Biogeography of the Saharan Gretaceous and Paleocene epicontinental transgressions

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The first trans-Saharan epicontinental transgression began in the Late Cenomanian and peaked in the Early Turonian. The sea entered through rifts (Nigeria) and subsiding areas (north Africa) and, at maximum extent, spilled out onto stable craton. The central Sahara was land in late Early Turonian time; the sea seems to have remained in the central part of the Benue rift, to sally forth again during the minor Coniacian transgressive pulse. The Coniacian transgression went no further than eastern and central Niger Republic. For a short time during the Cenomanian-Turonian link-up between the Tethys and the South Atlantic, some organisms (mainly ammonites and pelecypods) passed across the Sahara. The Coniacian marine deposits of eastern Niger contain several elements typical of the Mungo River Formation of Cameroun, and coastal Nigeria. These faunistic indications imply that the topographical obstacle formed by the Zambuk ridge of northeastern Nigeria was swamped at maximum transgression. A third, very extensive epicontinental transgression began in latest Campanian time and reached its acme in the Early Maastrichtian. In the central Sahara, at least, there was a retreat of the sea in later Maastrichtian times. A final transgression peaked during the Paleocene, after which the sea withdrew permanently from the northwest African hinterland. The same marine ostracod associations occur in the Paleocene of coastal Nigeria, the Sokoto embayment, Mali and Libya, thus providing strong evidence of a marine connexion, albeit brief, between the South Atlantic and the Tethys, despite the lack of outcrop evidence in the crucial Niger valley region.