Field Notes

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Study Abroad Info

Ideal for students interested in paleontology, this trip offers students the opportunity to discover one of the richest archeological sites in the world.

Wadi Al-Hitan is located 150km southwest of Cairo. Students will take a course in Geological History with a central focus on Wadi Al-Hitan and the site’s history.

Opportunity to earn three credits during a Maymester session that last four weeks.

Trip includes:

Students housing on campus at Cairo University

Weekend trip to Alexandria

Cultural immersion through group activities throughout city

Private guided trip to Wadi Al-Hitan by archeological specialist

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Day 01: Intro to Wadi Al-Hitan

| FOSSIL SAMPLES

           There are three Eocene formations visible at Wadi Al-Hitan: the Gehannam Formation, Birket Qarun Formation, and the Qasr El-Sagha Formation. During the Eocene Epoch, Wadi Al-Hitan was located in a shallow marine environment.For these formations to form, the Tethys Sea had to retreat and deposit layers of sediment. These layers of sediment led to the creation of sandstone, limestone, and shale in the area. White limestone and gypseous shale make up the oldest formation, Gehannam. The Birket Qarun Formation is composed of sandstone, clays, and hard limestone. The final and youngest formation was uplifted creating a drainage system. This drainage system led to the creation of estuaries and lagoons.

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Day 05: Eocene Epoch

| GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

          The Eocene Epoch lasted from 55.8 to 33.9 million years ago. During this period, we find some of the oldest orders of small mammals, including: the ungulates, Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla. This early epoch is believed to have had the highest average annual temperatures during the Cenozoic Era. Around the middle of the Eocene, there was a separation of Antarctica and Australia which led to the creation of a circum-Antarctic Current. This change in the current cooled the temperatures globally, increasing seasonality. The noticeable changes in the seasons forced mammals to start growing larger and reduced the size of forests.

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Day 08: Fossils

| Dorudon atrox

          The Dorudon atrox was a fully-aquatic cetacean found in the Birket Qarun and Gehannam Formations. The D. atrox was medium-sized, around five meters in length. It is believed that the hind legs were too small to have supported its weight and the front limbs were modified flippers so the D. atrox was never able to walk on land. Instead, they swam in warm, shallow seas. The main difference between this animal and other primitive terrestrial mammals was the hearing system which was adapted for effective sound perception under water.

| MOERITHERIUM

           The moeritherium was a primitive mammal closely related to today’s elephants. However, it more closely resembled tapirs with short, strong legs, a short tail, and flat-hoofed toes. The eyes were set very far forward and the nasal openings could be found on the upper side of the skull. It is speculated that the moeritherium did not possess and elephantine trunk. The front incisors developed in the upper and lower jaws and they represent the development process of today’s elephant tusks. The moeritherium could be found in marshy regions.

| BASILOSAURUS 

          The basilosaurus is classified as a whale, but it is not the ancestor of modern whales. It is also named as if it is a reptile (-saurus), but it was later discovered to have been a marine mammal. The basilosaurus grows to about 15 meters in length and was one of the largest known animals of its day. The vertebrae of the backbone was very elongated and the narrow skull was relatively small. Although it had flippers, it had an elbow joint that allowed it to pivot them like a seal of today would. This helped the basilosaurus chase prey into holes and crevices. Like the Dorudon atrox, it could be found in warm, shallow water.

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Day 11: Environment

| WIND EROSION

          Today at wadi Al-Hitan you can find sand dunes because of its desert environment as well as pillars of rock, including a limestone plateau, shale hills and sandstone deposits. These were deposited during the Eocene, when the Tethys Sea reached farther south than the Mediterranean does today.

           The site is very barren with very little flora and fauna. Although, there are fossil remains of sea grasses and mangroves that were once there, suggesting that the climate of the area was once humid and warm. There are three Eocene formations visible, the oldest of which is the Gehannam formation, which is about 40-41 million years old. This formation consists of white, marly limestone and gypseous shale. It contains many skeletons of archaic whales, sea cows, sharks teeth, turtles, and crocodilians. Remarkably, two of the whale species still had small hind limbs, feet and toes. The quality, concentration and state of preservation of these fossils are unequalled. The middle formation is called the Burket Qarun and it consists of sandstone, clays, and hard limestone and also yields whale skeletons. The youngest formation is the Qasr El-Sagha and it is about 39 million years old. This formation represents a shallow marine environment and contains invertebrate fauna.

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Day 14: Plate Tectonics

| TETHYS SEA FORMATION

           During the Eocene epoch plate tectonic events caused the African continent to diverge from Europe. This caused a sea level rise and a shallow sea formed where modern day wadi Al-Hitan is located. Africa and India also moved away from one another. Egypt was farther south during this time period.

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Day 18: Sea Levels

| MID-EOCENE SEA LEVELS

           Tethys Sea once covered Egypt, geologic upheaval receded the sea. During the Eocene it was warmer than it is today therefore the sea level was higher, but it was also the beginning of a global cooling trend into the modern day, where more and more of the water has been tied up in the ice caps at the poles, therefore lowering the sea level, which we can see today.  Without ice cover at the poles, sea levels were nearly 100 meters higher than today.

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Day 23: Climate

| EOCENE EPOCH

           Fossils indicate a lot about paleoclimate and paleogeography. Research of calcareous nannofossils, extremely small skeletal fossils, give clues about this marine environment. Changing exposed facies of sandstones and mudstones indicate rise in sea level in Wadi Al-Hitan. Researchers have used planktonic foraminifera located in these sedimentary layers to understand the climate during the Eocene.

           Wadi Al Hitan during the Eocene, was shallow, nutrient rich marine environment. Today, the site is an arid desert in Egypt. Paleogeography indicates an uplift in northern Africa. Research of the sedimentary layers of mudstone and sandstone facies in the present day desert of Wadi Al-Hitan proves the sea level rise. This previously shallow marine environment was uplifted through tectonic forces, and drained, creating it into the desert it is today.

| 2013

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Day 25: Rock Dating

| SITE RJ-87

          Relative dating was used to date these rocks because they are abundant in fossils, which are a source of relative dating technique. Relative dating can only determine the sequential order in which a series of events occurred, not when they occur. When they occur would be determined through absolute dating which uses radiometric data to date rocks.

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Day 27: Whales

| RENDITION OF BASILOSAURUS ISIS

           Wadi Al-Hitan is one of the richest archaeological sites in the world. The hundreds of preserved fossils remaining from the Eocene period, indicate that Wadi Al-Hitan was the site where whales transitioned from land to water mammals. Preserved fossils indicate the evolution of the sea cow, as it lost its limbs and transitioned to the water. Although the fossils at Wad Al-Hitan are not the oldest in the world, there is a wide range of well-preserved vertebrate fossils that indicate this major evolutionary change. For example, the Basilosaurus isis, was found preserved at this site. The fossil indicates that this animal had digits on its forelimbs and hind legs, a key indicator of the whale’s past land life. Dorudon atrox, was a smaller “land whale,” with a more dolphin-like body but vestigial hind limb bones. These fossils are indicators of the transition of whales that took place in the Eocene shallow marine environment. 

            The range in the number, age and preserved fossils are what make Wadi Al Hitan such an important site. Not only is there evidence of the whale’s evolutionary history, but fossils of sea turtles, sharks, crocodiles and invertebrate animals indicate the rich, marine environment that used to thrive in what is now a desert. The varying ages of fossils in the dunes and cliffs of present day Wadi Al Hitan indicate regression and transgression of the sea, as it transitioned from a marine environment to the arid desert that it is today.