Lithofacies and paleoenvironmental analysis of the Upper Cretaceous successions: Yagaan Khovil fossil locality, central Gobi region, Mongolia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5564/mgs.v28i56.3199Keywords:
Flavio-eolian deposits, facies analysis, Dinosaur habitatsAbstract
The Upper Cretaceous successions are exposed at the Yagaan Khovil fossil locality in the central Gobi region, Mongolia. The successions comprise fluvial deposits that are divided into two units based on the lithological characteristics of the floodplain deposits. The lower unit (Unit 1) is characterized by eolian-influenced environments, whereas the upper unit (Unit 2) is composed predominantly of meandering river systems with lateral accretionary channel fill deposits that show concretion at the top of the bed. The shift in depositional processes from the lower to the upper unit can be hypothesized as the result of the change in the proximity of the eolian-affected area to the study area. The successions preserving the similar paleoenvironmental transition are also present in the Nemegt Basin, where the successions shift from reddish mud beds affected by eolian processes to meandering fluvial successions. Additionally, to the similar sedimentological features, similarities in vertebrate fossils between Yagaan Khovil and the formations in the Nemegt Basin imply the close relationship between the two areas in terms of environmental conditions, ages, and stratigraphic positions. To enhance the stratigraphic framework of the Upper Cretaceous strata in Mongolia, future work should integrate the findings of this study with new radiometric dating techniques.
Downloads
339
References
Averianov, A.O., Lopatin, A.V. 2020. An unusual new sauropod dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology, v. 18(12), p. 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1080/14772019.2020.1716402
Berkey, C.P., Morris, F.K. 1927. Geology of Mongolia: A Reconnaissance Report Based on the Investigations of the Year 1922-1923. Natural History of Central Asia, v. 2. Central Asiatic Expeditions, American Museum of Natural History, New York, 475 p. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.12102
Danilov, I.G., Syromyatnikova, E.V. 2008. New materials on turtles of the family Nanhsiungcheryidae from the Cretaceous of Uzbekistan and Mongolia, with a review of the Nanshiungchelyid record in Asia. Proceedings of the Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, v. 312(1/2), p. 3-25. https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2008.312.1-2.3
Dashzeveg. D., Dingus, L., Loope, D.B., Swisher III, C.C., Dulam, T., Sweeney, M.R. 2005. New stratigraphic Subdivision, Depositional Environment, and Age Estimate for the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta Formation, Southern Ulan Nur Basin, Mongolia. American Museum Novitates, no. 3498, p. 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1206/0003-0082(2005)498[0001:NSSDEA]2.0.CO;2
Dingus, L., Loope, D.B., Dashzeveg, D., Swisher III, C.C., Minjin, Ch., Novacek, M.J., Norell, M.A. 2008. The Geology of Ukhaa Tolgod (Djadokhta Formation, Upper Cretaceous, Nemegt Basin, Mongolia). American Museum Novitates, no. 3616, p. 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1206/442.1
Eberth, D.A. 2018. Stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental evolution of the dinosaur-rich Baruungoyot-Nemegt succession (Upper Cretaceous), Nemegt Basin, southern Mongolia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 494, p. 29-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.11.018
Eberth, D.A., Badamgarav, D., Currie, P.J. 2009. The Baruungoyot-Nemegt transition (Upper Cretaceous) at the Nemegt type area, Nemegt Basin, South Central Mongolia. Journal of Paleontological Society of Korea, v. 25(1), p. 1-15.
