Tectonique cassante et état de contrainte dans le bassin de Tizi n'Test (Haut Atlas, Maroc) au cours de l’inversion tertiaire

During the Atlasic compressional phase, the Tizi n’Test Triassic basin underwent a tectonic inversion responsible for the reactivation of the extensional Triassic structures. Contrary to former concepts suggesting a transpressional regime, the NE-SW to WNW-ESE trending faults had a reverse displacement, while the NW-SE to NNW-SSE ones were reactivated as strike-slip faults. The reverse motion of the initially normal faults led to the uplift of the basin and its basement in a pop-up style. This inversion is also responsible for a set of footwall synclines and hanging wall anticlines with variable half-wavelength, and related to basement reverse faulting. Striation analysis with the help of software R4DT was carried out at 45 sites in order to determine the state of stress. The 25 most reliable tensors show that the main compressive stress £m1 trends NW-SE to NNE. Analysis of the spatial distribution of the £m1 axis shows a main maximum at N012 and two secondary axes at N123 and N147. In absence of an absolute or relative chronology of the events, we interpret these directions as related to two distinct events, the age of which should be, by comparison with other studies, pre-Mio-Pliocene for the N012 phase and Mio-Pliocene for the NW-SE phase.Durante la fase de compresión Atlásica, la cuenca Triásica de Tizi n’Test ha sufrido un proceso de inversión tectónica responsable de la reactivación de las estructuras extensionales Triásicas. A diferencia de las teorías anteriores que hablaban de un régimen transpresivo, las fallas NE-SO a ONO-ESE han sido inversas, mientras que las de direcciones NO-SE a NNO-SSE han sido reactivadas en su mayoría como fallas de desgarre. El juego inverso de las fallas inicialmente normales provocó el levantamiento de la cuenca y su zócalo paleozoico mediante un estilo de “pop-up”. Esta inversión también generó un conjunto de sinclinales en los compartimientos inferiores y anticlinales en los compartimientos superiores, con dimensiones de onda variables y ligados al movimiento vertical de las fallas inversas de zócalo. El análisis microtectónico de las estrías utilizando el programa informático R4DT ha sido llevado a cabo en 45 estaciones para determinar el estado de esfuerzos. Los 25 tensores más fiables muestran que la dirección principal de compresión σ1 tiene direcciones comprendidas entre NO-SE a NNE-SSE. El análisis de la repartición espacial del eje σ1 muestra un máximo principal hacia N012 y dos máximos secundarios entre N123 y N147. A falta de una cronología absoluta o relativa de los movimientos, interpretamos estas direcciones como ligadas a dos fases diferentes cuyas edades serían, por comparación con otros tranbajos, anterior al Mioceno para la fase N012 y Mio-Plioceno para la fase NO-SE

Polyphased Inversions of an Intracontinental Rift: Case Study of the Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco

International audienceThe High and Middle Atlas intraplate belts in Morocco correspond to Mesozoic rifted basins inverted during the Cenozoic during Africa/Eurasia convergence. The Marrakech High Atlas lies at a key location between Atlantic and Tethyan influences during the Mesozoic rifting phase but represents today high reliefs. Age and style of deformation and the mechanisms underlying the Cenozoic inversion are nevertheless still debated. To solve this issue, we produced new low‐temperature thermochronology data (fission track and [U‐Th]/He on apatite). Two cross sections were investigated in the western and eastern Marrakech High Atlas. Results of inverse modeling allow recognizing five cooling events attributed to erosion since Early Jurassic. Apart from a first erosional event from Middle/Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, four stages can be related to the convergence processes between Africa and Europe since the Late Cretaceous. Our data and thermal modeling results suggest that the inversion processes are guided at first order by the fault network inherited from the rifting episodes. The sedimentary cover and the Neogene lithospheric thinning produced a significant thermal weakening that facilitated the inversion of this ancient rift. Our data show that the Marrakech High Atlas has been behaving as a giant pop‐up since the beginning of Cenozoic inversion stages