A new Plattenkalk Konservat Lagerstätte in the Upper Cretaceous of Gara Sbaa, south-eastern Morocco

Laminated, dolomitised marine limestones within a transgressive fluvio-lagoonal-carbonate platform sequence at Gara Sbaa in the Kem Kem region of south eastern Morocco yield well preserved marine fishes and crustaceans. A rarer terrestrial component includes delicate fern fronds, insects and a lizard. Sedimentological structures and stratigraphic context indicate initial shallow waters with in a carbonate lagoon with benthic microbial mats followed by deepening. High precision dating has yet to be accomplished, but a Late Cenomanian or Early Turonian age is indicated on the basis of faunal and sequence-stratigraphic considerations. The fish assemblage has affinities with mid-Cretaceous ichthyofaunas in South America and Lebanon, including taxa in common at generic level.