The Kandreho Formation is an
Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic� ...
(middle or late
Toarcian
The Toarcian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, an age (geology), age and stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Early Jurassic, Early or Lower Jurassic. It spans the time between 184.2 Megaannum, Ma (million ...
)
geological formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...
of the
Mahajanga Basin
Mahajangā (French: Majunga) is a city and an administrative district on the northwest coast of Madagascar. The city of Mahajanga (Mahajanga I) is the capital of the Boeny Region. The district (identical to the city) had a population of 258,068 ...
of
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
. The
marl
Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae.
M ...
y
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
s of the formation were deposited in a subtidal
lagoon
A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...
al
environment. The formation overlies the ''
Bouleiceras'' and ''
Spiriferina'' beds of the early Toarcian and has been correlated to the
Marrat Formation of
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
.
Fossils of the marine crocodylian "''
Steneosaurus
''Steneosaurus'' (from , 'narrow' and , 'lizard') is a dubious genus of teleosaurid crocodyliform from the Middle or Late Jurassic (Callovian or early Oxfordian) of France. The genus has been used as a wastebasket taxon for thalattosuchian ...
"'' as well as
bivalve
Bivalvia () or bivalves, in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of aquatic animal, aquatic molluscs (marine and freshwater) that have laterally compressed soft bodies enclosed b ...
s and the
ammonite
Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...
''
Nejdia'' have been found in the formation.
Behazonaty, SW of the basin of the Kelifely
at Fossilworks
Fossilworks was a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world.
History
Fossilworks was cr ...
.org[Buffetaut et al., 1981, p.314] The name Kandreho Formation was proposed by Geiger in 2004.[Geiger, 2004, p.125]
Fossils
Crocodyliformes
See also
* List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Madagascar
Several fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Madagascar have provided fossils, most notably the Maastrichtian Maevarano Formation and the Jurassic Isalo III Formation. The oldest fossil-bearing formations date to ages before the break-up of Madag ...
* Geology of Madagascar
The geology of Madagascar comprises a variety of rocks of Precambrian age which make up the larger part of the east and centre of the island. They are intruded by basalts and rhyolites of Mesozoic to Cenozoic age. In contrast, the western part ...
* Isalo III Formation
The Isalo III Formation is a geological Formation (geology), formation in Madagascar, off the eastern coast of Africa. It dates back to the Middle Jurassic.Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.542-543 The use of the term "Isalo III" is somewhat controversia ...
References
Bibliography
*
* {{citation , last=Geiger , first=Markus , year=2004 , title=Sedimentary and stratal patterns in Jurassic successions of western Madagascar - Facies, stratigraphy, and architecture of Gondwana breakup and drift sequences (PhD thesis) , url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/203076/files/PAL_E3919.pdf , publisher= Universität Bremen , pages=1–179 , accessdate=2018-08-30
Geologic formations of Madagascar
Jurassic System of Africa
Early Jurassic Africa
Jurassic Madagascar
Toarcian Stage
Limestone formations
Lagoonal deposits
Paleontology in Madagascar
Formations