Shinekhudag Formation

{{Short description|Geological formation in Dundgov, Mongolia}} {{Infobox rockunit | name = Shinekhudag Formation | image = | caption = | type = Geological formation | age = Barremian-Aptian,<br/>~{{fossilrange|123.8|118.5}} | period = Aptian | prilithology =Sandstone, argillite, marl, clay | otherlithology = | namedfor = | namedby = | region = Dundgov | country = Mongolia | coordinates = | unitof = | subunits = | underlies = Khukhtek Formation<ref name="google">{{cite book|title=Cretaceous Environments of Asia|author1=Okada, H.|author2=Mateer, N.J.|date=2000|publisher=Elsevier Science|isbn=978-0-08-053009-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Z1vBXKQSh4C|page=62|access-date=2015-05-17}}</ref> | overlies = Tsagaantsav Svita | thickness = | extent = | area = | map = | map_caption = }} The '''Shinekhudag Formation''' (also known as Shinekhudug Formation, Shinekhudag or Shinekhudukskaya Svita) is a geological formation in Dundgov, Mongolia whose strata date back to the Early Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains have been recovered from it.<ref name="cretaceousdistribution">Weishampel, David B; et al. (2004). "Dinosaur distribution (Early Cretaceous, Asia)." In: Weishampel, David B.; Dodson, Peter; and Osmólska, Halszka (eds.): The Dinosauria, 2nd, Berkeley: University of California Press. Pp. 563-570. {{ISBN|0-520-24209-2}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Benton, M. J. (Michael J.)|title=The age of dinosaurs in Russia and Mongolia|date=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-54582-X|page=259|oclc=53710242}}</ref> It has classically been considered Aptian-Albian in age. Khand et al. (2000) suggested that the age of formation is Berriasian-Hauterivian based on ostracod biostratigraphy.<ref name="YDYR00">{{cite journal |last1=Khand |first1=Y |last2=Badamgarav |first2=D |last3=Ariumchimeg |first3=Y |last4=Barsbold |first4=R |title=Cretaceous system in Mongolia and its depositional environments |journal=Developments in Palaeontology and Stratigraphy |date=1 January 2000 |volume=17 |pages=49–79 |doi=10.1016/S0920-5446(00)80024-2}}</ref> But, Hasegawa et al. (2018) suggested Shinekhudag Formation was deposited between 123.8 ±2.0 Ma and 118.5 ±0.9 Ma of the Barremian-early Aptian.<ref name="Hasegawaetal18">{{cite journal |last1=Hasegawa |first1=Hitoshi |last2=Ando |first2=Hisao |last3=Hasebe |first3=Noriko |last4=Ichinnorov |first4=Niiden |last5=Ohta |first5=Tohru |last6=Hasegawa |first6=Takashi |last7=Yamamoto |first7=Masanobu |last8=Li |first8=Gang |last9=Erdenetsogt |first9=Bat‐Orshikh |last10=Heimhofer |first10=Ulrich |last11=Murata |first11=Takayuki |last12=Shinya |first12=Hironori |last13=Enerel |first13=G. |last14=Oyunjargal |first14=G. |last15=Munkhtsetseg |first15=O. |last16=Suzuki |first16=Noriyuki |last17=Irino |first17=Tomohisa |last18=Yamamoto |first18=Koshi |title=Depositional ages and characteristics of Middle– Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous lacustrine deposits in southeastern Mongolia |journal=Island Arc |date=May 2018 |volume=27 |issue=3 |doi=10.1111/iar.12243}}</ref>

==Vertebrate paleofauna== {{Paleobiota-key-compact}}

===Dinosaurs===

Trackways of theropods and sauropods have been reported.<ref name="MFTTBOI26">{{cite journal |last1=Mainbayar |first1=Buuvei |last2=Fujita |first2=Masato |last3=Takasaki |first3=Ryuji |last4=Tsogtbaatar |first4=Khishigjav |last5=Badamkhatan |first5=Zorigt |last6=Odgerel |first6=Nymsambuu |last7=Ishigaki |first7=Shinobu |title=A dinosaur ichnofauna from the Lower Cretaceous Shinekhudag Formation, Mongolia |journal=Ichnos |date=19 March 2026 |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1080/10420940.2026.2645024}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" align="center" width="100%" |- ! Genus ! Species ! Location ! Stratigraphic Position ! Material ! Notes ! Images |- | ''Harpymimus''<ref name=Barsbold1984>{{cite journal|last1=Barsbold|first1=R.|last2=Perle|first2=A.|date=1984|title=On first new find of a primitive orithomimosaur from the Cretaceous of the MPR|journal=Paleontological Journal|volume=2|pages=121−123}}</ref> | ''H. okladnikovi''<ref name=Barsbold1984/> | Khuren Dukh | | "Partial skull with incomplete skeleton."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kobayashi|first1=Y.|last2=Barsbold|first2=R.|year=2005|chapter=Anatomy of Harpymimus okladnikovi Barsbold and Perle 1984 (Dinosauria; Theropoda) of Mongolia|title=The carnivorous dinosaurs|publisher=Indiana University Press|editor-last1=Carpenter|editor-first1=K.|location=Indianapolis|pages=97–126}}</ref> | A primitive ornithomimosaur. | 150px |- | ''Iguanodon''<ref name=Rozh1952>{{cite journal|last1=Rozhdestvensky|first1= A. K.|date=1952|title=Открытие игуанодона в Монголии|trans-title=Discovery of an iguanodon in Mongolia|journal=Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR|volume=84|issue=6|pages=1243−1246|language=ru}}</ref> | ''I. orientalis''<ref name=Rozh1952/> | Khamarin-Khural | | "Fragmentary skeleton."<ref name=Rozh1952/> | A dubious iguanodont of uncertain affinities.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Norman|first1=D. B.|date=1996|title=On Asian ornithopods (Dinosauria, Ornithischia). 1. Iguanodon orientalis Rozhdestvensky, 1952|journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|volume=116|issue=2|pages=303−315|doi=10.1006/zjls.1996.0021|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Paul|first1=G. S.|date=2008|title=A revised taxonomy of the iguanodont dinosaur genera and species|journal=Cretaceous Research|volume=29|issue=2|pages=192−216|doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2007.04.009|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/16134/files/PAL_E2902.pdf }}</ref> | |- | ''Psittacosaurus'' sp. | Indeterminate | Khuren Dukh | | "Partial skeletons."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kalandadze|first1=N. N.|last2=Kurzanov|first2=S. M.|year=1974|chapter=Lower Cretaceous terrestrial vertebrate localities of Mongolia|title=Mesozoic and Cenozoic Faunas and Biostratigraphy of Mongolia|publisher=The Joint Soviet-Mongolian Paleontological Expedition, Transactions|editor-last1=Kramarenko|editor-first1=N. N.|editor-last2=Luvsandansan|editor-first2=B.|editor-last3=Voronin|editor-first3=Y. I.|editor-last4=Barsbold|editor-first4=R.|editor-last5=Rozhdestve|editor-first5=A. K.|pages=288–295}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Watabe|first1=M.|last2=Suzuki|first2=S.|date=2000|title=Report on the Japan - Mongolia Joint Paleontological Expedition to the Gobi desert, 1993|journal=Hayashibara Museum of Natural Sciences Research Bulletin|volume=1|pages=17−29}}</ref> | A primitive ceratopsian. | 150px |- |}

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Lower Cretaceous Series of Asia

{{paleo-site-stub}} {{Mongolia-geo-stub}} Category:Berriasian Stage Category:Valanginian Stage