Djadochta Formation

The Djadochta Formation is a highly fossiliferous Late Cretaceous rock formation in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia, spanning the Campanian to Maastrichtian stages, whose type locality is Bayn Dzak, known as the Flaming Cliffs. It consists mainly of cemented reddish orange to pale orange and light gray, medium to fine grained sands and sandstones more than 90 meters thick, with minor calcareous concretions, silty clay, conglomerate and mudstone layers. The sediments accumulated through wind action in an arid, warm semi arid climate dominated by large straight crested and smaller barchan and parabolic sand dunes, with occasional water bodies also contributing to deposition. The formation has yielded some of the most important dinosaur fossils ever found, including the first confirmed dinosaur eggs and remains of Protoceratops, Velociraptor and Oviraptor.