Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

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Journal of African Earth Sciences

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Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the

Variscan and Alpine cycles in the Anti-Atlas (Morocco)
A. Soulaimani a,⇑, A. Michard b, H. Ouanaimi c, L. Baidder d, Y. Raddi e, O. Saddiqi d, E.C. Rjimati e
a
Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences-Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, P.O. Box 2390, Marrakech, Morocco
b
Em. University Paris-Sud, 10 rue des Jeûneurs, 75002 Paris, France
c
Departement of Geology, ENS, Cadi Ayyad University, BP S2400, Marrakech, Morocco
d
Hassan II University, Faculty of Sciences Aïn Chock, Lab. of Géosciences, BP 5366 Maârif, Casablanca, Morocco
e
Direction du Développement Minier, Ministère de l’Energie et des Mines, B.P. 6208, Rabat Instituts, Haut Agdal, Rabat and Université Mohamed IV, Faculté des Sciences Agdal,
Rabat, Morocco

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The post-Pan-African evolution of the northern border of the West African Craton is largely controlled by
Received 15 November 2013 the remobilisation of Late Neoproterozoic basement faults. The Upper Ediacaran volcanic and volcano-
Received in revised form 8 April 2014 sedimentary sequences of the Ouarzazate Group show dramatic and rapid thickness changes, consistent
Accepted 25 April 2014
with active extensional faulting associated with post-orogenic collapse and incipient continental rifting.
Available online xxxx
The geometry and kinematics of these faults differ from west to east in the Anti-Atlas. N- to NE-trending
faults dominate in western Anti-Atlas in response to E–W to NW–SE pure extension, while a transtensive
Keywords:
opening regime characterize the central (Bou Azzer) and eastern (Saghro–Ougnate) Anti-Atlas.
Anti-Atlas
Basement faults
The marine incursion in the west-central Anti-Atlas during the late Ediacaran–Early Cambrian occurred
Reactivation without major geodynamical break between the continental Ouarzazate Group and marine sediments of
Ediacaran the Adoudou Fm. Extensional tectonics went on during the Early Cambrian, being concentrated in the
Variscan orogeny western and central parts of the belt. From Middle Cambrian to Lower Devonian and mainly due to ther-
Atlas orogeny mal subsidence, the Anti-Atlas basement was buried under marine sediments with dominant south-
derived detrital input. Basement faults control the distribution of subsiding versus shallow areas. During
the Middle–Late Devonian, the dislocation of the Saharan platform occurred, mainly in the eastern Anti-
Atlas where Precambrian faults were also remobilized during the Early Carboniferous.
During the Variscan orogeny, the Paleozoic series of the Anti-Atlas basin were involved in folding tecton-
ics, concomitant with the uplift of Proterozoic basement blocks bounded by inherited basement faults. The
pre-existing rift-related faults were variably inverted across the Anti-Atlas. In the westernmost part of the
belt, Variscan shortening induced positive inversions along the remobilized basement faults, but in some
cases, some faults preserved an apparently normal throw. Some hidden basement faults accommodate the
Variscan shortening by strike-slip movement expressed by en echelon fold pattern in the overlying cover.
The Mesozoic-Cenozoic evolution of the Anti-Atlas is again marked by the reactivation of the basement
faults. During the Triassic, the Anti-Atlas belongs to the uplifted shoulder of the Atlasic-Atlantic rift zone.
Remobilisations of paleofaults again play a significant role in the weak burial of the Anti-Atlas during the
Late Cretaceous–Eocene before the Neogene exhumation related to the Africa–Europe collision. Hence the
structural evolution of the Anti-Atlas during the Paleozoic to Present times has been heavily dependent on
the fault pattern inherited from the Late Ediacaran–Cambrian rifting evolution at the northern fringe of the
WAC, already deeply affected by the Pan-African orogeny.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction superimposed orogenic cycles, continental deformation is concen-

The processes of fault reactivation and tectonic inversion of pre-
existing faults are among the most important mechanisms in con-
tinental tectonics (Coward, 1994; Holdsworth et al., 2001). During
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +212 6 62 05 02 08.
E-mail address: soulaimani@uca.ma (A. Soulaimani).
trated in large-scale fault networks that are frequently reactivated
over long time scales. The Anti-Atlas Mountains of sub-Saharan
Morocco, here considered, extends at the northern border of the
West African Craton (WAC; Fig. 1, insert). The WAC formed 2 Ga
ago through the Eburnean continental collage against the
Archean nucleus of north-western Africa (Rocci et al., 1991;
Schofield et al., 2006). The Anti-Atlas basement includes remnants

