Pliensbachian succession and brachiopod fauna from the Central Unit of the South Riffian Ridges (northwestern Morocco)

Abstract

The Pliensbachian succession of the Central Unit of the South Riffian Ridges domain consists of four formations. The second one, the Jebela Formation, is rich in brachiopods especially at Jbel Dhar N'Sour Anticline. Twenty-three species belonging to three orders (Spiriferida, Rhynchonellida and Terebratulida), and eight genera have been identified in addition of seven species of bivalves. Most of the studied brachiopod taxa are described and illustrated for the first time from the Pliensbachian succession of the South Riffian Ridges domain and Morocco in general. Several of these taxa have wide geographic distributions in the Peritethyan basins of the northern and the southern margins of the western Tethys and the Subboreal Domain of NW Europe.