The Itat Formation (

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: итатская свита) is a geologic

formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...

in western

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. It was deposited in the

Bajocian In the geologic timescale, the Bajocian is an age and stage in the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 170.3 Ma to around 168.3 Ma (million years ago). The Bajocian Age succeeds the Aalenian Age and precedes the Bathonian Age. Stratig ...

Bathonian In the geologic timescale the Bathonian is an age and stage of the Middle Jurassic. It lasted from approximately 168.3 Ma to around 166.1 Ma (million years ago). The Bathonian Age succeeds the Bajocian Age and precedes the Callovian Age. Strat ...

age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...

s of the

Middle Jurassic The Middle Jurassic is the second epoch of the Jurassic Period. It lasted from about 174.1 to 163.5 million years ago. Fossils of land-dwelling animals, such as dinosaurs, from the Middle Jurassic are relatively rare, but geological formations co ...

Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, including the proceratosaurid ''

Kileskus ''Kileskus'' (meaning ''lizard'' in the Khakas language) is a genus of tyrannosauroid dinosaur known from partial remains found in Middle Jurassic (Bathonian stage) Itat Formation of Sharypovsky District, Krasnoyarsk Krai (Russia). Fossils r ...

'', as well as fish, amphibians, mammals and many other vertebrates. The formation is noted for bearing significant coal reserves, with large

open pit Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow. This form of minin ...

coal mines Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

extracting

lignite Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat. It has a carbon content around 25–35%, and is considered the lowest rank of coal due to its relatively low heat ...

from the unit currently in operation.

Lithology

The lower section of the formation is around 50–130 m thick, and consists of light grey sandstones with gravel, siltstone and rare coal beds. At the Dubinino locality, the 50 m exposed section of the upper part of the formation shows an irregular rhythmic alteration of fine grained sandstone, siltstone and mudstone and coal seams typically a few tens of cm's but up to several meters thick. The deposit is located on the South Eastern margin of the

West Siberian basin West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

Locality

Most of the fossils were found in the

overburden In mining, overburden (also called waste or spoil) is the material that lies above an area that lends itself to economical exploitation, such as the rock, soil, and ecosystem that lies above a coal seam or ore body. Overburden is distinct from tai ...

of Berezovsk coal mine^{ru.html" ;"title=":ru:Разрез Березовский-1">ru">:ru:Разрез Березовский-1">ru/sup>, which is located in southern Krasnoyarsk Krai

Krasnoyarsk Krai ( rus, Красноя́рский край, r=Krasnoyarskiy kray, p=krəsnɐˈjarskʲɪj ˈkraj) is a federal subject of Russia (a krai), with its administrative center in the city of Krasnoyarsk, the third-largest city in Siber ...
(Sharypovsky District
Sharypovsky District (russian: Шары́повский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #10-4765 and municipalLaw #14-3185 district (raion), one of the forty-three districts in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the ...
) near the border with Kemerovo Oblast

Kemerovo Oblast — Kuzbass (russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть — Кузба́сс, translit=Kemerovskaya oblast — Kuzbass, ), also known simply as Kemerovo Oblast (russian: Ке́меровская о́бласть, label=non ...
. The deposit is stratigraphically located in the upper member of the formation. The fossiliferous level of the locality is located above thick (> 50 m) coal seams and consists of unconsolidated silt and sand, which were deposited on an alluvial plain. Due to the fluvial origin of the sediment the remains are disarticulated and often are water worn, though they are mostly well preserved, which suggests they had not been significantly transported. The fossils were largely obtained by screenwashing of the debris. 10-15 tons of material have been processed so far.

Paleobiota

Taken from unless otherwise noted.

Fish

Amphibians

Turtles

Lepidosauromorphs

Choristoderes

Pterosaurs

Crocodyliforms

Dinosaurs

Mammaliamorphs

Insects

Numerous insect species are known from the Kubekovo village locality located within the upper member of the formation.

Flora

See also

* List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations
This list of dinosaur-bearing rock formations is a list of geologic formations in which dinosaur fossils have been documented.
Containing body fossils
* List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur body fossils
** List of stratigraphic units with ...

References

{{Reflist

Geologic formations of Russia
Jurassic System of Asia
Jurassic Russia
Bathonian Stage
Bajocian Stage
Paleontology in Russia
Formations}