| Dinosaur Beds | |
| Type: | Geological formation |
| Period: | Aptian |
| Prilithology: | Sandstone, siltstone, mudstone |
| Region: | Northern Region |
| Country: |  Malawi |
| Unitof: | Lupata Group |
| Subunits: | Lower Member, Upper Member |
| Underlies: | Unconformity with Pliocene Chiwondo Beds |
| Overlies: | Precambrian metamorphic basement |
| Thickness: | Upper member is 210m (690feet) thick in vicinity of CD-9 locality |
| Extent: | Karonga District |
The Dinosaur Beds is a geological formation in Malawi whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. The age of the deposit is poorly constrained, but is likely to date from the Barremian to Aptian.[1] Dinosaurs, turtles and crocodylomorphs remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.[2] It is correlated with the Galula Formation in Tanzania. It consists of two members, a lower unfossiliferous member consisting of deep red stained sandstones, and an upper fossiliferous member consisting of white sands and grey to red mudstones and siltstones. The upper member is 210 m thick in the vicinity of the CD-9 locality.[3]
| Plesiosaurs of the Dinosaur Beds | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genus | Species | Location | Stratigraphic position | Material | Notes | Images |
| Karongasaurus[4] | K. gittelmani | A titanosaurian sauropod. | ||||
| Malawisaurus[5] | M. dixeyi | A lithostrotian titanosaur. | ||||