Alnif is a town in

Tinghir Province Tinghir Province () is a Provinces of Morocco, province of Morocco in the Drâa-Tafilalet Region. The province had a population of 322,412 people in 2014.Drâa-Tafilalet Drâa-Tafilalet () is one of the twelve regions of Morocco. It covers an area of 88,836 km2 and had a population of 1,635,008 as of the 2014 Moroccan census. The capital of the region is Errachidia. Geography Drâa-Tafilalet is situated i ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, known for its significant paleontological discoveries. It is located in the southeastern region of Morocco, approximately 180 kilometers east of

Ouarzazate Ouarzazate (; , ), nicknamed ''the door of the desert'', is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of Drâa-Tafilalet, south-central Morocco. Ouarzazate is a primary tourist destination in Morocco during the holidays, as well as ...

, and 1,020 kilometers south of

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

. According to the 2014 census, the town has a population of 3,770. It lies on the N12 highway, connecting

Tinejdad Tinejdad () is a city in Errachidia Province, Drâa-Tafilalet, Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic ...

and Taouz.

Geology

The Alnif Basin is situated within the western portion of the Sahara platform, a large region that extends across

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. The basin is composed of sedimentary rocks that were deposited during the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three Era (geology), geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma a ...

and

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

eras. The rocks within the basin have been subjected to significant

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

activity, resulting in a complex geological history. The basin is particularly known for its fossil-rich deposits, which contain important records of early life on Earth.

Paleontological discoveries

Alnif is situated in the region known as the Alnif Basin, which has been the site of numerous

paleontological Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

discoveries. The town and its surrounding areas have yielded a large number of

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

, particularly those from the Late

Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a period (geology), geologic period and system (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era during the Phanerozoic eon (geology), eon, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the preceding Silurian per ...

and Early

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a Geologic time scale, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), system of the Paleozoic era (geology), era that spans 60 million years, from the end of the Devonian Period Ma (million years ago) to the beginning of the ...

periods. These fossils have included a wide range of prehistoric creatures, including dinosaurs, marine reptiles, and other ancient animals. Some of the most significant discoveries in the area have been made at the Tizi n'Tagharat Formation, which is located near Alnif. This formation has yielded a large number of well-preserved fossils, including those of early

tetrapods A tetrapod (; from Ancient Greek τετρα- ''(tetra-)'' 'four' and πούς ''(poús)'' 'foot') is any four- limbed vertebrate animal of the clade Tetrapoda (). Tetrapods include all extant and extinct amphibians and amniotes, with the lat ...

, fish, and other creatures.

Notable people

* Abdeslam Ouaddou - Former international footballer

References

Populated places in Tinghir Province {{DrâaTafilalet-geo-stub