Aquitaine Basin

Aquitaine Basin
Map showing the location of Aquitaine Basin
Map showing the location of Aquitaine Basin
Location of the Aquitaine Basin in France
Coordinates44°16′N 0°10′W / 44.267°N 0.167°W / 44.267; -0.167
EtymologyAquitaine
Country France
State(s)Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie
CitiesBordeaux, Toulouse, Bayonne, Pau
Characteristics
On/OffshoreOnshore
BoundariesArmorican Massif, Paris Basin, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Atlantic Ocean
Part ofPyrenean foreland basins
Area66,000 km2 (25,000 sq mi)
Hydrology
River(s)Garonne
Lake(s)Lac d'Hourtin-Carcans, Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet
Geology
Basin typeForeland basin
PlateEurasian
OrogenyAlpine
AgeEarly Triassic-Holocene
StratigraphyStratigraphy
Field(s)Parentis, Cazaux, Lavergne (oil)
Lacq, Meillon, Saint-Marcet (gas)

The Aquitaine Basin is the second largest Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary basin in France after the Paris Basin, occupying a large part of the country's southwestern quadrant. Its surface area covers 66,000 km2 onshore. It formed on Variscan basement which was peneplained during the Permian and then started subsiding in the early Triassic. The basement is covered in the Parentis Basin and in the Subpyrenean Basin—both sub-basins of the main Aquitaine Basin—by 11,000 m of sediment.