Ouled Abdoun Basin


The Oulad Abdoun Basin is a phosphate sedimentary 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. It is also known as an important site for vertebrate fossils, with deposits ranging from the Late Cretaceous to the Eocene epoch, a period of about 25 million years.

Geography

The Oulad Abdoun is located west of the Atlas Mountains, near the city of Khouribga. The Oulad Abdoun phosphate deposits encompass some, an area of. 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 basins.

Faunal composition

The Oulad Abdoun Basin stretches from 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.

Reptiles

Snakes

Mammals are relatively rare in the basin but include early Afrotherians and primitive Proboscideans.

Basal paeungulates

Bird fossils are common in the Basin, which includes the oldest birds in Africa. At least three orders and several families of sea birds are represented, including Procellariiformes, Pelecaniformes, and Anseriformes.

Non-avian Dinosaurs