The Oulad Abdoun Basin (also known as the Ouled Abdoun Basin or Khouribga Basin) is a phosphatesedimentary basin located in Morocco, near the city of Khouribga. It is the largest in Morocco, comprising 44% of Morocco's phosphate reserves, and at least 26.8 billion tons of phosphate.[1][2] It is also known as an important site for vertebratefossils, with deposits ranging from the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian) to the Eocene epoch (Ypresian), a period of about 25 million years.[3]
Geography
The Oulad Abdoun is located west of the Atlas Mountains, near the city of Khouribga. The Oulad Abdoun phosphate deposits encompass some 100 by 45 kilometres (62 by 28 mi), an area of 4,500 square kilometres (1,700 sq mi).[2] The Oulad Abdoun is the largest and northernmost of Morocco's major phosphate basins, which from northeast to southwest, include the Ganntour, Meskala, and Oued Eddahab (Laayoune-Baa) basins.[1][2]
Paleobiota
Life restoration of Ouled Abdoun Basin during the late cretaceous: paleofauna roaming on land (left) and sea (right).
Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.
The Oulad Abdoun Basin stretches from the late Cretaceous to the Eocene and contains abundant marine vertebrate fossils, including sharks, bony fish, turtles, crocodilians, and other reptiles, as well as sea birds and a small number of terrestrial mammals.[3][4]
^ abS. Zouhri; A. Kchikach; O. Saddiqi; F.Z. El Haimer; L. Baidder; A. Michard (2008). "The Cretaceous-Tertiary Plateaus". In A. Michard; O. Saddiqi; A. Chalouan; D. Frizon de Lamotte (eds.). Continental Evolution: the Geology of Morocco. Berlin: Springer. pp. 331–358. ISBN978-3-540-77075-6.
^ abcOffice Chérifien des Phosphates (1989). "The Phosphate Basins of Morocco". In A.J.G. Notholt; R.P. Sheldon; D.F. Davidson (eds.). Phosphate Deposits of the World. Volume 2, Phosphate Rock Resources. Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press. pp. 301–311. ISBN978-0-521-67333-4.
^ abYans, Johan; Amaghzaz, M'Barek; Bouya, Baadi; Cappetta, Henri; Iacumin, Paola; Kocsis, László; Mouflih, Mustapha; Selloum, Omar; Sen, Sevket; Storme, Jean-Yves; Gheerbrant, Emmanuel (2014). "First carbon isotope chemostratigraphy of the Ouled Abdoun phosphate Basin, Morocco; implications for dating and evolution of earliest African placental mammals". Gondwana Research. 25 (1): 257–269. Bibcode:2014GondR..25..257Y. doi:10.1016/j.gr.2013.04.004.
^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.
^Jonet, S.; Wouters, G. (1977). "Maroccosuchus zennaroi, crocodilien eusuchien nouveau des phosphates du Maroc". Notes et Mémoires du Service Géologique du Maroc. 38: 177–202.
^Strong, Catherine R. C.; Caldwell, Michael W.; Konishi, Takuya; Palci, Alessandro (2020-09-28). "A new species of longirostrine plioplatecarpine mosasaur (Squamata: Mosasauridae) from the Late Cretaceous of Morocco, with a re-evaluation of the problematic taxon 'Platecarpus' ptychodon". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 18 (21): 1769–1804. doi:10.1080/14772019.2020.1818322. ISSN1477-2019.
^Longrich, N. R.; Bardet, N.; Khaldoune, F.; Khadiri Yazami, O.; Jalil, N.-E. (2021). "Pluridens serpentis, a new mosasaurid (Mosasauridae: Halisaurinae) from the Maastrichtian of Morocco and implications for mosasaur diversity". Cretaceous Research. 126: Article 104882. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104882.
^Longrich, N. R.; Bardet, N.; Schulp, A. S.; Jalil, N.-E. (2021). "Xenodens calminechari gen. et sp. nov., a bizarre mosasaurid (Mosasauridae, Squamata) with shark-like cutting teeth from the upper Maastrichtian of Morocco, North Africa". Cretaceous Research. 123: Article 104764. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104764. S2CID233567615.
^Houssaye, Alexandra; Rage, Jean-Claude; Bardet, Nathalie; Vincent, Peggy; Amaghzaz, Mbarek; Meslouh, Said (2013). "New highlights about the enigmatic marine snake Palaeophis maghrebianus (Palaeophiidae; Palaeophiinae) from the Ypresian (Lower Eocene) phosphates of Morocco". Palaeontology. 56 (3): 647–661. doi:10.1111/pala.12008.
^Tong, H.; Hirayama, R. (2008). "A new species of Argillochelys (Testudines: Cryptodira: Cheloniidae) from the Ouled Abdoun phosphate basin, Morocco". Bulletin de la Société Géologique de France. 179 (6): 623–630. doi:10.2113/gssgfbull.179.6.623.
^ abLongrich, Nicholas R.; Isasmendi, Erik; Pereda-Suberbiola, Xabier; Jalil, Nour-Eddine (August 2023). "New fossils of Abelisauridae (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the upper Maastrichtian of Morocco, North Africa". Cretaceous Research: 105677. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2023.105677.
^Emmanuel Gheerbrant; Arnaud Schmitt; László Kocsis (2018). "Early African fossils elucidate the origin of embrithopod mammals". Current Biology. Online edition. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.032.
^Pacaud, J.M.; Lebrun, P. (2020). "Moroccan phosphate beds: hot-spot for Maastrichtian-Eocene fossils. The Invertebrate fauna.". In Lebrun, P. (ed.). Fossils from Morocco, Volume IIa, Emblematic localities from the Mesozoic and the Paleogene. pp. 235–245. ISBN9782917198469.