Bet-Meir Formation

Bet-Meir Formation
Stratigraphic range: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
Bet-Meir formation at Shomron
TypeGeological formation
Unit ofJudea Group
UnderliesAmminadav Formation
OverliesKesalon Formation
AreaWest Bank
ThicknessUp to 60 m
Lithology
PrimaryDolostone
OtherChalk, limestone, marl
Location
RegionJudea and Samaria
Country Palestine[1]
ExtentPalestine (Judea and Samaria), west of Hebron, near Jericho
Type section
Named forBet Meir
Named byItzhaki et al., 1964

The Bet-Meir Formation is a Late Cretaceous sedimentary unit exposed in the central highlands of the West Bank (Palestine).[2] It belongs to the regional Judea Group and records sedimentation on a broad, shallow marine carbonate platform along the southern margin of the Tethys Ocean during the Early Cenomanian.[2][3]

The formation is paleontologically significant. Vertebrate remains recovered from it include pterosaurs, several species of ray-finned fish, and early snakes. Many important specimens come from quarries near Ein Yabrud, north and east of Ramallah, where fossil-bearing beds occur close to the contact with the Amminadav Formation. Owing to the close stratigraphic relationship between the two units, it remains uncertain whether some of the vertebrate fossils should be assigned to the Bet-Meir Formation or to the overlying formation.[4]

Description

The formation represents a warm, tropical carbonate platform interior, positioned between fully open marine shelf environments and more continental marginal settings, being composed mainly of dolostone that accumulated in tidal-flat and restricted lagoonal settings.[2] The area was under a greenhouse-climate shallow sea.[3] The absence of relatively complete or articulated terrestrial plants suggests that the locality was either far from the nearest landfall or very arid.[5] A good modern analogue is the Laguna Bacalar in Yucatán, as both settings share being a restricted circulation setting with abundant mud sitting on a carbonate platform.[6]

In many areas, these dolostones laterally replace the chalks and limestones assigned to the En Yorqeam Formation, reflecting local environmental differences across the platform.[7] The succession includes fine-grained dolomitic mudstones and siltstones, thin marly layers, laminated algal deposits, and occasional intraformational conglomerates. Features such as iron staining, erosion surfaces, and karstic cavities indicate periodic exposure of the sea floor during temporary drops in sea level. Much of the dolomitization is interpreted as secondary, linked to marine fluids circulating through the sediments during subsequent transgressive phases.[2]

Stratigraphically, the Bet-Meir Formation rests on the Kesalon Formation, whose uppermost beds frequently show signs of erosion and hardground development. It is overlain by the slightly younger Amminadav Formation, characterized by more open-marine carbonate sedimentation and Rudist-bearing limestones. Because the transition between these two formations can be gradual and locally intertonguing, distinguishing their fossil content is sometimes problematic.[1][2][4]

Paleobiota

The majority of species here cannot be confidently assigned the Bet-Meir Formation, and some may instead belong to the younger Amminadav Formation.[4][8]

Invertebrates

Unnamed material of Decapodans, Echinoids, Starfish, Cephalopods and Bivalvia are seen along the outcrops.[9]

Genus Species Presence Notes Images
Graysonites[9] G. wacoense Ein Yabrud quarries Acanthoceratidae ammonite
Stoliczkaiella[9] S. amanai Ein Yabrud quarries Acanthoceratidae ammonite

Chondrichthyes

Genus Species Presence Notes Images
Batoidea[10] Indeterminate Ein Yabrud quarries Ray

Bony Fish

Genus Species Presence Notes Images
Aipichthyoides[11] A. galeatus

A. formosus

Ein Yabrud quarries An aipichthyoidid lamprimorph
Dercetoides[12] D. venator Ein Yabrud quarries A dercetid aulopiform
Enchodus[13] E. brevis Ein Yabrud quarries An enchodontid aulopiform
Hastichthys[12] H. gracilis Ein Yabrud quarries A dercetid aulopiform
Judeichthys[14] J. haasi Ein Yabrud quarries A gonorynchid
Judeoberyx[11] J. princeps Ein Yabrud quarries A trachichthyoid trachichthyform
Pachyamia[15] P. latimaxillaris Ein Yabrud quarries An amiid
Pharmacichthys[11] P. judensis Ein Yabrud quarries A pharmacichthyid lamprimorph
Ramallichthys[16] R. orientalis Ein Yabrud quarries A gonorynchid
Rhombichthys[17] R. intoccabilis Ein Yabrud quarries A paraclupeid clupeomorph
Saurorhamphus[18] S. judeaensis Ein Yabrud quarries A eurypholid aulopiform
Scalacurvichthys[19] S. naishi Ein Yabrud quarries A pycnodontid
Serrilepis[20] S. longidens Ein Yabrud quarries A halecid aulopiform
Yabrudichthys[20] Y. striatus Ein Yabrud quarries An enchodontoid aulopiform

