GPS Coordinates: N33 08.949 E10 17.140
Governorate:
Delegation:
Site Highlights
- On-site reconstruction of an Iguanodon
- Panoramic landscape
- Maintained trail
- Future excavation site
- Typical Jurassic - Cretaceous boundary
Access Route: This site is located at PK 15 on the Ghomrassen-Béni Khédache road. Reconstructions of the "Iguanodon" dinosaur can be seen on a hill next to the road. Access is provided by a maintained trail leading up to the dinosaur.
Site Description: At the summit of Jebel Miteur, on the road linking Ksar Hadada to Beni Khedache, you can access levels rich in the bones of giant reptiles and remains of crocodiles, turtles, and fossilized fish that lived 100 million years ago in the vast plains of Gondwana, characterized by dense forests, rivers, and lagoons.
This site is the type-locality for the Bir Miteur formation, located 30 kilometers NW of the city of Tataouine. Its lower limit corresponds to the base of the Asfer formation, marked by fine brown-black sandstones with a conglomeratic base, easily identifiable in the morphology. The upper limit is a few meters (2 to 5 m) above the Kimmeridgian dolomitic slab, represented by a major unconformity of lenticular fine sandstones and red sandy clays.
Learn More
This geosite is characterized by dinosaur traces from the Lower Cretaceous, including bones belonging to a new genus of Spinosaurus discovered in a clay-sandstone formation.
The highly varied dinosaur footprints come from herbivorous sauropods and appear either scattered, in solitary tracks, or in herds. Herbivorous dinosaurs were generally heavy, while theropods were lighter and faster. They frequented warm, humid environments with easy food access.
The Bir Miter Formation consists mainly of sands, clayey sands, and marls deposited in a fluvio-deltaic to estuarine environment, ending in yellow fossiliferous dolomites characteristic of a shallow marine setting. The fine sands contain fragments of turtle shells.
"Like a page from time's great diary, an Albian sandstone layer provided a 15m long dinosaur skeleton dated -110 million years. Other fossils of crocodiles, turtles, and fish allow for the reconstruction of a riverbank setting." This deposit also includes other Mesozoic fossils.
