A NEW OSTRACOD FAUNA IN THE TRIASSIC OF OUJDA MOUNTAINS (MOROCO) - PALEOGEOGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN TETHYAN MARGINS

An ostracod fauna is discovered for the first time in the Oujda Mounta ins (Morocco) Triassic series. A new species is described (Lutkevichin ella kristanae n.sp.). These assemblages allow us to define the age (L ate Norian on one hand and Late Ladinian/Early Carnian on the other). Faunal analogies with Germany lead us to place the studied levels in a brackish environment and to propose close relationships between North ern and Southern Tethyan margins at this time. The carbonate levels of the Oujda Mountains, in their tectonic context, suggest marine onlap coming from the North East, from the Tethys.