Aquitaine Basin

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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 / 44.267; -0.167
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.