P. Giresse et al., Successions of sea-level changes during the Pleistocene in Mauritania and Senegal distinguished by sedimentary facies study and U/Th dating, MARINE GEOL, 170(1-2), 2000, pp. 123-139
The marine Quaternary Basin in Mauritania corresponds to a large gulf cover
ing a 600 x 200 km area. The progressive reduction in size of marine gulfs
from the early Pleistocene to Holocene (Nouakchottian), suggests that the g
ulf size has been affected by successive positive epirogenic episodes. Howe
ver, recent studies have indicated that the oldest and largest concentric o
utcrops (Tafaritian) seem to have been deposited in various continental and
unstable environments (lakes, sebkhas). In this study, we verified first t
he absence of recrystallization in fossil mollusc shells, and then U/Th mea
surements were carried out on seven of these. Most deposits (sandstones mor
e or less cemented or coquina) belong to the interglacial Eemian sea-level
high-stand (isotopic stage 5). On the basis of C-14 radiometric measurement
s, the deposits were initially attributed to the relative warming during is
otopic stage 3, and were named Inchirian. In view of our recent dating resu
lts, this attribution needs to be reexamined. Two other U/Th dates performe
d on shells from the section where isotopic stage 5 was obtained or from a
neighbouring area, indicated deposition during isotopic stage 7. These obse
rvations and dating would imply an improbable uplift of the shorelines that
controlled decreasing widespread transgressions. The morphostructure of sh
oreline outcrops, previously described as aureoles, has to be revised: the
extent of the Quaternary marine plain has to be restricted and does not exc
eed a maximum of 100 km in width at the latitude of Nouakchott. It was inva
ded by marine transgressions whose deposits are: (1) extremely condensed by
deep cuts and/or by aeolian deflation during regression episodes; (2) ofte
n restricted to layers of cemented shore-sands or to upper parts of ferrugi
nous crusts with ferric iron encrustation; and (3) sometimes fossilised she
lly beds of different ages in the same sediment column. On the basis of the
se observations, the uplift rising above the present zero of Pleistocene sh
oreline deposits or subsidence processes are even more unlikely at the scal
e of the Mauritanian Quaternary Basin. Post sedimentary alteration of these
deposits, especially dissolution has been negligible, which explains the e
xceptional preservation of such Pleistocene outliers. In the neighbouring S
enegalian Basin, outcrops of marine Pleistocene deposits are usually restri
cted to a very narrow coastal band. They disappear about 40 km south of Dak
ar with the progression of tropical weathering. Tn this area, the sediment
column is about 1 m thick and indicates the superposition of shelly layers
of isotopic stages 5 and 7. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reser
ved.