Le Crétacé de la chaı̂ne nord des Chotts (Tunisie du centre-sud): biostratigraphie et comparaison avec les régions voisines

Early Cretaceous spinicaudatans (“conchostracans”) from lacustrine strata of the Sidi Aïch Formation in the northern Chotts range, southern Tunisia: Taxonomy, biostratigraphy and stratigraphic implication

“…The faunal association is composed of gastropods, orbitolinids, bivalves, echinoderms, rudists and miliolids. The ages assigned by authors for these deposits are late BarremianeGargasian (Ben Youssef and Peybernes, 1986) and Aptian (BedoulianeGargasian) (M'Rabet, 1987;Abdallah et al, 1995;Chaabani and Razgallah, 2006;Hfaiedh et al, 2013).…”

“…The Cretaceous rocks exposed in the ZBAS ( Fig. 2A) have been studied by numerous authors (Abdeljaouad and Zargouni, 1981;Abb es and Zargouni, 1986;Abb es and Tlig, 1991;Ben Youssef and Peybernes, 1993;Louhaïchi and Tlig, 1993;Chaabani and Razgallah, 2006;Gharbi et al, 2013). Lower Cretaceous strata are widely distributed across central Tunisia and the Chotts area (Fig.…”

“…2B), derived from previous work from central Tunisia, shows that the Lower Cretaceous deposits exposed in the study area are represented by only three formations, in ascending order: i) the Bouhedma Formation was first introduced by Burollet (1956) at the type locality of Jebel Bouhedma in southwestern Tunisia. In the study area, it is made up of a very thick succession (up to 900 m thickness), which is formed by paralic deposits including bioclastic limestones, laminated dolomites, variegated shales, anhydrite, gypsum and finegrained sandstones (Abdeljaouad and Zargouni, 1981). In central Tunisia, the Bouhedma Formation was assigned to HauterivianeBarremian by Damotte et al (1987) and Damotte (1990) based on an ostracod assemblage including Antepaijenborchella cf.…”

“…Those that are recovered provide environmental rather than biostratigraphic information. Thus, the entire succession has been primarily dated based on correlation with marine-equivalent deposits to the north and by correlations in the Far East of Tunisia with their Libyan counterparts (Ben Youssef et al, 1985;Abdallah et al, 1995;Bouaziz et al, 2002;Bodin et al, 2010;Le Loeuff et al, 2012). As a consequence, the precise age of fossil-bearing strata are still uncertain (Barale et al, 1998;Barale and Ouaja, 2002;Anderson et al, 2007;Barale, 2007;Contessi and Fanti, 2012a, b;Contessi, 2013).…”

Analysis of Cretaceous (Aptian) strata in central Tunisia, using 2D seismic data and well logs

“…Stratigraphic, sedimentologic and tectonic studies in this area have been undertaken since the beginning of the last century, and some of these studies have discussed the evolution of the sedimentary basins and the genesis of the ranges and associated structures (e.g., Pervinquière, 1903;Castany, 1954;Burollet, 1956;M'Rabet et al, 1979;Bismuth et al, 1981;Gargouri-Razgallah, 1983;Masse, 1984;Boltenhagen, 1985;Zargouni, 1985;Ouali et al, 1987;Abdallah 1989;Zouari et al, 1990Zouari et al, , 1999Boukadi, 1994;Negra, 1994;Abdallah et al, 1995Abdallah et al, , 2000Rabhi, 1999;Bédir et al, 2001; Bouaziz et al, 2002;Chaabani and Razgallah, 2006;Azaïez et al, 2007;Lazzez et al, 2008;Zouaghi, 2008;Gallala et al, 2009;Lehmann et al, 2009;Heldt et al, 2010). Other studies have shown that the Cretaceous strata in the central Atlas Mountains of Tunisia are organized into units and sequences (e.g., Tlatli, 1980;Bismuth et al, 1981;M'Rabet, 1981;Masse, 1984;Boltenhagen, 1985;Abdallah, 1989;Ben Youssef et al, 1989;Neri et al, 1991;Abdallah et al, 1995Abdallah et al, , 2000Chaabani, 1995;Saïdi, 1996;<...>…”