Marine benthic invertebrates of the upper Jurassic Tuwaiq Mountain Limestone, Khashm Al-Qaddiyah, central Saudi Arabia

Journal Article

Publication Abstract

26 species belong to 24 genera and 16 families have been described and illustrated from the Callovian
Tuwaiq Mountain Limestone, Khashm Al-Qaddiyah, central Saudi Arabia. 10 of the identified species
belong to scleractinian corals, 7 to brachiopods, 4 to bivalves, 4 to gastropods and one to cephalopods.
Actinastraea pseudominima, Thamnasteria nicoleti, Enallocoenia crassoramosa, Collignonastraea cf. grossouvrei,
Burmirhynchia jirbaensis, Pholadomya (Bucardiomya) somaliensis, Pseudomelania (Rhabdoconcha) raabi
and Nautilus giganteus are believed to be recorded for the first time from the Jurassic rocks of central
Arabia. The identified species have close affinity to Tethyan faunas known from parts in Asia, Africa
and Europe. They indicated shoaling of the sea floor persisted throughout the deposition of the Tuwaiq
Mountain Limestone, in water depth ranging from 20 to 30 m. The low diversity of invertebrates in
the studied section may attribute to paleoenvironmental conditions prevailed during the Callovian age
as high rate of sedimentation.