Sedimentary provenance of siliciclastic rocks from the Lalla Mouchaa Calcschists Formation (Coastal Block, Western Rehamna): Evidence of denudation of ca. 2 Ga basement in the Moroccan Meseta.

Paleoproterozoic basement rocks (ca. 2Ga) are scarce along the European and North African Paleozoic mountain chains (Fig.1a). In Morocco, ca. 2.2-2Ga granitic rocks (Gasquet et al., 2008; Kouyaté et al., 2013) have been exclusively reported in the Western Anti-Atlas at southwest of the Anti-Atlas Major Fault, (Choubert, 1963). In Eastern and Central Anti-Atlas and in the Moroccan Meseta, the existence of a Paleoproterozoic basement has only been recognized through indirect evidence (Gasquet et al., 2008; Michard et al., 2010). In the Anti- Atlas belt, ca. 2Ga detrital zircon grains are found in the Ediacaran siliciclastic rocks of the Bou Salda, Saghro and Taghdout groups (Abati et al., 2010). In the Moroccan Meseta, Paleoproterozoic (ca. 2Ga) zircon grains were extracted from gneiss and granitic xenoliths found in Triassic lamprophyre dykes, and from Carboniferous granophyric microgranite intrusions of central Jebilet (Dostal et al., 2005, Essaifi et al., 2003). Recently, a porphyritic rhyolite from the Rehamna Massif was dated at ca. 2.05Ga (Pereira et al., 2015), demonstrating for the first time, the exposure of the Eburnian basement in the Western Meseta. These Eburnian arc-related magmatic rocks, which are exposed to the south of the Permian Sebt Brikiyine granite in the core of anticlines from the Lalla Mouchaa Anticlinorium, are allegedly unconformably overlained by transgressive siliciclastic and carbonate beds (Corsini, 1988; Pereira et al., 2015). At north of the Sebt Brikiyine granite the probable Lower Cambrian sequence (Lalla Mouchaa Calcschists Formation; Guezou & Michard, 1976; Corsini, 1988) comprises a basal unit of microbreccias, arkosic sandstones and siltstones (lower member) that pass towards the top to centimeter-thick beds of calcschists interbedded with limestones and dolomites (upper member) that are conformably overlain by the “Paradoxides Shale Formation” composed of siltstone, greywacke and sandstone with Middle Cambrian fauna. In order to study the potential sources of the Lalla Mouchaa Calcschists Formation (probable Lower Cambrian), we have sampled a microbreccia at the Koudiat El Hamra region, for U-Pb geochronology on detrital zircon. This foliated microbreccia is composed of elongated Kfeldspar and quartz phenocrysts surrounded by a fine-grained matrix. Detrital zircon grains gave 206Pb/238Ub ages that in the Probability density plot curve are distributed by two main age peaks at ca. 2.05Ga and ca. 2.03Ga (Fig.1b), yielding a 206Pb/238U age-weighted mean of ca. 2.04Ga (El Houicha et al., 2018). The obtained U-Pb results point to a provenance from a Paleoproterozoic source, suggesting a possible contribution from rocks of the same age of the 2Ga porphyritic rhyolite exposed at south of the Sebt Brikiyine granite. Thus, there is a possibility that the Paleoproterozoic basement extends bellow the Paleozoic and Neoproterozoic sequences of the Rehamna massif

U-Pb geochronology of the El Jadida rhyolite and relation to possible Lower Cambrian recycling (Coastal block, Moroccan Meseta).

The El Jadida (Mazagan) dome, whose existence was reported as early as 1934 by Yovanovitch and Freys, constitutes one of the first outcrops of the Moroccan Meseta where the Precambrian (PIII?)-Paleozoic (Lower Cambrian?) boundary was established (Gigout, 1951; Cornée et al., 1984). Since then, it is listed as one of the few locations where the basement of the Moroccan Variscan belt can be observed (Hoepffner et al.. 2005; Michard et al., 2010).Despite, the absence of geochronological and biostratigraphic precise data to constrain the time interval recorded here, there are stratigraphic similarities that allow a correlation with the Ediacaran-Cambrian geological record of Anti-Atlas belt (Cornée et al., 1984). In this study, we developed a petrographic, geochemical and U-Pb geochronological study using zircon extracted from: (i) the El Jadida rhyolite with the aim of characterizing the magma source and estimate the age of crystallization; (ii) a microbreccia sampled at the base of the El Jadida Dolomitic Formation for determining provenance

