Khadir Formation Explained

Khadir Formation
Type:Geological formation
Age:Jurassic
Period:Jurassic
Namedfor:Khadir Island
Region:Gujrat
Country: India
Coordinates:23.9°N 70.3°W
Paleocoordinates:-22.8°N 33.7°W
Subunits:Hadibhadang Member and Dingy Hill Member
Thickness:550-
Extent:Katch Basin

The Khadir Formation is a geological formation in India. It is of Middle Jurassic age. Dinosaur bones are among the fossils recovered from the formation.

Lithology

The Khadir Formation is composed of in variegated to dark red argillaceous silt, where in ceratain horizions the silt are full of diagenetically formed gypsum. Occasionally, the silt is interrupted thin intercalations of fine to medium-grained crossbedded sandstone. The silt overlies whitish, medium-grained sandstone with large trough-crossbeds. Towards the north of Khadir Island a nine meter thick, friable, coarse-grained sandstone occours, with large trough-crossbedding that cements towards the top and forms a small cliff. The depositional environment appears to have been a floodplain with fluvial channels bue to the variegated and red colours, fossil wood and the sharp erosional base of the sandstones.[1]

Paleobiota

Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs from the Karai Formation
Genus Species Location Material Notes Images
SauropodaIndeterminate.Southern margin of Cheriya BetRib, vertebral fragments and a part of a long bone.
CamarasauromorphaIndeterminate.Southern margin of Cheriya BetDistal end of a right metacarpal. nearly complete right pedal claw. part of a left fibula.Possibly represents the oldest known camarasauromorph. May not belong to the same taxon.

Notes and References

  1. Moser . Markus . Mathur . Umesh B. . Fürsich . Franz T. . Pandey . Dhirendra K. . Mathur . Neera . 2006-03-01 . Oldest camarasauromorph sauropod (Dinosauria) discovered in the Middle Jurassic (Bajocian) of the Khadir Island, Kachchh, western India . Paläontologische Zeitschrift . en . 80 . 1 . 34–51 . 10.1007/BF02988396 . 0031-0220.