Lower and lower Middle Jurassic foraminiferal assemblages and calcareous algae from the southern margin of the Central High Atlas, Morocco

Abstract

The Lower and lower Middle Jurassic carbonates from the southern margin of the Moroccan High Atlas yielded well-preserved foraminifers and calcareous algae. The identification of these microfossils, based on thin-section observations, allowed us to define seven successive micropaleontological assemblages with ages from the early Sinemurian to the early Bajocian. These micropaleontological assemblages, relatively well calibrated by ammonites and brachiopods, were compared with the larger foraminiferal biozonation of Septfontaine (1984) for the Moroccan Tethys domain. A new biozone with Palaeodasycladus mediterraneus is introduced to characterize the upper Pliensbachian (Algovianum Zone) to lower Toarcian interval.