The Pharusian Ocean opened around 800 million years ago in the Neoproterozoic era after rifting along the eastern margin of the West African craton during the breakup of Rodinia.
The ocean began to close around 730 million years ago with eastward subduction of the Tilemsi arc, which was accreted against the Hoggar region of the Saharan Metacraton.
[2] Closure was completed when the West African and Saharan cratons collided around 635 million years ago at the start of the Pan-African orogeny.
The southern portion of the Trans Brazilian Lineament (TBL) marks the suture zone of this closure, while the northern Borborema portion of the TBL and the Trans-Saharan Belt, running from Algeria to Benin, mark the suture zone of the Pharusian Ocean closure.
[4] These ocean closures and subsequent tectonic events were not simultaneous, but happened over an extended period of time.