A BRYOMOL FACIES OPEN SHELF - THE TORTONO-MESSINIAN BASIN OF CHARF-EL-AKAB (ATLANTIC MOROCCO)

Along the northwestern coast of Morocco, near Tangier, Late Tortonian- Messinian carbonate and clastic deposits constitute the filling of a s ubsident open shelf. The carbonate rocks are mainly medium to coarse b ryozoan skeletal grains with molluscs and red algae (bryomol facies). The sedimentation was mainly controlled first by wave and swell energy , and then by tidal currents. These characters give evidence of a mari ne temperate water; however, some genera and species of bryozoans foun d in the sediments may indicate a tropical environment. ((C) Academie des sciences/ Elsevier, Paris).