The Ilek Formation is a Lower Cretaceous geologic formation in Western Siberia. Many different fossils have been recovered from the formation. It overlies the Late Jurassic Tyazhin Formation and underlies the Albian Kiya Formation.[1]
The formation was described by L. A. Ragozin in 1935. It consists of sands with sandstone concretions, layers of silts, clays and marls.[2] Age of the formation, according to a crude 1962 estimate, is Valanginian(?) - Hauterivian - Barremian. Its thickness varies greatly, reaching 746 m in Teguldet borehole.[3] A more recent 2024 estimate based on invertebrate and vertebrate fossils placed the age of the formation at Barremian–Aptian.[4]
The Ilek Formation conformably overlies the Upper JurassicTyazhin Formation.[1] Gastropods and bivalves of Valanginian age have been recovered from the lower part of the formation, and gastropods and bivalves of Hauterivian to Barremian age have been found in the upper part, as well as Barremian ostracods. The age of the Shestakovo 1 locality is poorly constrained.[5]Palynological samples from the Shestakovo 3 locality are characteristic of the Aptian. No angiosperm pollen has been found at this locality, indicating that it is older than the Albian.[6] The upper layers of the formation do contain angiosperm pollen, indicating that part of the formation may extend into the Albian. The overlying Kiya Formation is upper Albian based on plant biostratigraphy.[1]
^ abcdeIvantsov, S. V.; Fayngerts, A. V.; Feofanova, O. A.; Vladimirova, O. N.; Slobodin, D. A. (2024). "Early Cretaceous continental sedimentatary environments, palaeogeography and biota of southeastern Western Siberia". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. 545. doi:10.1144/SP545-2023-62.
^ abAverianov, Alexander; Ivantsov, Stepan; Skutschas, Pavel; Faingertz, Alexey; Leshchinskiy, Sergey (2018). "A new sauropod dinosaur from the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation, Western Siberia, Russia". Geobios. 51 (1): 1–14. Bibcode:2018Geobi..51....1A. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2017.12.004. ISSN0016-6995.
^Bugdaeva, E V; Markevich, V S; Volynets, E B (2017). "Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic reconstruction of the Early Cretaceous psittacosaur localities, Asia". Proceedings and Field Guidebook for the Fifth International Symposium of International Geoscience Programme IGCP Project 608. Fifth International Symposium of International Geoscience Programme. Jeju Island, Korea. pp. 31–34.
^Skutschas, P.; Kolchanov, V.; Anpilogova, E.; Parakhin, I.; Averianov, A.; Jones, M. (2023). "The last of them? A new relic karaurid stem salamander from the Lower Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia". Biological Communications. 68 (4): 219–226. doi:10.21638/spbu03.2023.402.
^A. V. Lopatin; E. N. Maschenko & A. O. Averianov (2010). "A new genus of triconodont mammals from the Early Cretaceous of Western Siberia". Doklady Biological Sciences. 433 (1): 282–285. doi:10.1134/S0012496610040137.
^Alexander Averianov; Alexey Lopatin; Pavel Skutschas; Stepan Ivantsov; Elizaveta Boitsova; Ivan Kuzmin (2017). "An enigmatic multituberculate mammal from the Early Cretaceous of Siberia, Russia". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 37 (2): e1293070. doi:10.1080/02724634.2017.1293070.
^Trofimov, B. A. (1978). "The first triconodonts (Mammalia, Triconodonta) from Mongolia". Doklady Akademii Nauk SSSR. 243 (1): 213–216.
^Maschenko, E. N.; Lopatin, A. V. (1998). "First record of an Early Cretaceous triconodont mammal in Siberia". Bull. Inst. R. Sci. Nat. Belg. 68: 233–236.
^Efimov, M. B. and Leshchinskiy, S. V. (2000). First finding of the fossil crocodile skull in Siberia [in Russian]. In: Komarov, A. V., ed., Materialy regional’noj konferencii geologov Sibiri, Dal’nego Vostoka i Severo−Vostoka Rossii. Tom II, 361–363. GalaPress, Tomsk.
^Fiorelli, L.E.; Calvo, J.O. (2007). "The first "protosuchian" (Archosauria: Crocodyliformes) from the Cretaceous (Santonian) of Gondwana" (PDF).
^Skutschas, P. (2006). "Mesozoic amphibians from Siberia, Russia". 9th International Symposium on Mesozoic Terrestrial Ecosystems and Biota, Abstracts and Proceedings Volume: 123–126.
^Alexander O. Averianov; Stepan V. Ivantsov; Pavel P. Skutschas (2020). "Caudal vertebrae of titanosaurian sauropod dinosaurs from the Lower Cretaceous Ilek Formation in Western Siberia, Russia". Cretaceous Research. 107: Article 104309. Bibcode:2020CrRes.10704309A. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2019.104309. S2CID210619334.
^Averianov, A.; Podlesnov, A.; Slobodin, D.; Skutschas, P.; Feofanova, O.; Vladimirova, O. (2023). "First sauropod dinosaur remains from the Early Cretaceous Shestakovo 3 locality, Western Siberia, Russia". Biological Communications. 68 (4): 236–252. doi:10.21638/spbu03.2023.404.
^Averianov, Alexander O.; Voronkevich, Alexei V.; Leshchinskiy, Sergei V.; Fayngertz, Alexei V. (2006). "A ceratopsian dinosaur Psittacosaurus sibiricus from the Early Cretaceous of West Siberia, Russia and its phylogenetic relationships". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 4 (4): 359–395. doi:10.1017/s1477201906001933.
^O'Connor, JL; Averianov, AO; Zelenkov, NV (2014). "A confuciusornithiform (Aves, Pygostylia)-like tarsometatarsus from the Early Cretaceous of Siberia and a discussion of the evolution of avian hind". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 34 (3): 647–656. doi:10.1080/02724634.2013.828734.
^ abAverianov, A. O.; Skutschas, P. P.; Atuchin, A. A.; Slobodin, D. A.; Feofanova, O. A.; Vladimirova, O. N. (2024). "The last ceratosaur of Asia: a new noasaurid from the Early Cretaceous Great Siberian Refugium". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 291 (2023). 20240537. doi:10.1098/rspb.2024.0537.
^Evgeny N. Kurochkin; Nikita V. Zelenkov; Alexandr O. Averianov; Sergei V. Leshchinskiy (2011). "A new taxon of birds (Aves) from the Early Cretaceous of Western Siberia, Russia". Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 9 (1): 109–117. doi:10.1080/14772019.2010.522202.