A Palaeontological Review of the Devonian and Carboniferous Succession of the Murzuq Basin and the Djado Sub-Basin

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The aim of this chapter is to present a synthesis of several palaeontological studies on the Devonian and Carboniferous faunas, and biostratigraphy of the Murzuq Basin and its southerly extension, the Djado Sub-basin. The Murzuq Basin and Djado Sub-basin show a subcontinuous belt of Carboniferous exposures along their flanks, but detailed knowledge of this succession is still uneven. Three Carboniferous units—the Marar, Assedjefar, and Dembaba formations show a maximum cumulative thickness of about 1,000 to 1,200 m. Macro and microfaunas have been used to define 13 biozones from the upper Tournaisian to the lower Moscovian in the Zaghir area. It discusses that the first major Carboniferous transgression is dated as late Tournaisian by a rich and diversified fauna including brachiopods and goniatites with Muensteroceras. The whole Carboniferous succession of the Djado area contains low-diversity benthic communities with affinities to similar early Carboniferous platform faunas of North America, Russia, and Australia.