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| Aquitaine Basin | |
|---|---|
  Location of the Aquitaine Basin in France | |
| Coordinates | 44°16′N 0°10′W / 44.267°N 0.167°W |
| Etymology | Aquitaine |
| Country |  France |
| State(s) | Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie |
| Cities | Bordeaux, Toulouse, Bayonne, Pau |
| Characteristics | |
| On/Offshore | Onshore |
| Boundaries | Armorican Massif, Paris Basin, Massif Central, Pyrenees, Atlantic Ocean |
| Part of | Pyrenean foreland basins |
| Area | 66,000 km2 (25,000 sq mi) |
| Hydrology | |
| River(s) | Garonne |
| Lake(s) | Lac d'Hourtin-Carcans, Étang de Cazaux et de Sanguinet |
| Geology | |
| Basin type | Foreland basin |
| Plate | Eurasian |
| Orogeny | Alpine |
| Age | Early Triassic-Holocene |
| Stratigraphy | Stratigraphy |
| 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.