View source for Earth:Menuha Formation

{{Infobox rockunit
| name           = Menuha Formation
| image          = Middle Menuha Formation Wadi Zihor.JPG
| caption        = Menuha Formation exposed in Wadi Zihor.    
| type           = Sedimentary
| age            = [[Earth:Santonian|Santonian]]-[[Earth:Campanian|Early Campanian]]<br>~{{Fossil range|85.8|80}}
| period         = Santonian
| prilithology   = [[Earth:Chalk|Chalk]], marly chalk
| otherlithology = [[Earth:Conglomerate (geology)|Conglomeratic]] chalk, [[Earth:Limestone|limestone]]
| namedfor       = 
| namedby        = 
| region         = [[Earth:Makhtesh Ramon|Makhtesh Ramon]], Negev desert
| country        = {{ISR}}
| coordinates    =
| unitof         = Mount Scopus Group
| subunits       =
| underlies      = [[Earth:Mishash Formation|Mishash Formation]]
| overlies       = Zihor Formation
| thickness      = {{convert|14|-|50|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| extent         = 
| area           =
| map            =
| map_caption    =
}}
The '''Menuha Formation''' is the name given to an [[Earth:Upper Cretaceous|Upper Cretaceous]] ([[Earth:Santonian|Santonian]]-[[Earth:Campanian|Early Campanian]]) [[Earth:Chalk|chalk]], marly chalk and conglomeratic chalk unit exposed throughout the [[Earth:Makhtesh Ramon|Makhtesh Ramon]] region of southern [[Place:Israel|Israel]] and parts of northern Israel (Avni, 1991).

== Stratigraphy and paleoenvironment ==
The Menuha Formation records the earliest occurrence of tectonic activity within the Ramon anticline, forming the present erosive valley known as "[[Earth:Makhtesh Ramon|Makhtesh Ramon]]" as an outcome of a sequence of erosive events evolving since the [[Earth:Cretaceous|Late Cretaceous]] (Avni, 1993). It consists of white and yellow/brown chalk that is often glauconitic and sometimes conglomeratic or marly. The Menuha Formation likely represents a temperate to subtropical, open shelf environment deposited during the formation of the Ramon anticline. Reworked conglomeratic chalks in the western section represent marginal facies derived from this structural uplift.

The paleoenvironment is based on the occurrences of several shark and fish teeth, oysters, trace fossils, phosphatic peloids, and [[Biology:Foraminifera|foraminifera]]ns. The isolated teeth represent at least ten different species:
*''Cretalamna appendiculata''
*''[[Biology:Cretoxyrhina|Cretoxyrhina mantelli]]''
*''[[Biology:Squalicorax|Squalicorax falcatus?]]''
*''[[Biology:Squalicorax|Squalicorax kaupi]]''
*''[[Biology:Scapanorhynchus|Scapanorhynchus rapax]]''
*''[[Biology:Scapanorhynchus|Scapanorhynchus raphiodon?]]''
*''[[Biology:Carcharias|Carcharias samhammeri]]''
*''[[Biology:Carcharias|Carcharias cf. C holmdelensis]]''
*''[[Biology:Semionotiformes|Hadrodus priscus]]''
*''[[Biology:Pycnodontiformes|Micropycnodon kansasensis?]]''

== References ==
*{{cite journal | last1 = Avni | first1 = Y. | year = 1991 | title = The geology, paleogeography and landscape evolution in the central Negev Highlands and the western Ramon structure | journal = Geological Survey of Israel, Report GSI/6/91 | pages = 153 p }}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Avni | first1 = Y. | year = 1993 | title = The structural and landscape evolution of the western Ramon structure | journal = Israel Journal of Earth Sciences | volume = 42 | pages = 177–188 }}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Retzler | first1 = A. | last2 = Wilson | first2 = M.A. | last3 = Avni | first3 = Y. | year = 2013 | title = Chondrichthyans from the Menuha Formation (Late Cretaceous: Santonian–Early Campanian) of the Makhtesh Ramon region, southern Israel | journal = Cretaceous Research | volume = 40 | pages = 81–89 | doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2012.05.009}}
*{{cite journal | last1 = Wilson | first1 = M.A. | last2 = Zaton | first2 = M. | last3 = Avni | first3 = Y. | year = 2012 | title = Origin, paleoecology and stratigraphic significance of bored and encrusted concretions from the Upper Cretaceous (Santonian) of southern Israel | journal = Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments | volume = 92 | issue = 3 | pages = 343–352 | doi=10.1007/s12549-012-0082-8}}

<gallery>
Image:MenuhaThalassinoides.jpg|''Thalassinoides'' burrowing system throughout the Menuha Formation chalk.
Image:MenuhaCretalamnaAppendiculata.jpg|''Cretalamna appendiculata'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaSqualicoraxKaupi.jpg|''Squalicorax kaupi'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaSqualicoraxPristodontus.jpg|''Squalicorax falcatus?'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaCarchariasSamhammeri.jpg|''Carcharias samhammeri'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaCarchariasHolmdelensis.jpg|''Carcharias cf. C holmdelensis'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaCretoxyrhinaMantelli.jpg|''Cretoxyrhina mantelli'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaScapanorhynchusRapax.jpg|''Scapanorhynchus rapax'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaScapanorhynchusRaphiodon.jpg|''Scapanorhynchus raphiodon?'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaHadrodusPriscus.jpg|''Hadrodus priscus'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaMicropycnodonKansasensis.jpg|''Micropycnodon kansasensis?'' tooth, Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaForaminiferaPlate.jpg|Several foraminiferans replaced by silica from the Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaPycnodonteVesicularisPlate.jpg|Several oysters, possibly ''Pycnodonte vesicularis'', from the Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaEchinoidSpine.jpg|Irregular echinoid spine from the chalk sediments of the Menuha Formation.
Image:MenuhaFormationMakhtesh.jpg|Menuha Formation and capping Mishash Formation south of [[Earth:Makhtesh Ramon|Makhtesh Ramon]].
</gallery>

[[Category:Campanian Stage]]
[[Category:Santonian Stage]]
[[Category:Conglomerate formations]]
[[Category:Limestone formations]]

{{Sourceattribution|Menuha Formation}}