The Cenomanian in the Kalaat Senan area consists of 655 metres of sediment deposited in a distal environment. The palaeogeographic position of the Cenomanian succession, transitional between the platform and the basin, favours the development in the sediment column of all systems tracts. If sediment supply is adequate, lowstand, transgressive and highstand systems tracts should develop. Detailed field studies of the lithofacies and biofacies complemented by laboratory analyses are integrated for a depositional sequence interpretation. As a result, four complete and two partial Vail sequences are identified in the Cenomanian of the Kalaat Senan region. A tentative comparison is made with the Cenomanian of western Europe with emphasis on the type area of the Cenomanian stage in the Paris Basin. The excellent outcrops, the high rate of deposition and the abundance of macro- and microfauna favour the Kalaat Senan area for the selection of an Albian-Cenomanian boundary stratotype for international and Tethyan reference. The section near Kef el Azreg is proposed as a candidate for the official Albian-Cenomanian boundary stratotype. In the Kalaat Senan area the organic-rich facies of the Bahloul Formation near the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary was found to be entirely within the Cenomanian. To the east, local occurrences of the Bahloul facies may persist into the lowest Turonian. In addition to litho-, chemo-, bio- and mesofacies criteria, a well calibrated biostratigraphic framework provides the necessary constraints for the recognition of eustatic sequences in sediments deposited in a distal environment, where facies changes are subtle and surfaces poorly developed.