This unit represents an excepcional record of an evolving reef complex (mountain laterals), platform slopes (Steep slopes between 20° and 35° on various sides) and a emerged shoal (nearly horizontal limestone layers on the top flat Bou Dahar plateau) developed inside a carbonate platform, recording the evolutionary cycles of this environment with notorious precision, also yielding what is considered one of the greatest/most diverse marine biotas of the entire Jurassic Tethys Ocean.

[4] The cooperative’s claim area, spanning 60,000 km2 across the central and eastern High Atlas, along with exploration licenses held by ManagemGroup, together constitute North Africa’s largest calamine region.

[6] This phase was abruptly interrupted at the Domerian-Toarcian transition, marked by the onlap of Toarcian shales and Aalenian lime mudstones over the platform, signaling a shift to deeper marine conditions.

[3] Sequences I-II overlie CAMP basalts, spanning over 126 & 150 meters, marked by a dolomite-rich boundary featuring fenestral and stromatolitic structures, which indicate transgressive-regressive (T-R) cycles.

[2][8] Sequence III developed as a low-relief carbonate platform and varies in slope angle between northern and southern margins, with thickness peaking in northeastern synclines at around 100 meters.

[7] This sequence encompasses varied facies belts surrounding a central paleo-high with subtidal and intertidal deposits, coated-grain bars, and coastal-plain sediments like red shales and calcretes.

Clinoforms along the lower slope show a concave-up profile that flattens basinward, with deposits consolidating into a fan along the southern margin, evidence of sediment redistribution likely from mass wasting.

[2][8] The paleoenvironment of Bou Dahar is characterized by a dynamic evolution through distinct stages: pre-drowning, drowning, and post-drowning, each marked by specific sedimentological and ecological changes that reflect shifts in energy conditions and depositional environments.

Unlike their recent counterparts in the Persian Gulf, the Moroccan tepees developed in fully lithified rocks, shaped by thermal expansion and contraction driven by temperature variations in intertidal settings.

[11] Local carbonate factories present a unique contrast with other coeval units in the Tethys, with siliceous sponge microbial boundstone mounds, which were more prevalent in Middle and Upper Jurassic systems.

[12] Siliceous sponge mounds record distinct rare earth element and yttrium patterns among carbonate components, indicating that Early Jurassic seawater resembled modern distributions.