Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

First record of Plesiodiceras (Bivalvia, Hippuritida, Epidiceratidae) from the late Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) of Saudi Arabia, and its palaeobiogeographic significance

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

An allochthonous rudist horizon from the upper (?) Kimmeridgian Jubaila Limestone, central Saudi Arabia, is reported, which occurs northwest and south of Riyadh in equivalent stratigraphic position. The fossil assemblage is composed of abundant, densely packed to loosely spaced individuals of Plesiodiceras sp. (family Epidiceratidae) associated with rare stromatoporoids and gastropods. The fossil horizon has a continuous lateral extent of more than 10 km in its northern exposure. Its presence confirms the interpretation of the upper part of the Jubaila Limestone as a shallow marine unit, including deposits of back barrier lagoonal carbonate. This is the first record of Jurassic rudists from Saudi Arabia, and the first record of Plesiodiceras and the family Epidiceratidae from the southern margin of the Neo-Tethys and from Gondwana. Obviously, the broad tropical and subtropical shelves and shallow epicontinental seas of the Late Jurassic provided suitable habitats for the Epidiceratidae, both in Eurasia and Africa, and facilitated wider dispersal of the group than previously documented.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

modified from Fischer et al. 2001 and Al-Mojel et al. 2020). Further indicated are occurrences of Plesiodiceras reported in the literature (yellow stars)

Fig. 2

modified from Al-Mojel et al. 2020)

Fig. 3

modified from Al-Mojel et al. 2020). See Fig. 2 for legend

Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

All data generated are included in the manuscript.

Code availability

Not applicable.

References

  • Al-Mojel A, Razin P, Dera G (2020) High-resolution sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Oxfordian-Kimmeridgian, Hanifa, Jubaila and Arab outcrops along Jabal Tuwaiq, Central Saudi Arabia. J Afr Earth Sci 165:1–26

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alves TM, Manuppella G, Gawthorpe RL, Hunt DW, Monteiro JH (2003) The depositional evolution of diapir- and fault-bounded rift basins: examples from the Lusitanian Basin of West Iberia. Sed Geol 162:273–303

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boehm G (1881) Die Fauna des Kelheimer Diceras-Kalkes. Zweite Abtheilung: Bivalven Palaeontographica 28:141–191

    Google Scholar 

  • Chikhi-Aouimeur F (2002) Distribution biostratigraphique des rudistes en Algérie: état des connaissances, perspectives d’étude. Mém Service Géol Algérie 11:115–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Dechaseaux C (1952) Classe des Lamellibranches. In: Piveteau J (ed) Traité de paléontologie, tome 2. Masson & Cie, Paris, pp 323–364

    Google Scholar 

  • Dubbers H (1888) Der obere Jura auf dem Nordostflügel der Hilsmulde. Von der philosophischen Fakultät der Universität Göttingen gekrönte Preisschrift. Dietrich’sche Universitäts-Buchdruckerei, Göttingen, pp 1–44

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Asmar H, Assal EM, El-Sorogy AS, Youssef M (2015) Facies analysis and depositional environments of the Upper Jurassic Jubaila Formation, Central Saudi Arabia. J Afr Earth Sci 110:34–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eliuk LS (1998) Big bivalves, algae and the nutrient poisoning of reefs: a tabulation with examples from the Devonian and Jurassic of Canada. In: Johnston PA, Haggart JW (eds) Bivalves: an eon of evolution. University of Calgary Press, Calgary, pp 157–184

    Google Scholar 

  • Enay R, Le Nindre Y-M, Mangold C, Manivit J, Vaslet D (1987) Le Jurassique d’Arabie Saoudite centrale: nouvelles données sur la lithostratigraphie, les paléoenvironnements, les faunes d’ammonites, les âges et les corrélations. Geobios 20(Suppl 1):13–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer J-C, Le Nindre Y-M, Manivit J, Vaslet D (2001) Jurassic gastropod faunas of central Saudi Arabia. GeoArabia 6:63–99

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gourrat C, Masse J-P, Skelton PW (2003) Hypelasma salevensis (Favre, 1913) from the Upper Kimmeridgian of the French Jura, and the origin of the rudist family Requieniidae. Geol Croat 56:139–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray JE (ed) (1853–1857) A revision of the genera of some of the families of Conchifera or bivalve shells [title varies]. Ann Mag Nat Hist, ser 2, 11(61):33–44 (1853); 11(65):398–402 (1853); 13(77):408–418 (1854); 14(79):21–28 (1854); 19(118):366–373 (1857)

  • Hughes GW (2004a) Middle to Late Jurassic biofacies of Saudi Arabia. Riv Ital Pal Strat 110:173–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Hughes GW (2004b) Middle to Upper Jurassic Saudi Arabian carbonate petroleum reservoirs: biostratigraphy, micropalaeontology and palaeoenvironments. GeoArabia 9:79–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karczewski L (1969) Upper Jurassic Rudistae of the margin of the Holy Cross Mountains, Poland. Acta Pal Polon 14:395–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Kutassy A (1934) Pachyodonta mesozoica (Rudistis exclusis). Fossilium Catalogus, I: Animalia 68:1–202