Fanti, F., Cantelli, L., Angelicola, L. 2018. High-resolution maps of Khulsan and Nemegt localities (Nemegt Basin, southern Mongolia): Stratigraphic implication. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v. 494, p. 14-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.10.015
Fanti, F., Currie, P.J., Badamgarav, D. 2012. New Specimens of Nemegtomaia from the Baruungoyot and Nemegt Formations (Late Cretaceous) of Mongolia. PLoS ONE 7(2): e31330. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0031330
Fastovsky, D.E., Badamgrav, D., Ishimoto, H., Watabe, M., Weishampel, D.B. 1997. The paleoenvironments of Tugrikin-Shireh (Gobi Desert, Mongolia) and aspects of the Taphonomy and Paleoecology of Protoceratops (Dinosauria: Ornithischichia). Palaios, v. 12(1), p. 59-70. https://doi.org/10.2307/3515294
Grаdzinski, R., Kielan-Jaworowska, Z., Maryanska, T. 1977. Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta, Barun Goyot and Nemegt formations of Mongolia, including remarks on previous subdivisions. Acta Geologica Polonica, v. 27, p. 281-318. (In Russian with English abstract)
Ishigaki, S., Watabe, M., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Saneyoshi, M. 2009. Dinosaur footprints from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Geological Quarterly, v. 53(4), p. 449-460.
Ivakhnenko, M.F., Kurzanov, S.M. 1988. Geological structure and age of the location of Udan-Sair and Shara-Tsav localities. Transactions of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, v. 34, p. 100-105. (In Russian)
Jerzykiewicz, T. 2000. Lithostratigraphy and sedimentary settings of the Cretaceous dinosaur beds of Mongolia. In: Benton, M.J., Shinkin, M.A., Uwin, D.M., Kurochin, E.N. (Eds), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. p. 279-297.
Jerzykiewicz, T., Currie, P. J., Federico F., Lefeld, J. 2021. Lithobiotopes of the Nemegt Gobi Basin. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, v. 58, p. 829-851. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2020-0148
Jerzykiewicz, T., Russell, D.A. 1991. Late Mesozoic stratigraphy and vertebrates of the Gobi Basin. Cretaceous Research, v. 12(4), p. 345-377. https://doi.org/10.1016/0195-6671(91)90015-5
Kurumada, Y., Aoki, S., Aoki, K., Kato, D., Saneyoshi, M., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Windley, B., Ishigaki, S. 2020. Calcite U-Pb age of the Cretaceous vertebrate-bearing Bayn Shire Formation in the Eastern Gobi Desert of Mongolia: usefulness of caliche for age determination. Terra Nova, v. 32(4), p. 246-252. https://doi.org/10.1111/ter.12456
Kurzanov, S.M. 1981. An unusual theropod from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Transactions of the Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, 15, 39-49. (In Russian)
Loope, D.B., Dingus, L., Swisher III, C.C., Minjin, Ch. 1998. Life and death in a late Cretaceous dune field, Nemegt basin, Mongolia. Geology, v. 26(1), p. 27-30. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1998)026<0027:LADIAL>2.3.CO;2
Loope, D.B., Mason, J.A., Dingus, L. 1999. Lethal sandslides from Eolian Dunes. The Journal of Geology, v. 107(6), p. 707-713. https://doi.org/10.1086/314377
Martinson, G.G. 1982. The Late Cretaceous mollusks of Mongolia. Trudy Sovmentnoi Sovetsko-Mongol'skoi Paleontologicheskoi Expeditsii v. 17, p. 5-76. (In Russian)
Maryańska, T. Chapman, R.E., Weishampel, D.B. 2004. Pachycephalosauria. In: Weishampel, D.B., Dodson, P., Osmólska, H. (Eds), The Dinosauria (2nd ed.), p. 464-477. Berkeley: University of California Press. https://doi.org/10.1525/california/9780520242098.003.0024
Miall, A.D. 2016. Facies Models. In: Miall A.D. (Ed), Stratigraphy: A Modern Synthesis, p. 161-214. Springer International Publishing Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24304-7_4
Niedzwiedzki, G., Singer, T., Gierlinski, G.D., Lockley, M.G. 2012. A protoceratopsid skeleton with an associated track from the Upper Cretaceous of Mongolia. Cretaceous Research, v. 33(1), p. 7-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cretres.2011.07.001
Norell, M.A., Makoviky, P.J., Bever, G.S., Balanoff, A.M., Clark, J.M., Barsbold, R., Rowe, T. 2009. A review of the Mongolian Cretaceous Dinosaur Saurornithoides (Troodontidae; Theropoda). American Musuem Novitates, no. 3654, p. 1-63. https://doi.org/10.1206/648.1
Novacek, M.J., Rougier, G.W., Wible, J.R., Mckenna, M.C., Dashzeveg, D., Horovitz, I. 1997. Epipubic bones in eutherian mammals from the Late Cretaceous of Mongolia. Nature, v. 389(6650), p. 483-486. https://doi.org/10.1038/39020
Perle, A., Norell, M.A., Chiappe, L.M. Clark, J.M. 1993. Flightless bird from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. Nature, v. 362(6421), p. 623-626. https://doi.org/10.1038/362623a0
Saneyoshi, M., Asai, H., Mainbayar, Bu., Tanabe, T., Ishigaki, S., Tsogtbaatar, Kh. 2021a. Reconstruction of sedimentary environments in the Djadokhta Formation, Udyn Sayr, Gobi desert, Mongolia. Journal of Mongolian Paleontology, v. 4, p. 23-29.
