The Tendaguru Formation was deposited in the Mandawa Basin, a post-Karoo, Mesozoic rift basin located between the Ruvu Basin and Rufiji Trough to the north and the Ruvuma Basin to the south. To the west of the basin, Archean and Early Proterozoic basement rocks crop out. The main rift phase in present-day southeastern Africa led to the separation of Madagascar and the then-connected Indian subcontinent happened during the Early Cretaceous. The Songo Songo and Kiliwani gas fields are located just offshore the basin.