Bekka Valley (Miocene of Lebanon)

Where: Lebanon (34.0° N, 35.8° E: paleocoordinates 33.6° N, 35.4° E)

• coordinate estimated from map

When: Late/Upper Miocene (11.6 - 5.3 Ma)

Environment/lithology: lacustrine - large; lithified, silty, sandy, conglomeratic marl

• Local sections described as "marls, sandy marls, blue clays, conglomerates, marly limestones [pg. 666]. Section near Kefraya described as:

•" a) Greyish-blue compact clays with tiny quartz grains, comprising fragments of carbonized plants; locality with fragments of chitinous insect skeletons.

• b) Greyish-blue, clayey, very hard marls with fossil remains of mammals, turtles, fishes, molluscs, and ostracods.

• c) Yellowish-brown sandy marls with gravel, gastropod remains, etc.

•The thickness of these deposits (a-c) is about 2 m and the are slightly inclined towards the west-northwest (pg. 666)".

Size classes: macrofossils, mesofossils

Primary reference: M. Malez and A. Forsten. 1989. Hipparion from the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Géobios 22(5):665-670 [J. Head/J. Head/J. Alroy]more details

Purpose of describing collection: general faunal/floral analysis

PaleoDB collection 34399: authorized by Jason Head, entered by Jason Head on 29.08.2003

Creative Commons license: CC BY (attribution)

Taxonomic list

Gastropoda
 Cerithioidea - Melanopsidae
Melanopsis sp. Férussac 1807 snail
 Sorbeoconcha - Hydrobiidae
 Heterostropha - Planorbidae
"Planorbis cornu" = Planorbarius cornu Brongniart 1810 snail
 Neritoidea - Neritidae
Neritina sp. Lamarck 1816 snail
Mammalia
 Perissodactyla - Equidae
Hipparion sp. 1 de Christol 1832 hipparionine horse
Hipparion sp. 2 de Christol 1832 hipparionine horse
 Artiodactyla - Suidae
 Artiodactyla - Bovidae
Gazella sp. Blaineville 1816 gazelle
Tragocerus sp. Gaudry 1861 antelope
Palaeoreas lindermayeri Wagner 1848 antelope
Protoryx sp. Forsyth Major 1891 antelope
"Pseudotragus cf. capricornis" = Protoryx capricornis Schlosser 1904 antelope
 Proboscidea - Deinotheriidae
"Deinotherium sp." = Dinotherium
"Deinotherium sp." = Dinotherium Kaup 1825 deinothere
entered as "Dinotherium sp."
Reptilia
 Testudines - Testudinidae
Testudo sp. Linnaeus 1758 turtle