The Qasr el Sagha Formation is a geological formation located in Egypt. The formation is part of the Wadi El Hitan World Heritage Site. The Qasr el Sagha Formation overlies the Birket Qarun Formation and is overlain by the Gebel Qatrani Formation. The sandstones and shales of the formation were deposited in a deltaic to shallow marine environment. It dates to the Late Eocene.
Image: Barytherium grave DB1
Image: Eosiren lybica
Image: Moeritherium NT small
Image: Bothriogenys fraasi
Wādī al-Ḥītān is a paleontological site in the Faiyum Governorate of Egypt, some 150 kilometres (93 mi) south-west of Cairo. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2005 for its hundreds of fossils of some of the earliest forms of whale, the archaeoceti. The site reveals evidence for the explanation of one of the greatest mysteries of the evolution of whales: the emergence of the whale as an ocean-going mammal from a previous life as a land-based animal.
Basilosaurid whale skeleton in Wādī al-Ḥītān
Entrance sign to the site
Skeletons of basilosaurid whales like Dorudon (featured above) were discovered at the site
Partial skeleton of Basilosaurus at Wādī al-Ḥītān