GLAUCOME CHRONIQUE AU MAROC : GRAND DILEMME ENTRE UNE PRATIQUE MEDICALE OPTIMISEE ET LES CONTRAINTES DU PATIENT

Les différentes formes de glaucome chronique à angle ouvert représentent un problème majeur de santé publique. En l’absence d’études fiables récentes sur la prévalence de la maladie glaucomateuse et ses facteurs de risque, il s’avère difficile de définir une stratégie efficiente pour la lutte contre cette maladie dans notre pays, où le glaucome est la première cause de cécité incurable mais évitable. Il représente plus de 14% de l’ensemble des cécités. Dans le but de décrire un état des lieux du glaucome au Maroc, une enquête a été réalisée auprès de l’association marocaine contre le glaucome, de l’industrie pharmaceutique, ainsi que des orthoptistes. Les différents facteurs de risque du glaucome, qu’ils soient de prédisposition, d’apparition ou d’aggravation, sont abordés, avec leurs particularités propres à notre pays et notre contexte socio-économique. Des problématiques posées par cette maladie complexe sont exposées. Elles sont à l’origine d’une prise en charge des patients bien inférieure à nos espérances. En effet, à peine 10 à 15% des patients sont dépistés et traités sur les 500 000 à 700 000 glaucomateux estimés. Par ailleurs, on note que sur un maximum de 72850 patients traités pour glaucome chronique, moins de 20% ont eu un relevé de champ visuel dans l’année.Le but de toute action dans le domaine du glaucome, devra s’appuyer sur des indicateurs fiables, avec pour objectif de sensibiliser sur de mauvaises habitudes concernant certaines ONG, certains pharmaciens et certains opticiens, et certaines contraintes liées à la qualité de la relation médecin -patient et par conséquent la qualité de vie du patient atteint de glaucome. L’amélioration de nos performances repose sur l’implication de tous les intervenants dans le domaine de la santé : pouvoirs publics, corps médical et société civile

The Early-Cambrian Boho volcano of the El Graara massif, Morocco: petrology, geodynamic setting and coeval sedimentation.

15 pagesInternational audienceA major volcanic episode is recorded across the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian transition in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas. Several volcanic cones are still preserved in the El Graara massif, laterally correlatable with volcanic flows dated as Early Cambrian (U/Pb date of 534 ± 10 Ma). Volcanic ashes and flows are interbedded with the uppermost part of the Adoudou dolostones, whereas the best-preserved volcano (the Boho Jbel) is onlapped by the overlying Lie-de-vin strata. Available petro-geochemical data from the Boho volcano suggest an alkaline magmatism probably derived from low-grade melting of a garnet–lherzolite mantle source, followed by fractional crystallization. The silica-undersaturated basaltic liquid evolved to form oversaturated rocks: the fractionation of a ferromagnesian phase with high-Ca and low-Al contents is suggested as the main process to cut across the critical plane of silica undersaturation in this geochemical series. Although the Boho geochemical patterns are similar to those of some rift emplacements, more data from other coeval magmatic eruptions are necessary to constrain their geodynamic setting. Erosion of the Boho volcano favoured formation of a slope-apron composed of four sedimentary facies belts: chaotic megabreccia (related to downslope mass movements of rigid blocks), amalgamated breccia sheets (emplaced by viscous debris flows), a heterogeneous terrigenous belt (representing offshore substrates interrupted by channels intersected by cross-bedded shoals), and variegated shales and stromatolitic dolostones (typical of the Lie-de-vin Formation). Sharp changes in sedimentation rate were associated with modifications in paleorelief sloping and transport mechanisms from subaerial (?) rock fall at the foot of the cone escarpment to sheet-like debris flow on the slopes, and the replacement by sedimentation under wave and storm influence. The presence of an active carbonate productivity, recorded in the primary porosities of the Boho slope-apron, is suggested by widespread development of a robust, coelobiontic, microbial carbonate factory resilient to poisoning by terrigenous influx. Diagenesis in these deposits includes marine, meteoric and deep-burial cementation of calcite, dolomite, iron oxides, quartz, feldspar, and celestine, the latter indicating precipitation from hypersaline pore fluids

Genetic Association Study Of Exfoliation Syndrome Identifies A Protective Rare Variant At Loxl1 And Five New Susceptibility Loci

Exfoliation syndrome (XFS) is the most common known risk factor for secondary glaucoma and a major cause of blindness worldwide. Variants in two genes, LOXL1 and CACNA1A, have previously been associated with XFS. To further elucidate the genetic basis of XFS, we collected a global sample of XFS cases to refine the association at LOXL1, which previously showed inconsistent results across populations, and to identify new variants associated with XFS. We identified a rare protective allele at LOXL1 (p.Phe407, odds ratio (OR) = 25, P = 2.9 x 10(-14)) through deep resequencing of XFS cases and controls from nine countries. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of XFS cases and controls from 24 countries followed by replication in 18 countries identified seven genome-wide significant loci (P < 5 x 10(-8)). We identified association signals at 13q12 (POMP), 11q23.3 (TMEM136), 6p21 (AGPAT1), 3p24 (RBMS3) and 5q23 (near SEMA6A). These findings provide biological insights into the pathology of XFS and highlight a potential role for naturally occurring rare LOXL1 variants in disease biology.Wo