Saneyoshi, M., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Barsbold, R., Chinzorig, Ts., Mainbayar, Bu., Nishido, H. Ishigaki S. 2021b. Dinosaur habitats from Upper Cretaceous eolian deposits in the Gobi desert, Mongolia. Journal of Mongolian Paleontology, v. 4, p. 30-37.
Saneyoshi, M., Watabe, M., Tsubamoto, T., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Chinzorig, Ts., Suzuki, S. 2010. Report of the HMNS-MPC Joint Paleontological Expedition in 2007. Hayashibara Museum Natural Science Research Bulletin, v. 3, p. 19-28.
Shuvalov, V.B. 2000. Mesozoic turtles of Middle and Central Asia. In: Benton, M.J., Shishkin, M.A., Unwin, D.M., Kurochkin, E.N. (Eds), The Age of Dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia, 309-367. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Sukhanov, V.B., Narmandakh, P. 2006. New taxa of Mesozoic turtles from Mongolia. In: Danilov, I.G., Parham, J.F. (Eds), Fossil Turtle Research, v. 1, p. 119-127. Zoological Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (Russian Journal of Herpetology, 13, Supplement).
Tanabe, M., Aoki, K., Chiba, K., Saneyoshi, M., Kodaira, S., Nishido, H., Mainbayar, Bu., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Ishigaki, S. 2023. Apatite U-Pb dating of dinosaur teeth from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia: Contribution to depositional age constraints. Island Arc, v. 32(1), e12488. https://doi.org/10.1111/iar.12488
Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Chinzorig, Ts. 2007. Mongolian Hadrosaurids: Paleobiogeography, Dispersal and Environmental Relationships. The Korean Journal of Quaternary Research, v. 21(2), p. 49-53.
Tumanova, T.A. 1987. The Armoured dinosaur from the Cretaceous of Mongolia. Trudy Sovmentnoi Sovetsko-Mongol'skoi Paleontologicheskoi Expeditsiim v. 32, p. 1-80. (In Russian)
Walker, R.G. 1984. General introduction: facies, facies sequences, and facies models. In Walker, R.G. (eds) Facies Models, 2nd edition, p. 1-9, Geological Association of Canada.
Walker, R.G., James, N.P. 1992. Facies Model; Response to Sea Level Change. Geological Association of Canada. 554 pp.
Watabe, M., Tsogtbaatar, Kh., Suzuki, S., Saneyoshi, M. 2010. Geology of dinosaur fossil-bearing localities (Jurassic and Cretaceous, Mesozoic) in the Gobi desert: Results of the HMNS-MPC Joint Paleontological Expedition. Hayashibara Museum Natural Science Research Bulletin, v. 3, p. 41-118.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Batsaikhan Buyantegsh, Mototaka Saneyoshi, Buuvei Mainbayar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright on any research article in the Mongolian Geoscientist is retained by the author(s).
The authors grant the Mongolian Geoscientist a license to publish the article and identify itself as the original publisher.
Articles in the Mongolian Geoscientist are Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License CC BY.
This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