Turtles

Genus Species Presence Notes Images
Algorachelus[21] A. parva Ein Yabrud quarries A bothremyid side-necked turtle
Pelomedusidae[9] indet. Ein Yabrud quarries An indeterminate pelomedusid side-necked turtle

Squamates

Genus Species Presence Notes Images
Haasiasaurus[9] H. gittelmani Ein Yabrud quarries An early mosasaur
Haasiophis[22] H. terrasanctus Ein Yabrud quarries A simoliophiid snake, notable for its hindlimbs
Mesoleptos[23] M. zendrinii[24] Ein Yabrud quarries A basal mosasauroid
Pachyrhachis[5][10] P. problematicus Ein Yabrud quarries A simoliophiid snake, notable for its hindlimbs

Pterosaurs

Genus Species Presence Notes Images
Pterodactyloidea[25] indet. Ein Yabrud quarries An indeterminate pterosaur

Flora

The dominant component of the flora are encrusting green algae, while terrestrial flora is composed almost exclusively by leaves and stalks or stems of a mangrove gymnosperm (very likely Weichselia based on regional abundance).[26][27]

See also

References

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  2. ^ a b c d e Moshe, B.; Hirsch, F. "Mid Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) carbonate platforms in Israel and Palestine" (PDF). Cuadernos de geología ibérica (18): 59–82.
  3. ^ a b Buchbinder, Binyamin; Benjamini, Chaim; Lipson-Benitah, Shulamit (2000-12-01). "Sequence development of Late Cenomanian–Turonian carbonate ramps, platforms and basins in Israel". Cretaceous Research. 21 (6): 813–843. doi:10.1006/cres.2000.0228. ISSN 0195-6671.
  4. ^ a b c "Bet Meir or Amminadav, West Bank, Palestine". mindat.org.
  5. ^ a b Scanlon, J.D.; Lee, M.S.Y.; Caldwell, M.W.; Shine, R. (1999). "The palaeoecology of the primitive snake Pachyrhachis". Historical Biology. 13 (2–3): 127–152. doi:10.1080/08912969909386578. ISSN 0891-2963.
  6. ^ Gischler, Eberhard; Golubic, Stjepko; Gibson, Michael A.; Oschmann, Wolfgang; Hudson, J. Harold (2010-12-03), "Microbial Mats and Microbialites in the Freshwater Laguna Bacalar, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico", Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 187–205, ISBN 978-3-642-10414-5, retrieved 2026-02-16{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
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  13. ^ Chalifa, Yael (1989). "New Species of Enchodus (Pisces: Enchodontoidei) from the Lower Cenomanian of Ein-Yabrud, Israel". Journal of Paleontology. 63 (3): 356–364. ISSN 0022-3360.
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  18. ^ Chalifa, Yael (1985). "Saurorhamphus judeaensis (Salmoniformes: Enchodontidae), a New Longirostrine Fish from the Cretaceous (Cenomanian) of Ein-Yabrud, near Jerusalem". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 5 (3): 181–193. ISSN 0272-4634.
  19. ^ Cawley, John J.; Kriwet, Jürgen (2017-06-14). "A new pycnodont fish,Scalacurvichthys naishigen. et sp. nov., from the Late Cretaceous of Israel". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 16 (8): 659–673. doi:10.1080/14772019.2017.1330772. ISSN 1477-2019.
  20. ^ a b Chalifa, Yael (1989). "Yabrudichthys and serrilepis, two new genera of Enchodontoids (Teleostei) from Lower cenomanian beds of 'ein-yabrūd, israel". Israel Journal of Zoology. doi:10.1080/00212210.1989.10688621. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09.
  21. ^ Pérez-García, Adán (2025-01-06). "A taxonomic revision of the Cenomanian bothremydid turtle Algorachelus parva from Israel and morphological variation within its genus". Palaeontologia Electronica. 28 (1): 1–15. doi:10.26879/1398. ISSN 1094-8074.
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  23. ^ LEE, MICHAEL S.Y.; SCANLON, JOHN D. (2002-11-28). "The Cretaceous marine squamate Mesoleptos and the origin of snakes". Bulletin of the Natural History Museum, Zoology Series. 68 (2): 131–142. doi:10.1017/s0968047002000158. ISSN 0968-0470.
  24. ^ Cabezuelo-Hernández, Alberto; Pérez-García, Adán (2023). "A New Species of the Pythonomorph Carentonosaurus from the Cenomanian of Algora (Guadalajara, Central Spain)". Animals. 13 (7): 1197. doi:10.3390/ani13071197. ISSN 2076-2615. PMC 10093179. PMID 37048453.
  25. ^ Kellner, A.W. A.; Mello, A.M.S.; Ford, T. (2007). "A survey of pterosaurs from Africa with the description of a new specimen from Morocco" (PDF). Paleontologia: Cenarios de Vida: 257–267.
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