Kem Kem

Geological time

Cretaceous

Age: 100–94 million years ago
Period: Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian)
Formation: Kem Kem Group (Gara Sbaa & Douira Formations)
Depositional environment: River channels, floodplains, and coastal delta
Fossil types: Dinosaurs (including Spinosaurus and Carcharodontosaurus), crocodyliforms, lungfish, turtles, pterosaurs, freshwater and semi-marine fish, plant impressions, petrified wood
Paleoecology highlights: Braided rivers, shifting sandbars, shallow ponds, early flowering plants, conifer groves, fern patches, and occasional tidal influence from the nearby Tethys Sea

Imagine a vast, sunbaked river plain stretching toward the sea. The ground is a warm red-orange, cut by winding channels of shallow, muddy water that swell during seasonal rains. Towering conifers and spiky cycads cluster along the banks, their roots clutching the sandy soil, while ferns peek out from shady spots nearby. In the distance, low cliffs and mesas glow under the bright tropical sun. The air is dry much of the year, but when the wet season comes, the landscape comes alive, flooding rivers carve new paths, and scattered ponds shimmer under the wide sky. It’s a wild, open world on the edge of an ancient sea. Hot, rugged, and teeming with life.

Map

Tree of Life

Kem Kem

Actinopterygii

Bacteria

Chordata

Elasmobranchii

Osteichthyes

†Pterosauria

Sauropsida

†Sclerorhynchidae

†Sclerorhynchiformes

†Spinosaurus

Testudines

Unclassified