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Infratrappean Beds
The Lameta Formation, also known as the Infratrappean Beds, is a sedimentary geological formation found in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra, India, associated with the Deccan Traps. It is of Maastrichtian age (Late Cretaceous), and is notable for its dinosaur fossils. Many dubious names have been created for isolated bones, but several genera of dinosaurs from these rocks are well-supported, including the titanosaur sauropod ''Isisaurus'' and the abelisaurs ''Indosaurus'', ''Indosuchus'', ''Laevisuchus'', and ''Rajasaurus''.Weishampel et al., 2004, pp.517-606 As well as mammals, snakes and other fossils. Lithology The formation is underlain by the Lower Cretaceous sedimentary "Upper Gondwana Sequence" also known as the Jabalpur Formation, and is overlain by the Deccan Traps basalt. The Lameta Formation is only exposed at the surface as small isolated outcrops associated with the Satpura Fault. The lithology of the formation, depending on the outcrop, consists of alternati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geological Formation
A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics ( lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock exposed in a geographical region (the stratigraphic column). It is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy, the study of strata or rock layers. A formation must be large enough that it can be mapped at the surface or traced in the subsurface. Formations are otherwise not defined by the thickness of their rock strata, which can vary widely. They are usually, but not universally, tabular in form. They may consist of a single lithology (rock type), or of alternating beds of two or more lithologies, or even a heterogeneous mixture of lithologies, so long as this distinguishes them from adjacent bodies of rock. The concept of a geologic formation goes back to the beginnings of modern scientific geology. The term was used by Abraham Gottlob Wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Late Cretaceous
The Late Cretaceous (100.5–66 Ma) is the younger of two epochs into which the Cretaceous Period is divided in the geologic time scale. Rock strata from this epoch form the Upper Cretaceous Series. The Cretaceous is named after ''creta'', the Latin word for the white limestone known as chalk. The chalk of northern France and the white cliffs of south-eastern England date from the Cretaceous Period. Climate During the Late Cretaceous, the climate was warmer than present, although throughout the period a cooling trend is evident. The tropics became restricted to equatorial regions and northern latitudes experienced markedly more seasonal climatic conditions. Geography Due to plate tectonics, the Americas were gradually moving westward, causing the Atlantic Ocean to expand. The Western Interior Seaway divided North America into eastern and western halves; Appalachia and Laramidia. India maintained a northward course towards Asia. In the Southern Hemisphere, Australia and Ant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jabalpur Formation
Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. Jabalpur is an important administrative, industrial and business center of Madhya Pradesh. It is the judicial capital of Madhya Pradesh as The Madhya Pradesh High Court along with other important administrative headquarters of India and Madhya Pradesh are located in Jabalpur. It is generally accepted that the game of Snooker originated in Jabalpur. Jabalpur is the administrative headquarters of Jabalpur district (the second-most-populous district in Madhya Pradesh) and the Jabalpur division. It also is a major education centre in India. The city is known for the marble rocks on the river Narmada at Bhedaghat. Etymology According to a prevalent theory, Jabalpur was named after a sage named Jabali, who meditated on the banks of the Narmad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rajasaurus
''Rajasaurus'' (meaning "princely lizard") is a genus of carnivorous abelisaurid theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of India, containing one species: ''Rajasaurus narmadensis''. The bones were excavated from the Lameta Formation in the Gujarat state of Western India, probably inhabiting what is now the Narmada River Valley. It was formally described by palaeontologist Jeffrey A. Wilson and colleagues in 2003 based on a partial skeleton comprising the braincase, spine, hip bone, legs, and tail–a first for an Indian theropod. The dinosaur likely measured , and had a single horn on the forehead which was probably used for display and head-butting. Like other abelisaurids, ''Rajasaurus'' was probably an ambush predator. India at this time was an island, due to the break-up of the supercontinent Gondwana, though it is possible animals still were able to migrate to and from nearby continents. The creation of the subfamily Majungasaurinae, and its inclusion of abelisaurid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Laevisuchus
''Laevisuchus'' (, "light crocodile") is a genus of theropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous. Its remains were discovered by Charles Alfred Matley near Jabalpur in Maastrichtian deposits in the Lameta Formation in India, and were named and described by paleontologists Friedrich von Huene and Matley in 1933. The type species is ''Laevisuchus indicus''. The generic name is derived from Latin ''laevis'', "light" and the Greek name for the ancient Egyptian crocodile god, '' Soukhos''. The specific name means "Indian" in Latin. It is known only from three cervical vertebrae (GSI K20/613, GSI K20/614 and GSI K27/696) and a dorsal vertebra (GSI K27/588). A holotype was not assigned by Huene and Matley and a lectotype has never been chosen from the syntypes. All remains except GSI K27/696 were lost; GSI K20/613 was rediscovered in 2012. Description ''Laevisuchus'' was a small bipedal carnivore. In 1998 David Lambert estimated it was some long, high, and approximately in weight.L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indosuchus