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau JWE (1973) The rediscovery of rudist with its associated fauna in the Bau Limestone and its paleobiogeographic siginificance in circumglobal correlation and plate tectonic studies. Ann Rep Geol Surv Malaysia 1973:188–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Leinfelder RR, Schlagintweit F, Werner W, Ebli O, Nose M, Schmid DU, Hughes GW (2005) Significance of stromatoporoids in Jurassic reefs and carbonate platforms—concepts and implications. Facies 51:287–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Linnaeus C (1758) Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio decima, reformata. Laurentius Salvius, Holmiae 1–824

  • Manivit J, Le Nindre Y-M, Vaslet D (1990) Le jurassique d'Arabie centrale. Histoire géologique de la bordure occidentale de la plate-forme arabe, 4. Doc BRGM 1–194

  • Munier-Chalmas E (1882) Études critiques sur les Rudistes. Bull Soc Géol France, Sér 3(10):472–494

    Google Scholar 

  • Munier-Chalmas E, Hébert E (1870) Calcaire a polypiers de la Nerthe. Bull Soc Géol France, Sér 2(27):113–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Murris RJ (1980) Middle East: stratigraphic evolution and oil habitat. AAPG Bull 64:597–618

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell ND (1965) Classification of the Bivalvia. Amer Mus Nov 2206:1–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Ourribane M, Chellaï EH, Zaghbib-Turki D (2000) Rôle des microbialites et des «micro-encroûtants» dans la lithification récifale: exemples du Jurassique supérieur de l’Atlas maghrébin (Maroc et Tunisie). Compt Rend Acad Sci, Ser IIA, Earth Planet Sci 330:407–414

    Google Scholar 

  • Pčelintzev VF [= Pcelintcev VF] (1959) Mesozoic rudists of the Crimea mountains. Monogr Geol Mus A.P. Karpinski 3:1–178. [in Russian]

  • Rengarten VP (1950) Rudistovya fatsi melovykh othlozhenii Zakavkazya. The rudistid facies of the Cretaceous deposits of the Transcaucasus region. Trudy Inst Geol Nauk 130, Geol Ser 51, Akademija Nauk SSSR, 1–94. [in Russian]

  • Sano S-I, Skelton PW (2010) Epidiceras (Bivalvia, Hippuritoidea) from the Tithonian-Berriasian Torinosu-type Limestones of the Sakawa Area, Southwest Japan. Turk J Earth Sci 19:733–743

    Google Scholar 

  • Sano S-I, Skelton PW (2011) A late Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous primitive uncoiled rudist from southwest Japan and its significance for the early evolutionary history of rudists. In: Mitchell SF (ed) The Ninth International Congress on Rudist Bivalves, 18th to 25th June 2011 Kingston, Jamaica. Abstracts, Articles and Field Guides. UWI Mona Contributions to Geology 6:8–9

  • Sano S-I, Skelton PW, Takei M, Matsuoka A (2007) Discovery of Late Jurassic rudist bivalves from the Torinosu-type limestone blocks in the Oriai Formation of the Imaidani Group in the Shirokawa area, Ehime Prefecture, Southwest Japan. J Geol Soc Japan 113:500–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sano S-I, Morino Y, Skelton PW, Mimoto K, Nose K, Hirota T (2008) Late Jurassic–earliest Cretaceous rudists from the Torinosu-type limestones in Southwest Japan — preliminary report. Mem Fukui Prefect Dinosaur Mus 7:67–81

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S (2015) The northernmost Jurassic rudists: a revision of the Diceratidae and Epidiceratidae (Bivalvia: Hippuritida) from the Korallenoolith Formation of northern Germany. N Jb Geol Pal Abh 276:91–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S (2017) Pachyrisma grande Morris & Lycett, 1850: redescription and assessment of its potential role as an ancestor to the Hippuritida. Zitteliana 89:271–284

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S, Harzhauser M, Kroh A, Lukeneder A, Zuschin M (2013) Ernstbrunn Limestone and Klentnice Beds (Kimmeridgian – Berriasian; Waschberg-Ždánice Unit; NE Austria and SE Czech Republic). State of the art and bibliography. Bull Geosci 88:105–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Schneider S, Skupien P (2015) Palaeoecology of Valletia antiqua Favre in Joukowsky & Favre, 1913 (Bivalvia, Hippuritida, Diceratidae); with comments on the taxonomy and distribution of the genus Valletia. Bull Geosci 90:613–632

