Due to the uplift it underwent starting from the end of the Cretaceous and the subsidence of the maritime Jeffara, the emerged Saharan platform was the site of intense erosion during the Cenozoic.
Thus, the only Tertiary terrains known on the Saharan platform are Neogene sands encountered by drilling in the Nefzaoua region near Chott el Jerid in Southwestern Tunisia.
A few localized and very small outcrops have also been reported on the western part of the Dahar plateau.
These sands correspond to relics in depressions that allowed the transit of sands from the Saharan shields towards the Tunisian Atlas.
These Neogene sands also house the waters of the upper CT (Complexe Terminal) aquifer.
During the Quaternary, the Saharan platform continued to evolve in the same manner as in the Cenozoic: a general trend towards erosion punctuated by limited episodes of fluvial and aeolian deposits.
