TY - JOUR
T1 - A late Cretaceous elasmosaurid of the Tethys Sea margins (southern Negev, Israel), and its palaeogeographic reconstruction
AU - Rabinovich, R.
AU - Ginat, H.
AU - Schudack, M.
AU - Schudack, U.
AU - Ashckenazi-Polivoda, S.
AU - Rogolsky, G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Netherlands Journal of Geosciences Foundation.
PY - 2014/7/21
Y1 - 2014/7/21
N2 - Recent research on the late Cretaceous (Santonian), Menuha Formation of the southern Negev, Israel, has revealed several unconformities in its exposures, spatial changes in its lithofacies, agglomerations of its carbonate concretions and nodules at a variety of localities. At Menuha Ridge Site 20, portions of a new elasmosaurid skeleton were found within deposits of laminated bio-micritic muddy limestone with thin phosphatic layers. The sediments are rich in microfossils - foraminifera and ostracods preserved in the carbonate mud. Planktic foraminifera species (e.g. Dicarinella asymetrica, D. concavata, Sigalia decoratissima carpatica) appear as well as species indicative of opportunistic life strategies typical of a forming upwelling system in the region. Marine ostracods (e.g. Brachycythere angulata, Cythereis rosenfeldi evoluta) and many echinoid spines suggest an open marine environment. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we offer here a reconstruction of the micro-regional palaeogeography along a segment of the ancient shoreline of the Tethys Sea during the Santonian, and explain the environmental conditions under which the various fauna lived. This new elasmosaurid is examined in light of the above and compared with evidence from the adjacent areas along the margins of the southern Tethys Sea.
AB - Recent research on the late Cretaceous (Santonian), Menuha Formation of the southern Negev, Israel, has revealed several unconformities in its exposures, spatial changes in its lithofacies, agglomerations of its carbonate concretions and nodules at a variety of localities. At Menuha Ridge Site 20, portions of a new elasmosaurid skeleton were found within deposits of laminated bio-micritic muddy limestone with thin phosphatic layers. The sediments are rich in microfossils - foraminifera and ostracods preserved in the carbonate mud. Planktic foraminifera species (e.g. Dicarinella asymetrica, D. concavata, Sigalia decoratissima carpatica) appear as well as species indicative of opportunistic life strategies typical of a forming upwelling system in the region. Marine ostracods (e.g. Brachycythere angulata, Cythereis rosenfeldi evoluta) and many echinoid spines suggest an open marine environment. Using a multidisciplinary approach, we offer here a reconstruction of the micro-regional palaeogeography along a segment of the ancient shoreline of the Tethys Sea during the Santonian, and explain the environmental conditions under which the various fauna lived. This new elasmosaurid is examined in light of the above and compared with evidence from the adjacent areas along the margins of the southern Tethys Sea.
KW - Arava Valley
KW - Menuha Formation
KW - Santonian
KW - Tethys Sea
KW - elasmosaurid
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84951784084&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/njg.2014.26
DO - 10.1017/njg.2014.26
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AN - SCOPUS:84951784084
SN - 0016-7746
VL - 94
SP - 73
EP - 86
JO - Geologie en Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences
JF - Geologie en Mijnbouw/Netherlands Journal of Geosciences
IS - 1
ER -