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sha J-G, Cestari R, Fabbi S (2020) Paleobiogeographic distribution of Rudist bivalves (Hippuritida) in the Oxfordian-early Aptian (Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous). Cret Res 108:104289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skelton PW (1978) The evolution of functional design in rudists (Hippuritacea) and its taxonomic implications. Phil Trans Roy Soc B Biol Sci 284:305–318

    Google Scholar 

  • Skelton PW (1985) Preadaptation and evolutionary innovation in rudist bivalves. Spec Pap Pal 33:159–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Skelton PW (1999) Synoptic guide to Kimmeridgian rudists for the Kelheim field visit. Erlanger Geol Abh SB 3:83–89

    Google Scholar 

  • Skelton PW (2003) Rudist evolution and extinction—a North African perspective. In: Gili E, Negra H, Skelton PW (eds) North African Cretaceous Carbonate Platform Systems. NATO Sci Ser, IV. Earth Envir Sci 28:215–227

  • Skelton PW (2013a) Rudist classification for the revised Bivalvia volumes of the Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology. Carib J Earth Sci 45:9–33

    Google Scholar 

  • Skelton PW (2013b) Rudist classification: nomenclatural correction of ‘Suborder Radiolitidina Skelton, 2013’ to ‘Suborder Hippuritidina Newell, 1965.’ Carib J Earth Sci 45:34

    Google Scholar 

  • Skelton PW, Smith AB (2000) A preliminary phylogeny for rudist bivalves: sifting clades from grades. In: Harper EM, Taylor JD, Crame JA (eds) The evolutionary biology of the Bivalvia. Geol Soc, London, Spec Pub 177:97–127

  • Steuber T, Scott RW, Mitchell SF, Skelton PW (2016) Treatise on Invertebrate Paleontology, Part N, Revised, Volume 1, Chapter 26C: Stratigraphy and diversity dynamics of Jurassice-Cretaceous Hippuritida (rudist bivalves). Treatise Online 81:1–17

  • Thurmann J (1853) Sur trois Diceras nouvelles des terrains portlandien et corallien du Jura bernois. Mitt Naturforsch Gesellsch Bern 258:273–281. [for 1852]

  • Tintant H (1987) Les nautiles du Jurassique d’Arabie Saoudite. Geobios 20(Suppl 1):67–159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toland C (1994) Late Mesozoic stromatoporoids; their use as stratigraphic tools and palaeoenvironmental indicators. In: Simmons MD (ed) Micropalaeontology and hydrocarbon exploration in the Middle East. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 113–125

    Google Scholar 

  • Vašíček Z, Skupien P (2004) Historie geologických a paleontologických výzkumů svrchnojurských a spodnokřídových sedimentů na Štramberku. The Štramberk fossil site (Uppermost Jurassic/Lower Cretaceous, Outer Western Carpathians) – two centuries of the geological and paleontological research. Sborník Vědeckých Prací Vysoké Školy Báňské v Ostravě, Řada Hornicko-Geologická 50:83–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Vašíček Z, Skupien P (2005) Doplňky k historii geologických a paleontologických výzkumů na Štramberku. Supplements to history of geological and paleontological research of Štramberk territory. Sborník Vědeckých Prací Vysoké Školy Báňské v Ostravě, Řada Hornicko-Geologická 51:1–6

    Google Scholar 

  • Yanin BT [= Janin BT] (1989) The Jurassic and Cretaceous rudists (stratigraphical and geographical distribution). Nauka, Moskva, 1–214. [in Russian]

  • Ziegler MA (2001) Late Permian to Holocene paleofacies evolution of the Arabian Plate and its hydrocarbon occurrences. GeoArabia 6:445–504

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Aus Al-Tawil (Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia), Geraint W. Hughes (Natural History Museum, London, UK), and Christopher Toland (Oolithica Geoscience Ltd, Cheltenham, UK) sparked the detailed study of the Jurassic rudists, and the collaboration resulting in this paper. Winfried Werner (Bayerische Staatssammlung für Paläontologie und Geologie, Munich, Germany) provided information on type material. Careful reviews by Valentin Rineau (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) and an anonymous reviewer, as well as diligent editing by Abdullah M. Al-Amri (King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) and Attila Çiner (Istanbul Technical University, Turkey), helped to improve this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CASP, West Building, Madingley Rise, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0UD, UK

    Simon Schneider

  2. Saudi Aramco, P.O. Box #5093, Dhahran, 31311, Saudi Arabia

    Abdullah Al-Mojel

Authors
  1. Simon Schneider
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Abdullah Al-Mojel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Simon Schneider.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Attila Ciner

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Schneider, S., Al-Mojel, A. First record of Plesiodiceras (Bivalvia, Hippuritida, Epidiceratidae) from the late Kimmeridgian (Late Jurassic) of Saudi Arabia, and its palaeobiogeographic significance. Arab J Geosci 15, 920 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10188-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10188-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation