Anoual Formation


The Anoual Formation is a geological formation in the High Atlas of Morocco. It is early Bathonian in age. It consists of two members. The lower member is several hundred metres thick, and consists largely of mudstone with lens beds of cross bedded sandstone, with thin intercalations of limestone that was deposited in a freshwater continental setting, likely lacustrine or palustrine, with small marine influences. The upper member is several tens of metres thick and consists of limestone deposited in a shallow marine setting. The formation is fossiliferous, with several of the limestone intercalations yielding a diverse fauna, including amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs and mammals.

Paleobiota

Brachiopoda

Crustacea

Mollusca

Fish

Abundant osteichthyan ichthyoliths are known. An isolated spine displaying characters seen in extant cypriniform or siluriform fishes has been recovered, alternatively can belong to a member of Myriacanthidae.
GenusSpeciesLocationStratigraphic PositionMaterialNotesImages
ArganodusIndeterminateGuelb el AhmarUpper MemberIsolated tooth platesLungfish
Lepidotes/''Scheenstia''IndeterminateGuelb el AhmarUpper MemberIsolated teeth and scalesLepidotidae bony fish
cf. IonoscopiformesIndeterminateGuelb el AhmarUpper MemberRhomboidal scalesTentatively assigned to Ophiopsidae
MawsoniidaeIndeterminateGuelb el AhmarUpper MemberSkull bones including a parasphenoidCoelacanth
OsteoglossiformesIndeterminateGuelb el AhmarUpper MemberSquamules The oldest record of the group

Amphibians

Turtles

Lepidosaurs

Choristoderes

Dinosaurs

Pterosaurs

Crocodyliformes

Mammals

Charophyta

Palynology

Fossil Wood