Home Multi-Country Search About Admin Login


Information provided by geoscience team at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria --see About

Search by
Select Region(s) to search
Hold Ctrl (Windows/Linux) or Command (Mac) to select multiple
Tarfaya Formation
Click to display on map of the Ancient World at:
Tarfaya Fm base reconstruction

Tarfaya Fm

Period: 
Quaternary

Age Interval: 
Pleistocene - Holocene


Province: 
Tarfaya Basin

Type Locality and Naming

Records of drilling sites EA-1 and CHBK-1 wells (Choubert et al., 1966; LeRoy & Piqué, 2001) and outcrop at Matmarfag, 50km south of Laâyoune (Wenke, 2014).

Synonym: Tarfaya Sands, Grés de Tarfaya

References: Wenke, 2014

[Fig. 1. Regional crustal framework of the Moroccan Atlantic rifted-passive margin showing its three, major rifted-passive margin segments that are conjugate with eastern Canada: 1) Northern Central Atlantic; 2) Georges Bank- Tarfaya Central Atlantic, and; 3) Southern Central Atlantic (three zones modified from Nemcok et al., 2005). (Galhom, 2020).]

[Fig. 2. Schematic chrono-lithology chart from the basin to inner shelf settings of the Tarfaya Basin. (Table 6, page 110, in Wenke, 2014)

[Fig. 3. Summary chart for the Tarfaya Dakhla basin showing geologic time scale, lithostratigraphy, controlling tectonic events, and interpreted horizons (Galhom, 2020).]

[Fig. 4. Lithostratigraphy and log characteristics of the Triassic to Miocene succession at well W10, offshore Tarfaya Basin (El Jorfi et al., 2015).]


Lithology and Thickness

The Tarfaya Fm is lateral transition from distal (slope to outer shelf) sandy claystone to proximal (inner and mid-shelf) conglomerate (Wenke, 2014) and in some outcrop is about 644m thick (El Jorfi et al., 2015). The name Grés de Tarfaya indicates the dominance by sand.


Lithology Pattern: 
Coarse-grained sandstone


Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

It conformably transitions downward into the similar Izic Fm (Wenke, 2014; table 6, p. 110)

Upper contact

Surface of the basin

Regional extent

The Dhakla, Laayoune and Tarfaya Basins (TB) extend along the southern Moroccan continental shelf approximately to the town of Sidi Ifni, where a gradual transition to the Souss-Basin (SB) in the north takes place (Wenke et al., 2010).


GeoJSON

{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"MultiPolygon","coordinates":[[[[-12.3,28.58],[-10.78,29.43],[-9.53,30.48],[-8.25,30.81],[-8.45,30.64],[-9.53,29.81],[-10.1,29.58],[-11.25,27.93],[-11.53,26.43],[-12.15,25.43],[-13.93,23.6],[-15.16,23.4],[-16.21,22.7],[-17.93,22.8],[-17.01,24.86],[-14.33,26.93],[-14.25,27.66],[-13.35,28.31],[-12.3,28.58]]]]}}

Fossils


Age 

Pleistocene-Holocene (Wenke, 2014; table 6, p. 110)

Age Span: 

    Beginning stage: 
Gelasian

    Fraction up in beginning stage: 
0.00

    Beginning date (Ma): 
2.58

    Ending stage: 
Holocene

    Fraction up in the ending stage: 
1.0

    Ending date (Ma):  
0.00

Depositional setting


Depositional pattern:  


Additional Information


Compiler:  

Enam O. Obiosio, Solomon Joshua Avong and Henry Nasir Suleiman (2024) - Stratigraphic Lexicon compiled from the following publications:

El Jorfi L., Süss M.P., Aigner T., and Mhammdi N. (2015): Triassic – Quaternary Sequence Stratigraphy of the Tarfaya Basin (Moroccan Atlantic): Structural Evolution, Eustasy and Sedimentation. Journal of Petroleum Geology, 38(1), pp. 77-98.

Ghassal B.I., Littke R., Sachse V., Sindern S., Schwarzbauer J. (2016): Depositional environment and source rock potential of Cenomanian and Turonian sedimentary rocks of the Tarfaya Basin, Southwest Morocco. Geologica Acta, 14(4), pp. 419-441.

Wenke A. A. O. (2014): Sequence stratigraphy and basin analysis of the Meso- to Cenozoic Tarfaya- Laâyoune Basins, on- and offshore Morocco. PhD Thesis at Naturwissenschaftlich-Mathematischen Gesamtfakultät der Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.