The Qigu Formation is a

Late Jurassic The Late Jurassic is the third epoch of the Jurassic Period, and it spans the geologic time from 163.5 ± 1.0 to 145.0 ± 0.8 million years ago (Ma), which is preserved in Upper Jurassic strata.Owen 1987. In European lithostratigraphy, the name ...

( Oxfordian) 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 the Southern

Junggar Basin The Junggar Basin () is one of the largest sedimentary basins in Northwest China. It is located in Xinjiang, and enclosed by the Tarbagatai Mountains of Kazakhstan in the northwest, the Altai Mountains of Mongolia in the northeast, and the Heaven ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Indeterminate

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 theropod teeth and a fibula. a

stegosaur Stegosauria is a group of herbivorous ornithischian dinosaurs that lived during the Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods. Stegosaurian fossils have been found mostly in the Northern Hemisphere, predominantly in what is now North America, Europe, ...

dorsal vertebra and a

Eusauropod Eusauropoda (meaning "true sauropods") is a derived clade of sauropod dinosaurs. Eusauropods represent the node-based group that includes all descendant sauropods starting with the basal eusauropods of ''Shunosaurus'', and possibly ''Barapasaurus ...

tooth. '' Xinjiangtitan'' was erroneously thought to be from this formation, but it is actually from the older

Qiketai Formation The Qiketai Formation is a geological formation in Xinjiang, China. It is found within the Turpan-Hami Basin. It is roughly equivalent in age to the nearby Toutunhe Formation and Wucaiwan Formation of the Southern and Northern Junggar Basin, resp ...

, which is in a different basin.Weishampel, et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution." Pp. 517-607. The term "Qigu Formation" is also used to sediments of equivalent age in the Turpan Basin, but this might better be treated as a separate formation. It is laterally equivalent to the

Shishugou Formation The Shishugou Formation () is a geological formation in Xinjiang, China. Its strata date back to the Late Jurassic period. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Din ...

Fossil content

The mass accumulation of

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

freshwater

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked tu ...

fossils belonging to the genus '' Annemys'', discovered in 2009 at a site nicknamed "

Mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...

Chelonia" in

Shanshan County Shanshan County () as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Piqan County (; ), is a county within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administrative jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Turpan ...

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

is thought to likely belong to the Qigu Formation, though it belongs to the strata of the Turpan Basin. Remains of indeterminate dinosaurs, including ankylosaurs, metriacanthosaurids, and dromaeosaurids are known from the formation. The remains of indeterminate

rhamphorhynchid Rhamphorhynchidae is a group of early pterosaurs named after '' Rhamphorhynchus'', that lived in the Late Jurassic. The family Rhamphorhynchidae was named in 1870 by Harry Govier Seeley.Seeley, H.G. (1870). "The Orithosauria: An Elementary Study ...

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

s have been recovered from the formation. Among others, the following fossils have been found in the formation:Qigu Formation
at

Fossilworks Fossilworks is a portal which provides query, download, and analysis tools to facilitate access to the Paleobiology Database The Paleobiology Database is an online resource for information on the distribution and classification of fossil animals ...

.org

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , editor-last=Weishampel , editor-first=David B. , editor-link=David B. Weishampel , editor-last2=Dodson , editor-first2=Peter , editor-link2=Peter Dodson , editor-last3=Osmólska , editor-first3=Halszka , editor-link3=Halszka Osmólska , date=2004 , title=The Dinosauria , edition=2nd , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vtZFDb_iw40C , location=Berkeley , publisher=University of California Press , access-date=2019-02-21 , isbn=0-520-24209-2 Geologic formations of China Jurassic System of Asia Oxfordian Stage Jurassic China Siltstone formations Sandstone formations Alluvial deposits Fluvial deposits Lacustrine deposits Paleontology in Xinjiang Formations

Fossil content

See also

References

Bibliography