A SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHIC SYNTHESIS OF THE NORTH AFRICAN MESOZOIC

A synthesis of the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the Mesozoic succession of North Africa is presented. Two chronostratigraphic correlation panels have been constructed at roughly right angles to each other across North Africa, in approximately E-W and NNW-SSE orientations. The panels illustrate the way in which sedimentology and hydrocarbon geology vary across the continent through time. The Mesozoic succession is divided into two sequences (NA 6, Early Triassic to Middle Cretaceous; and NA 7, Middle to Late Cretaceous), for both of which sequence boundaries, maximum flooding surfaces and component systems tracts are defined. The systems tracts are of tens of Ma duration and approximate to the second-order cycles of previous publications. New palaeogeographic reconstructions for North Africa for the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous are illustrated, and a new sea level curve based on the panels and palaeogeographic reconstructions is compared to other published sea level curves.