Menuha Formation
Menuha Formation Stratigraphic range: Upper Cretaceous (Santonian-Early Campanian) |
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File:Middle Menuha Formation Wadi Zihor.JPG
Menuha Formation exposed in Wadi Zihor.
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Type | Sedimentary |
Unit of | Mount Scopus Group |
Underlies | Mishash Formation |
Overlies | Zihor Formation |
Thickness | 14 to 50 m |
Lithology | |
Primary | chalk, marly chalk |
Other | conglomeratic chalk, limestone |
Location | |
Region | Makhtesh Ramon, Negev desert |
Country | Israel |
Extent | Israel |
The Menuha Formation is the name given to an Upper Cretaceous (Santonian-Early Campanian) chalk, marly chalk and conglomeratic chalk unit exposed throughout the Makhtesh Ramon region of southern Israel and parts of northern Israel (Avni, 1991).
Stratigraphy and paleoenvironment
The Menuha Formation records the earliest occurrence of tectonic activity within the Ramon anticline, forming the present erosive valley known as "Makhtesh Ramon" as an outcome of a sequence of erosive events evolving since the Late Cretaceous (Avni, 1993). It consists of white and yellow/brown chalk that is often glauconitic and sometimes conglomeratic or marly. The Menuha Formation likely represents a temperate to subtropical, open shelf environment deposited during the formation of the Ramon anticline. Reworked conglomeratic chalks in the western section represent marginal facies derived from this structural uplift.
The paleoenvironment is based on the occurrences of several shark and fish teeth, oysters, trace fossils, phosphatic peloids, and foraminiferans. The isolated teeth represent at least ten different species:
- Cretalamna appendiculata
- Cretoxyrhina mantelli
- Squalicorax falcatus?
- Squalicorax kaupi
- Scapanorhynchus rapax
- Scapanorhynchus raphiodon?
- Carcharias samhammeri
- Carcharias cf. C holmdelensis
- Hadrodus priscus
- Micropycnodon kansasensis?
References
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MenuhaThalassinoides.jpg
Thalassinoides burrowing system throughout the Menuha Formation chalk.
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MenuhaCretalamnaAppendiculata.jpg
Cretalamna appendiculata tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaSqualicoraxKaupi.jpg
Squalicorax kaupi tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaSqualicoraxPristodontus.jpg
Squalicorax falcatus? tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaCarchariasHolmdelensis.jpg
Carcharias cf. C holmdelensis tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaCretoxyrhinaMantelli.jpg
Cretoxyrhina mantelli tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaScapanorhynchusRapax.jpg
Scapanorhynchus rapax tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaScapanorhynchusRaphiodon.jpg
Scapanorhynchus raphiodon? tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaHadrodusPriscus.jpg
Hadrodus priscus tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaMicropycnodonKansasensis.jpg
Micropycnodon kansasensis? tooth, Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaForaminiferaPlate.jpg
Several foraminiferans replaced by silica from the Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaPycnodonteVesicularisPlate.jpg
Several oysters, possibly Pycnodonte vesicularis, from the Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaEchinoidSpine.jpg
Irregular echinoid spine from the chalk sediments of the Menuha Formation.
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MenuhaFormationMakhtesh.jpg
Menuha Formation and capping Mishash Formation south of Makhtesh Ramon.
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