In the Cretaceous, the area occupied a passive margin shaped by earlier Jurassic rifting. Jurassic deposition was dominated by carbonate platforms with a clear shelf edge and dip-slope geometry, locally disrupted by normal faulting. During the Cretaceous, the Essaouira–Agadir and Tan-Tan siliciclastic deltas supplied large sediment volumes to the basin, feeding widespread turbidite systems. In the north, sediment pathways were diverted by salt structures, while farther offshore extensive basin-floor fans developed. Turbidites from the Tan-Tan system are now exposed on the Canary Islands, uplifted by later volcanic activity.