''Indosuchus'' () is a genus of abelisaurid dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Period (70 to 66 million years ago – the Maastrichtian), a theropod related to '' Abelisaurus''. Like most theropods, ''Indosuchus'' was a bipedal carnivore. It was about 7 metres long, weighed about 1.2 tonnes, and had a crested skull, flattened on the top. Naming ''Indosuchus'' was named by Friedrich von Huene in 1932 and was described by Huene and Charles Alfred Matley in 1933 from three partial skulls found by Matley in India near Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh in strata of the Lameta Formation.F. v. Huene and C. A. Matley, 1933, "The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces of India", ''Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India'' 21(1): 1-74 The lectotype is GSI K27/685, consisting of the parietals and frontals of a single individual. Two paralectotypes were referred, both including material from the posterior skull, with the fossils referr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indosaurus
''Indosaurus'' () is a genus of carnivorous theropod dinosaur that lived in what is now India, about 69 to 66 million years ago during the Maastrichtian division of the Late Cretaceous. The species I. matleyi weighed roughly 700 kg (1540 lb). History The type species, ''Indosaurus matleyi'', was named by Huene and Matley in 1933 making Indosaurus the first Majungasaurine to be discovered.F. von Huene and C. A. Matley, 1933, "The Cretaceous Saurischia and Ornithischia of the Central Provinces of India", ''Palaeontologica Indica (New Series), Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India'' 21(1): 1-74 The generic name refers to India and the specific name honours Matley. This species now also includes ''Megalosaurus matleyi''; confusingly, the dubious tooth taxon ''Orthogoniosaurus'' shares the same specific name but is based on different material. Some paleontologists have speculated that ''Indosuchus'' and ''Compsosuchus'' should also be included within the genus ''Ind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abelisaur
Abelisauroidea is typically regarded as a Cretaceous group, though the earliest abelisauridae remains are known from the Middle Jurassic of Argentina (classified as the species Eoabelisaurus mefi) and possibly Madagascar (fragmentary remains of an unnamed species) possible abelisauridae remains (an isolated left tibia, right femur, and right tibia) were also discovered in Late Jurassic Tendaguru Beds in Tanzania. Abelisauroids flourished in the Southern hemisphere during the Cretaceous period, but their origins can be traced back to at least the Middle Jurassic, when they had a more global distribution (the earliest known abelisauroid remains come from Australian and South American deposits dated to about 170 million years ago). By the Cretaceous period, abelisauroids had apparently become extinct in Asia and North America, possibly due to competition from tyrannosauroids. However, advanced abelisauroids of the family Abelisauridae persisted in the southern continents until ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isisaurus
''Isisaurus'' (named after the Indian Statistical Institute) is a genus of titanosaurian dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous Lameta Formation of India. The genus contains a single species, ''Isisaurus colberti''. Discovery and Naming The type specimen of ''Isisaurus colberti'', ISI R 335/1-65, was originally described and named as ''Titanosaurus colberti'' by Sohan Lal Jain and Saswati Bandyopadhyay in 1997. The specific name honours Edwin Harris Colbert. In 2003, the fossils were designated as belonging to its own genus by Wilson and Upchurch. The generic name, "''Isisaurus''," combines a reference to the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) with the Greek "saurus," meaning "lizard." It had a short, vertically directed neck and long forelimbs, making it considerably different from other sauropods. The humerus is 148 centimetres long. ''Isisaurus'' is known from better remains than many other titanosaurs that were known at the time of its description. Much of its postcranial ske ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sauropod
Sauropoda (), whose members are known as sauropods (; from '' sauro-'' + '' -pod'', 'lizard-footed'), is a clade of saurischian ('lizard-hipped') dinosaurs. Sauropods had very long necks, long tails, small heads (relative to the rest of their body), and four thick, pillar-like legs. They are notable for the enormous sizes attained by some species, and the group includes the largest animals to have ever lived on land. Well-known genera include ''Brachiosaurus'', ''Diplodocus'', ''Apatosaurus'' and ''Brontosaurus''. The oldest known unequivocal sauropod dinosaurs are known from the Early Jurassic. ''Isanosaurus'' and ''Antetonitrus'' were originally described as Triassic sauropods, but their age, and in the case of ''Antetonitrus'' also its sauropod status, were subsequently questioned. Sauropod-like sauropodomorph tracks from the Fleming Fjord Formation (Greenland) might, however, indicate the occurrence of the group in the Late Triassic. By the Late Jurassic (150 million yea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Titanosaur
Titanosaurs (or titanosaurians; members of the group Titanosauria) were a diverse group of sauropod dinosaurs, including genera from all seven continents. The titanosaurs were the last surviving group of long-necked sauropods, with taxa still thriving at the time of the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous. This group includes some of the largest land animals known to have ever existed, such as ''Patagotitan''—estimated at long with a weight of —and the comparably-sized ''Argentinosaurus'' and ''Puertasaurus'' from the same region. The group's name alludes to the mythological Titans of ancient Greek mythology, via the type genus (now considered a '' nomen dubium)'' ''Titanosaurus''. Together with the brachiosaurids and relatives, titanosaurs make up the larger sauropod clade Titanosauriformes. Titanosaurs have long been a poorly-known group, and the relationships between titanosaur species are still not well-understood. Description Titanosauria have the largest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family (taxonomy), family. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial species name for each species within the genus. :E.g. ''Panthera leo'' (lion) and ''Panthera onca'' (jaguar) are two species within the genus ''Panthera''. ''Panthera'' is a genus within the family Felidae. The composition of a genus is determined by taxonomy (biology), taxonomists. The standards for genus classification are not strictly codified, so different authorities often produce different classifications for genera. There are some general practices used, however, including the idea that a newly defined genus should fulfill these three criteria to be descriptively useful: # monophyly – all descendants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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