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Arkell.1956.Jurassic..

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264 NORTH AFRICA<br />

dominant ammonites of this fauna are Ermoceras deserti Douville and<br />

E. runcinatum Arkell, here found 3300 km. west of the nearest known<br />

occurrence, in Sinai. In the same beds occur Cadomites aff. deslongchampsi<br />

(d'Orb.), C. cf. daubenyi (Gemm.), C. cf. septicostatus Buck.,<br />

Stephanoceras humphriesiforme (Roche), Leptosphinctes cf. leptus Buck.,<br />

Cleistosphinctes cleistus (Buck.) and Oppelia subradiata (Sow.). This<br />

fauna occurs at the top of 4-5 m. of limestone which represents a condensed<br />

Bajocian, for it is underlain by the Toarcian. Above it follow at least<br />

1000 m. of marls and argillaceous limestones with Posidonia, all of which<br />

must belong to the Upper Bajocian, since it underlies the Lower Bathonian<br />

fauna of El-Harchaia with Oraniceras, described by Flamand (see next<br />

section). (Arkell & Lucas, 1953.)<br />

MIDDLE BAJOCIAN<br />

The Sowerbyi, Sauzei and Humphriesianum Zones all seem to be<br />

represented (the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Bajocian zones of Termier, 1936,<br />

p. 894), judging by the records and the few figures published by Gardet<br />

& Gerard (1946). From the High Atlas of Midelt and near Figuig are<br />

recorded numerous Witchelliae and Sonniniae, Zurcheria, Emileia brocchi<br />

(Sow.), Otoites sauzei (d'Orb.), Skirroceras bayleanum (Oppel), Phylloceras<br />

and Lytoceras (Dubar, 1934, p. 85; Verlet & Roch, 1940), and from<br />

the Middle Atlas the same plus Chondroceras, Stephanoceras, Hyperlioceras<br />

and Dorsetensia (Termier, 1936, pp. 1343-51), and beds with Stephanoceras<br />

humphriesianum (Sow.) and other species (Colo, 1951, p. 89). Forms<br />

figured by Gardet & Gerard are Poecilomorphus cf. angulinus Buckman<br />

(pi. iii, fig. 11), Emileia cf. brocchi (Sow.) (pi. iii, fig. 15), Stephanoceras<br />

psilacanthus Wermbter (pi. iii, fig. 24, not humphriesianum), S. cf. rhytus<br />

(Buckman) (pi. viii, fig. 1), and Skirroceras cf. bayleanum (Oppel) (pi. viii,<br />

fig. 2). These beds are transgressive, overlapping locally on to Middle<br />

and Lower Lias (Termier, 1936, p. 885; Dubar, 1938). In the eastern<br />

High Atlas they pass into the Boulemane Marls (Choubert, 1938, see<br />

below), and in the northern Middle Atlas the Humphriesianum Zone<br />

overlies thick Sauzei and Sowerbyi Zones developed as marly limestones<br />

(Colo, 1951).<br />

LOWER BAJOCIAN<br />

The Opalinum, Scissum and Murchisonae Zones are represented by<br />

a number of ammonites (Termier, 1936, pp. 1317-20; Choubert, 1937;<br />

Verlet & Roch, 1940, pp. 78-9; Colo, 1951): Leioceras cf. opalinum,<br />

Haplopleuroceras subspinatum Buckman, Hammatoceras spp., Ludwigia<br />

spp., Erycites spp. (Termier, 1936, pi. xxiii, fig. 12; Gardet & Gerard,<br />

1946, pi. iii, fig. 10) and Tmetoceras cf. hollandae Buckman (Termier,<br />

1936, p. 1318, non Gardet & Gerard, which is not a Tmetoceras). The<br />

whole of the Bajocian passes laterally into the Boulemane Marls, which<br />

persist for hundreds of miles to the Algerian border and are said to attain<br />

1200 m. in thickness in the Talsint trough in the eastern High Atlas<br />

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