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Catalogue entry
The Specimen
🦷 ORIGINAL 6.4 CM PLESIOSAUR TOOTH
A fossil tooth of the plesiosaur Zarafasaura oceanis, a Late Cretaceous marine reptile, measuring 6.4 cm (approximately 2.5 inches). It is around 70 million years old and comes from the phosphate deposits of the Sidi Chennane Basin (Oulad Abdoun Basin), Morocco.
🔎 Fossil Information
- Fossil type: Plesiosaur tooth (marine reptile)
- Identification: Zarafasaura oceanis
- Length: approximately 6.4 cm / 2.5 inches (measured from the scale photograph)
- Period: Late Cretaceous
- Age: Approximately 70 million years
- Locality: Sidi Chennane Basin, Oulad Abdoun phosphate deposits, Morocco
- Availability: One exact photographed specimen
- PaleoDeserts reference: P-07
🌊 About Zarafasaura
Plesiosaurs were long-necked marine reptiles with four paddle-like flippers; they were not dinosaurs. Zarafasaura oceanis is an elasmosaurid plesiosaur described from the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) phosphate deposits of Morocco, where its slender, conical teeth are found alongside mosasaur and shark remains.
📷 Exact Specimen
Only one specimen is available. You will receive the exact tooth shown in the photographs.
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Where it comes from
Moroccan Origin
Morocco’s phosphate basins, above all the Oulad Abdoun Basin near Khouribga and the Ganntour Basin near Benguerir, preserve one of the richest marine vertebrate fossil records on Earth.
At the end of the Cretaceous, a shallow sea covered this part of Morocco. Its nutrient-rich waters supported mosasaurs, plesiosaurs, sharks and bony fish, whose bones and teeth were preserved in the accumulating phosphate sediments.
Reported locality for this specimen: Sidi Chennane Basin, Oulad Abdoun phosphate deposits, Morocco.
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From the rock
Discovery
Moroccan phosphates are worked in successive layers. As the rock is exposed, fossil bones and teeth appear within the phosphate beds and are recovered before the material is processed.
Large skulls, jaws and skeletons are rare finds within this enormous volume of rock, and must be lifted carefully, often together with their surrounding matrix.
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Deep time
Geological Context
The Maastrichtian phosphate beds formed in the final stage of the Cretaceous, shortly before the extinction event about 66 million years ago. Younger phosphate layers continue into the Paleocene and Eocene.
- Period
- Late Cretaceous
- Locality
- Sidi Chennane Basin, Oulad Abdoun phosphate deposits, Morocco
- Deposit
- Moroccan phosphates
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The workshop
Preparation
Fossils are freed from their surrounding rock with fine air-powered tools, abrasives, brushes and consolidants. Depending on size and fragility, preparation can take from a few hours to several months.
The preparation, association, repair and restoration information supplied for this specimen is listed below, exactly as recorded in its catalogue entry.
No specific preparation details have been recorded for this specimen. Please request information if this is important to your collection.
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On display
Presentation
Presented as a natural-history specimen, this fossil is suited to a private collection, a gallery, a library or a carefully designed interior.
This listing describes one individual specimen. You will receive the exact fossil shown in the photographs.
For display, choose a stable surface away from strong direct sunlight and humidity. Our care guide explains how to clean, handle and present a fossil.
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For the collector
Collector Information
The Oulad Abdoun BasinMosasaur vs DinosaurFAQAll Fossil Guides
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