page_title: Azilal Formation
section_title: Tafraout Formation
hierarchical_section_title: Azilal Formation / Tafraout Formation
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Tafraout
context_page_description: The Azilal Formation, also known as Toundute Continental Series & Wazzant Formation is a geological unit in the Azilal & Ouarzazate provinces of the High Atlas of Morocco, that cover the Middle Toarcian to Lower Aalenian stages of the Jurassic Period. It is a terrestrial deposit which overlies marine dolomites of equivalent age to the Budoš Limestone of Montenegro or the Marne di Monte Serrone of Italy. Dinosaur remains, such the Sauropod Tazoudasaurus and the Basal Ceratosaur Berberosaurus are known from the unit, along with several undescribed genera. The Units inside the group have been considered individual on the past, being a division of the so-called "Couches rouges", and subdivided by a supposed geological scale. The strata of the group extends towards the Central High Atlas, covering different anticlines, and topographic accidents along the range of the Mountains. Although new studies have suggested that the strata is coeval in age, and should be referred to as a unique unit. The Group is believed to have been a mostly deltaic, and river channels filled a succession of seashore and inland environments, covering the late Liassic coast of modern northern Africa.
context_section_description: The Tafraout Formation recovers a marginal marine to deltaic setting, with the presence of calcareous nodules, alternated along Marnes with bioclasts, and abundant ferruguinaceous material. The formation shows tides to the early Mesozoic Central Atlas rift, composed of Paleozoic rocks which provided the majority of the clasts present on the layers. A mostly marine margin recovers transgressions present on the Middle Toarcian on the basin, with accumulation of limestone with Lamellibranchians, that extends to the limit with the lowersmost Aalenian, along diverse sectors inside the Atlas Domain. The formation has an upper part with Lithiotid-dominated limestones, filled with the presence of Corals, brachiopods and ooids. Tafraout Formation sleeps over mostly Paleozoic strata, with granite and granodiorites, as well tectonic traces of Devonian Volcanic activity. On the Late Early Jurassic, the zone was part of a coastal Setting, with influence of fluvial facies at the north. Sinemurian deposition from older units was tectonically affected due to seismic activity on the Middle Toarcian, leading to a vertical stratification on some locations. The so-called Aït Bou Guemmez Platform emerged on the Atlas Gulf around the Lower Toarcian, creating a small island ecosystem, that begin to deposit marine facies on the lower part of the formation, being one of the major tectonic accidents locally. A series of sea transgressions recorded from the older Sinemurian to Aalenian strata show that various Island ecosystems appeared along the coast of the Goluf, implying changes on the sedimentation. The warm climate of the Toarcian led to atmospheric changes, manifested on the Formation with depositions caused by tropical cyclone action, that decreased towards the late Toarcian Deposits. The Trafraout Formation also recovers data from the post Toarcian Anoxic events on the Marocco Basin, with changes on the carbonate reserves on the lower layers, where hemipelagic marls suggest deposition after a change of the carbon cycle.
caption: Tafraout Landscape with Jurassic deposits at the Background
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