Matmor Formation
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Matmor Formation
| image = Matmor Formation 070213.jpg
| caption = Matmor Formation (foreground and middle ground) in Hamakhtesh Hagadol, Israel
| type = Sedimentary
| age = Late Callovian
~{{Fossil range|164|160}}
| period = Callovian
| prilithology = Limestone
| otherlithology = Marl
| namedfor = Matmor, Israel
| namedby = Hirsch & Roded
| year_ts = 1996
| region = Negev
| country = Israel
| coordinates =
| unitof =
| subunits =
| underlies = Hatira Formation
| overlies = kidod Formation
| thickness = Up to {{convert|100|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| extent = Southern Israel
| area =
| map =
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The Matmor Formation is a geologic formation of up to {{convert|100|m|ft}} thick, that is exposed in Hamakhtesh Hagadol in southern Israel. The Matmor Formation contains fossils from a Jurassic equatorial shallow marine environment. Bivalves, gastropods, sponges, corals, echinoderms, and sclerobionts are present in the Matmor Formation to various degrees (Wilson et al., 2010). The stratigraphy of the Matmor Formation consists of alternating layers of limestone and marl (Hirsch and Roded, 1996).
Stratigraphy
The Iraq Petroleum Company originally described the Jurassic sequence in Hamakhtesh Hagadol of Israel in the 1930s (Hudson, 1958). These findings were later described and published by Blake (1935). Shaw (1947) published a limited summary of the stratigraphy. Hudson (1958) later subdivided the rocks into the Callovian, Divesian, Argovian, Sequanim biostratigraphic stages. In 1963, Goldberg subdivided the section into the Zohar, Kidod and Be'er Sheva Formations. Goldberg (1963) further divided the Zohar Formation into the Ziyya and Madsus members. In 1966, Mayac dated the Callovian and what appeared to be the Lower Oxfordian stages with forams (Mayac, 1966, in Hirsch and Roded, 1996). Further biostratigraphic work by Hirsch et al. (1998) and Grossowicz et al. (2000) show that the Matmor Formation is entirely Late Callovian.
Gallery
Image:MakhteshGadolCenter02.jpg|Marls and limestones of the Matmor Formation exposed near the center of Makhtesh Gadol
Image:GastrochaenolitesMatmor.jpg|Gastrochaenolites boring in a coral from the Matmor Formation
Image:Jurassic Calcarea Matmor Israel.jpg|Calcarea sponge and encrusting crinoid from the Matmor Formation
Image:MatmorScleractinian.JPG|Scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation
Image:Cymatonautilus.JPG|Paracenoceras, a nautiloid from the Matmor Formation
Image:Enallhelia 370 Callovian Israel.JPG|Enallhelia, a scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation
Image:Fimbria CW265 2007.JPG|Fimbria sp.; a bivalve from the Matmor Formation
Image:Amphiastrea Etallon 1859 Matmor Formation.JPG|Amphiastrea Etallon 1859; a scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation
Image:Axosmilia side 031815.jpg|Axosmilia, a scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic) of southern Israel; side view
Image:Axosmilia oral view 031815.jpg|Axosmilia, a scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic) of southern Israel; oral view
Image:MicrosolenaCW366.jpg|The scleractinian coral Microsolena from the Matmor Formation, Middle Jurassic, southern Israel
Image:Epistreptophyllum Matmor CW366.jpg|Epistreptophyllum, a scleractinian coral from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic) of southern Israel; side view
Image:Actinostreon Matmor Jurassic 171 173.jpg|Actinostreon spp. from the Matmor Formation (Middle Jurassic, Callovian) of Makhtesh Gadol, southern Israel
Image:Mytilus (Falcimytilus) jurensis.jpg|Mytilus (Falcimytilus) jurensis from the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) Matmor Formation of Makhtesh Gadol, southern Israel
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Goldberg, M. (1963). "Reference section of Jurassic sequence in Hamakhtesh Hagadol (Kurnub Anticline). Detailed binocular sample description, including field observations." Israel Geological Survey, Unpublished Report, pp. 1–50.
- Grossowicz, L.P., Bassoullet, J.P., Hirsch, F., & Peri, M. (2000). "Jurassic large Foraminifera from Israel." Geol. Surv. Isr. Current Res, 12, 132-144.
- Hirsch, F., Bassoullet, J. P., Cariou, E., Conway, B., Feldman, H., Grossowicz, L., Honigstein, A., Owen, E. and Rosenfeld, A. (1998). "The Jurassic of the southern Levant. Biostratigraphy, palaeogeography and cyclic events." In: S. Crasquin-Soleau and E. Barrier (eds.), Peri- Tethys Memoir 4: Epicratonic basins of the Peri- Tethyan platforms. Mem. Mus. natn. Hist. nat. 179: 213-235.
- {{cite journal | last1 = Hirsch | first1 = F. | last2 = Roded | first2 = A. | year = 1996 | title = The Jurassic stratigraphic nomenclature in Hamakhtesh Hagadol, northern Negev | journal = Geological Survey of Israel, Current Research | volume = 10 | pages = 10–14 }}
- {{cite journal | doi = 10.1017/S0016756800062993 | last1 = Hudson | first1 = R.G.S. | year = 1958 | title = The Upper Jurassic faunas of southern Israel | journal = Geological Magazine | volume = 95 | issue = 5| pages = 415–425 | bibcode = 1958GeoM...95..415H }}
- {{cite journal | doi = 10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.02.019 | last1 = Wilson | first1 = M.A. | last2 = Feldman | first2 = H.R. | last3 = Krivicich | first3 = E.B. | year = 2010 | title = Bioerosion in an equatorial Middle Jurassic coral-sponge reef community (Callovian, Matmor Formation, southern Israel) | journal = Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology | volume = 289 | issue = 1–4 | pages = 93–101 | bibcode = 2010PPP...289...93W }}
Category:Geologic formations of Israel
Category:Jurassic System of Asia