Tafraout Group

The Tafraout Group (Full name: Douar Tafraout Group, to not confuse it with Tafraout, in other region, also known as "Zaouiat Ahançal Group") is a geological group of formations of Toarcian-Aalenian (Lower Jurassic-Middle Jurassic) age in the Azilal, Béni-Mellal, Imilchil, Zaouiat Ahansal, Ouarzazate, Tinerhir, Tinejdad and Errachidia areas of the High Atlas (with the Tagoudite Fm reaching areas near Rich in the Middle Atlas) of Morocco. The Group represents the remnants of a local massive Siliciclastic-Carbonate platform ("Tafraout Platform"), best assigned to succession W-E of alluvial environment occasionally interrupted by shallow marine incursions (tidal flat setting) and inner platform to open marine settings, and marks a dramatic decrease of the carbonate productivity under increasing terrigenous sedimentation. Fossils include large reef biotas with richness in "lithiotid" bivalves and coral mounts ("Patch reef", Tafraout Formation), but also by remains of vertebrates such as the sauropod Tazoudasaurus and the basal ceratosaur Berberosaurus, along with several undescribed genera. While there have been attributions of its lowermost layers to the Latest Pliensbachian, the current oldest properly measured are part of the Earliest Toarcian regression ("MRST10"), part of the Lower-Middle Palymorphum biozone.

This group is composed of the following units, which extend from west to east: the Azilal Formation (continental to subtidal, including its synonyms the "Wazzant Formation" and the "Continental Series of Toundoute", as well includes part of the "Aguerd-nˈTazoult Formation"); the Tafraout Formation (deposited in a subtidal to inner platform environment, includes the "Amezraï Fm" and part of the "Aguerd-nˈTazoult Formation") and the Tagoudite Formation (including the "Tamadout Formation", platform to open pelagic). They are connected with the offshore Ait Athmane Formation and the deeper shelf deposits of the Agoudim 1 Formation. Overall, this group represents a mixed carbonate-siliciclastic system of several hundred meters thick, dominated by deposits of shallow marine platforms linked to a nearby hinterland dominated by conglomerates. The strata of the group extend towards the central High Atlas, covering different anticlines and topographic features along the mountain range.

The after-effects of the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event are also very present in the marginal marine strata of the Tafraout Group, with the Toksine Section recording a dramatic collapse on the scale of the Tethys of the neritic carbonate system.