Bafata Shale Fm
Period:
Devonian
Age Interval:
Early Devonian
Province:
Senegal Basin
Type Locality and Naming
Synonym: Bafata Shale, Bafata Fm
References: Brownfield and Charpentier, 2003
[Fig. 1. Generalized map of the central and southern parts of the Senegal Basin showing part of the Senegal Province, the Mauritania, Northern, and Casamance subbasins, the Mesozoic carbonate platform edge, the northern and southern salt basins, the Mauritanide Mountains, the Bové Basin, Deep Sea Drilling Project sites 367 and 368, the 2-second sediment isopach, and the onshore depth to basement isopachs (Brownfield and Charpentier, 2003)]
[Fig. 2: Generalized stratigraphic column for the Northern subbasin and the southern part of the Mauritania subbasins (Brownfield and Charpentier, 2003).]
Lithology and Thickness
The Bafata Shale is the youngest pre-rift unit, it is of Middle and Upper Devonian, and consists a 300-m-thick sandy shale.
Lithology Pattern:
Sandy claystone
Relationships and Distribution
Lower contact
Cusselinta Sandstone Fm (conformable)
Upper contact
Unconformably overlain by the generalized Triassic Rift-basin Fm of early and middle Triassic. (the Late Devonian through Permian is absent.)
Regional extent
Senegal, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau, Northwest Africa
GeoJSON
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Fossils
Age
Middle and Late Devonian
Age Span:
Beginning stage:
Eifelian
Fraction up in beginning stage:
0.4
Beginning date (Ma):
390.70
Ending stage:
Famennian
Fraction up in the ending stage:
1.0
Ending date (Ma):
359.30
Depositional setting
Depositional pattern:
Additional Information
Compiler:
Enam O. Obiosio, Solomon Joshua Avong, Henry Nasir Suleiman, Rebecca Bobick (and Wen Du), modified from Brownfield, M.E. and Charpentier, R.R., 2003. "Assessment of the Undiscovered Oil and Gas of the Senegal Province, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea-Bissau, Northwest Africa", U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2207-A, 1-26.