The Valanginian of the Safi Basin (Atlantic Morocco) and its ammonite fauna. Palaeobiogeographical implications

The study of ammonite assemblages collected from the Calcaire inferieur and the Argiles brunes in the region of Safi (Morocco) has allowed us to pinpoint the age of these formations and to attribute them, respectively, to the Boissieri Zone - lower part of the Campylotoxus Zone and to the upper part of the Campylotoxus Zone - Upper Valanginian. These units are also reinterpreted in terms of sequence stratigraphy. In addition, the analysis of the faunal spectrum shows that, although differing in some respects, these ammonite associations are similar to those of other peri-Tethyan platforms, while differing considerably from the basin assemblages.