Hauterivian-Barremian Bivalves from the Boulouha Formation of the Dahar Escarpment, Southern Tunisia: Stratigraphy and Regional Correlation
- 1 Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, University of Carthage, Jarzouna, Tunisia
- 2 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing, China
- 3 Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
- 4 State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing, China
- 5 Faculty of Sciences of Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
- 6 Faculty of Sciences of Gabes, University of Gabes, Gabes, Tunisia
Abstract
The Lower Cretaceous mixed siliciclastic-carbonate successions of the Boulouha Formation at the type locality in the Dahar escarpment of southern Tunisia have yielded a new discovered assemblage of bivalves which contains Anomia laevigata (Sowerby); Modiolus sp. cf. M. dahuashuensis (Yu et Li); Astarte sp.; and ?Mytilus sp.. The temporal distribution of the Anomia laevigata (Sowerby) and Modiolus sp. cf. M. dahuashuensis (Yu et Li) is limited to the Aptian formations of northeastern China, Japan and Korea, thus we suggest a Hauterivian-Barremian age for the Boulouha Formation. Henceforth, the new biostratigraphic data are used to improve a regional chronostratigraphic correlation between the lower Cretaceous strata of the Saharan Platform domain and those coeval from the Chotts domain.
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