The Qasr el Sagha Formation is a

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other E ...

formation located in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. The formation is part of the

Wadi El Hitan ( ar, وادي الحيتان, lit=Valley of the Whales ) is a paleontological site in the Faiyum Governorate of Egypt, some south-west of Cairo. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2005 for its hundreds of fossils of some ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

. The Qasr el Sagha Formation overlies the Birket Qarun Formation and is overlain by the Gebel Qatrani Formation. The

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

s and

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

s of the formation were deposited in a deltaic to shallow marine

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

.Gingerich et al., 2019 It dates to the

Late Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', ...

(middle

Priabonian The Priabonian is, in the ICS's geologic timescale, the latest age or the upper stage of the Eocene Epoch or Series. It spans the time between . The Priabonian is preceded by the Bartonian and is followed by the Rupelian, the lowest stage ...

, ).

Paleontological significance

Fossils of the early whale genus ''

Saghacetus ''Saghacetus'' is an extinct genus of basilosaurid early whale, fossils of which have been found in the Upper Eocene (middle Priabonian, ) Qasr el Sagha Formation, Egypt (, paleocoordinates ). In 1879, German botanist Georg August Schweinfurt ...

'' ("Sagha whale", originally named "''Zeuglodon osiris''") were first collected at Qasr al Sagha by German explorer

Georg August Schweinfurth Georg August Schweinfurth (29 December 1836 – 19 September 1925) was a Baltic German botanist and ethnologist who explored East Central Africa. Life and explorations He was born at Riga, Latvia, then part of the Russian Empire. He was edu ...

in January 1886 (a well-preserved dentary).''Saghacetus'' is common in the middle of Qasr el Sagha, but there are few other specimens of archaeocetes whales; the only exception being the enigmatic "''Prozeuglodon stromeri''", named in 1828 based on specimens from 1904, but never adequately described before their destruction during the bombing of Munich in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Other fossils found in the formation include:Qasr el Sagha Formation
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database, a large relational database assembled by hundreds of paleontologists from around the world. History Fossilworks was crea ...

.org

Mammals

Afrotheres

Ferae

Ungulates

Reptiles

Squamates

Testudines

Fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...

** '' Misrichthys stromeri'' ** '' Carcharhinus aff. frequens'' ** '' Odontorhytis aff. pappenheimi'' ** '' ?Jacquhermania attiai'' ** '' Carcharhinus sp.'' ** '' Coupatezia sp.'' ** '' Ouledia sp.'' ** '' Pastinachus sp.'' ** '' Rhinobatos sp.'' ** '' Scyliorhinus sp.'' ** '' ?Sphyrna sp.'' ** Pristidae indet. ** '' "Cretolamna" twiggsensis''

References

Bibliography

* * A. Pérez-García. 2019. New information and establishment of a new genus for the Egyptian Paleogene turtle ‘Stereogenys’ libyca (Podocnemididae, Erymnochelyinae). Historical Biology 31(3):383-392 * S. Adnet, H. Cappetta, S. Elnahas and A. Strougo. 2011. A new Priabonian Chondrichthyans assemblage from the Western desert, Egypt: Correlation with the Fayum oasis. Journal of African Earth Sciences 61:27-37 * * {{Refend Geologic formations of Egypt Eocene Series of Africa Priabonian Stage Sandstone formations Mudstone formations Deltaic deposits Shallow marine deposits Fossiliferous stratigraphic units of Africa Paleontology in Egypt