4 research outputs found
Tectonic evolution of the Eastern Moroccan Meseta: from Late Devonian foreâarc sedimentation to Early Carboniferous collision of an Avalonian promontory
This study was founded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain through the project PANGEATOR (CGL2015-71692-P) and the Doctoral scholarship BES-2016-078168. GeoHistory Facility instruments were funded via an Australian Geophysical Observing System grant provided to AuScope Pty Ltd. by the AQ44 Australian Education Investment Fund program. The NPII multicollector was obtained via funding from the Australian Research Council LIEF program (LE150100013). The authors want to express their gratitude to Dr. Manuel Francisco Pereira (University of Evora, Portugal) and Dr. Michel Villeneuve (Centre Europeen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Geosciences de l'Environnement, France) for their constructive reviews that helped to improve the quality of the original manuscript. Special thanks to Brad McDonald (Curtin University, Australia) for technical assistance regarding LA-ICPMS and Hf analyses, Profs. Abdelfatah Tahiri (University Mohammed V of Rabat, Morocco) and Hassan El Hadi (University Hassan II of Casablanca, Morocco) for their support during field work, Prof. Yvette Kuiper (Colorado School of Mines, USA) for her precious hints about the interpretation of Hf data, and Dr. Lorenzo Valetti for proofreading the manuscript. Supporting information can be obtained in Mendeley Data: https://doi.org/10.17632/b8fdbykmbx.1 (https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/b8fdbykmbx/draft?a=eaae2da0-8e224056-861b-4824984f1c10).The deformed Paleozoic succession of the Eastern Moroccan Meseta crops out in relativelysmall and isolated inliers surrounded by Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. Two of the largest inliers(Mekkam and Debdou) are characterized by a monotonous succession of slates and greywackes affected bypolyphasic folding that occurred at lowâto very low grade metamorphic conditions. New UâPb ages ondetrital zircon grains from the DebdouâMekkam metasediments constrain the maximal depositional age asLate Devonian, interpreted to be close to the true sedimentation age. Furthermore, theΔHfvalues of theDevonian detrital zircons, together with the presence of a series of scattered zircon grains with ages betweenc. 0.9 and c. 1.9 Ga, suggest provenance from a subductionârelated magmatic arc located on the Avalonianmargin. The DebdouâMekkam massif is characterized by an Early Carboniferousfirst deformationalevent (D1), which gave way to a pervasive cleavage (S1) associated with plurikilometricâscale, tight toisoclinal, overturned to recumbent folds. Later events (Dc) occurred at Late Carboniferous time andgenerated variably developed crenulation cleavages (Sc) associated with variously oriented metricâtokilometricâscale folds, which complicate the pattern of both D1 intersection lineations (L1) and axial traces.The restoration of this pronounced curved pattern yields originally SWâNEâoriented D1 fold axes withregional SEâvergence. This important Early Carboniferous shortening and SEâdirected tectonic transport canbe explained by closure of the Rheic Ocean and thefirst phases of the collision between the northern passivemargin of Gondwana and an Avalonian promontory.Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain
CGL2015-71692-P
BES-2016-078168Australian Geophysical Observing SystemAustralian Education Investment Fund program
AQ44Australian Research Council
LE15010001