page_title: Tendaguru Formation
section_title: Paleogeography
hierarchical_section_title: Tendaguru Formation / Description / Paleogeography and depositional environment / Paleogeography
caption_attribution_description: English: Paleogeography and paleoclimate of the Late Jurassic - 150 Ma with dinosaur fossil localities: A = Tendaguru Formation, Tanzania C1 = Shishugou &amp; Kalazha Formations, China C2 = Shangshaximiao (Upper Shaximiao) Formation, China E1 = Sables de Glos, Argiles d’Octeville, Marnes de Bléville, Kimmeridge Clay, Calcareous Grit, Corallian Oolite, Oxford Clay, Portland Stone, England &amp; France E2 = Villar del Arzobispo, Alcobaça, Guimarota, Sobral, Amoreira-Porto Novo, Bombarral, Freixial, Lourinhã Formations, Spain &amp; Portugal M1-6 = Morrison Formation, United States S1 = Toquí &amp; Cañadón Calcáreo Formations, Chile &amp; Argentina
context_page_description: The Tendaguru Formation, or Tendaguru Beds are a highly fossiliferous formation and Lagerstätte in southeastern Tanzania. The formation represents the oldest sedimentary unit of the Mandawa Basin, overlying Neoproterozoic basement, separating by a long hiatus and unconformity. The formation reaches a total sedimentary thickness of more than 110 metres. The formation ranges in age from the late Middle Jurassic to the early Early Cretaceous, Oxfordian to Hauterivian stages, with the base of the formation possibly extending into the Callovian.
  The Tendaguru Formation is subdivided into six members; from oldest to youngest Lower Dinosaur Member, the Nerinella Member, the Middle Dinosaur Member, Indotrigonia africana Member, the Upper Dinosaur Member, and the Rutitrigonia bornhardti-schwarzi Member. The succession comprises a sequence of sandstones, shales, siltstones, conglomerates with minor oolitic limestones, deposited in an overall shallow marine to coastal plain environment, characterized by tidal, fluvial and lacustrine influence with a tsunami deposit occurring in the Indotrigonia africana Member.
context_section_description: The Tendaguru Formation was deposited in the Mandawa Basin, a post-Karoo, Mesozoic rift basin located between the Ruvu Basin and Rufiji Trough to the north and the Ruvuma Basin to the south. To the west of the basin, Archaen and Early Proterozoic basement rocks crop out. The main rift phase in present-day southeastern Africa led to the separation of Madagascar and the then-connected Indian subcontinent happened during the Early Cretaceous. The Songo Songo and Kiliwani gas fields are located just offshore the basin.
  At time of deposition was undergoing a semi-arid climate with coastal influences that maintained somewhat higher moisture levels than seen inland. The upper parts of the formation, the Middle Dinosaur and Rutitrigonia bornhardti-schwarzi Members in particular, showed prevailing semiarid conditions with pronounced dry seasons, based on palynologic analysis. The Tendaguru fauna was stable through the Late Jurassic.
  During the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, the Gondwana paleocontinent was breaking up and the separation of the Laurasian and Gondwana supercontinents resulted from the connection of the Tethys Ocean with the proto-Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean. In addition, the South Atlantic developed towards the end of the Late Jurassic with the separation of South America and Africa. Africa became increasingly isolated from most other continents by marine barriers from the Kimmeridgian into the Early Cretaceous, but retained a continental connection with South America. Global sea levels dropped significantly in the Early Jurassic and remained low through the Middle Jurassic but rose considerably towards the Late Jurassic, deepening the marine trenches between continents.
caption: Paleogeography and paleoclimate of the Late Jurassic (150 Ma). The Tendaguru Formation is indicated by A1, the Morrison Formation with M1-6 and the Cañadón Calcáreo Formation with S1.
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