians

Theropods

Sauropods

Flora

References

Bibliography

* * * {{citation , last1=Weishampel , first1=David B. , author2-link=Peter Dodson , last2=Dodson , first2=Peter , author3-link=Halszka Osmólska , last3=Osmólska , first3=Halszka , year=2004 , title=The Dinosauria, 2nd edition , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZFDb_iw40C , publisher=Berkeley: University of California Press , pages=1–880 , accessdate=2019-02-21 , isbn=0-520-24209-2 , author1-link=David B. Weishampel

* P. M. Galton and P. Taquet. 1982. ''Valdosaurus'', a hypsilophodontid dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous of Europe and Africa. Géobios 15(2):147-159 * H. C. E. Larsson and B. Gado. 2000. A new Early Cretaceous crocodyliform from Niger. Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Abhandlungen 217(1):131-141 * P. C. Sereno and S. J. ElShafie. 2013. A New Long-Necked Turtle, ''Laganemys tenerensis'' (Pleurodira: Araripemydidae), from the Elrhaz Formation (Aptian–Albian) of Niger. In D. B. Brinkman, P. A. Holroyd, J. D. Gardner (eds.), Morphology and Evolution of Turtles 215–250 * P. C. Sereno and H. C. E. Larsson. 2009. Cretaceous crocodyliformes from the Sahara. ZooKeys 28:1-143 * P. C. Sereno, A. L. Beck, D. B. Dutheil, B. Gado, H. C. E. Larsson, G. H. Lyon, J. D. Marcot, O. W. M. Rauhut, R. W. Sadleir, C. A. Sidor, D. D. Varricchio, G. P. Wilson, and J. A. Wilson. 1998. A long-snouted predatory dinosaur from Africa and the evolution of spinosaurids. Science 282:1298-1302 Geologic formations of Niger Upper Cretaceous Series of Africa Cretaceous Niger Albian Stage Sandstone formations Fluvial deposits Paleontology in Niger Cretaceous paleontological sites of Africa