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
1464-343X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
2 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
of Paleoproterozoic continental crust similar to the Eburnean crust
of the northern part of the Reguibat Shield (Choubert, 1963; Aït
Malek et al., 1998; Thomas et al., 2002; Walsh et al., 2002;
Gasquet et al., 2004, 2005, 2008). However, the Paleoproterozoic
basement of the Anti-Atlas display evidence of multiscale remobil-
isations related to three subsequent orogenic cycles, namely the
Pan-African, Variscan and Alpine cycles, dated from the Neoprote-
rozoic, Paleozoic and Mesozoic-Cenozoic, respectively. So, the Anti-
Atlas mountain range offers numerous opportunities to analyse the
mechanisms of structural heritage and tectonic inversion.
After an apparent long-lived Mesoproterozoic quiescence only
recorded by some sediments south of the Reguibat Shield
(Rooney et al., 2010) and by mafic dykes emplacement in the
western Anti-Atlas (El Bahat et al., 2012), the Pan-African cycle
(900–550 Ma) began with an important dislocation of the northern
and eastern margins of the WAC, related to the break-up of the
Rodinia supercontinent (Li et al., 2008). In the south-western part
of the Anti-Atlas (from the Kerdous to Zenaga inliers; Fig. 1), the
dislocation of the Taghdout-Lkest Group platform and its intrusion
by mafic rocks were concomitant with the formation of oceanic
domains and volcanic arcs further in the north (Leblanc, 1975;
Saquaque et al., 1989; Hefferan et al., 2000; Admou and Juteau,
2000; Gasquet et al., 2005, 2008). The subsequent Pan-African
compressional events with a climax around 650 Ma are responsible
for the accretion of island-arc and oceanic crust remnants to the
northern edge of the WAC. These oceanic allochthons are exposed
in the Siroua and Bou Azzer inliers (Leblanc and Moussine-
Pouchkine, 1994; Saquaque et al., 1989; Hefferan et al., 2000;
Thomas et al., 2002, 2004; Inglis et al., 2004; D’Lemos et al.,
2006; Soulaimani et al., 2006; Walsh et al., 2012). Pan-African
thrusts are prevalent in the central Anti-Atlas along the Anti-Atlas
Major Fault (AAMF; Choubert, 1947) whereas elsewhere in the
Anti-Atlas, Pan-African overprint mainly corresponds to local
reactivations of Eburnean fractures along major shear zones
(Hassenforder, 1987). Although the AAMF is an important fracture
zone, having allowed the Cryogenian oceanic complex to be
Fig. 1. Generalized geological map of the Anti-Atlas, simplified from the Geological Map of Morocco, scale1:1,000,000 (Service Géologique du Maroc, 1985); Insert (a):
Location of the Anti-Atlas within the structural domains of NW Africa.
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
preserved, it does not mark the northern boundary of the metacr-
atonic border of the WAC, which extends beneath the Saghro and
Ougnat inliers of eastern Anti-Atlas (Ennih and Liégeois, 2008).
In the waning stages of the Pan-African collision, i.e. during the
Ediacaran (Fig. 2), the northern margin of the WAC experienced
seemingly transpressional mild deformation (Gasquet et al., 2008),
then post-orogenic collapse, tilting of basement blocks and the
creation of continental basins filled by the, upper Ediacaran
volcaniclastic series of the Ouarzazate Group. This post-orogenic
context changed into rifting during the latest Ediacaran–Lower
Cambrian (Taroudant and Tata Groups, from bottom to top) as testi-
fied by the interleaved alkaline basalts and conspicuous synsedi-
mentary deformations (Soulaimani et al., 2003; Buggisch and
Sieger, 1988; Algouti et al., 2002; Benssaou and Hamoumi, 2003;
Saddiqi et al., 2011). Later in the Phanerozoic, the inherited base-
ment fractures continue to play a major role in the tectonic evolution
of the Anti-Atlas. The Ediacaran–Early Cambrian extensional faults
have a strong influence on the Cambrian-to Early Carboniferous sed-
imentation and ensuing Variscan structures that developed in the
course of the Late Carboniferous (Piqué et al., 1987; Soulaimani,
1998; Michard et al., 2010). At that time, the Anti-Atlas area is the
foreland fold belt of the Variscan Orogen that extended in the Meseta
Block to the north and the Mauritanides to the southwest. The role of
the Precambrian basement faults in the Paleozoic sedimentation
and folding has been documented in several studies (Jeannette and
Piqué, 1981; Soulaimani et al., 1997; Raddi et al., 2007; Soulaimani
and Burkhard, 2008; Michard et al., 2010). Conspicuous variation
of the Variscan fold trends along the Anti-Atlas have been inter-
preted as the result of basement faults reactivation, particularly
around the basement uplifts in the inherited zones of crustal weak-
ness (Leblanc, 1972, 1975; Donzeau, 1974; Jeannette and Piqué,
1981; Hassenforder, 1987; Soulaimani, 1998; Belfoul et al., 2001).
By the end of the Variscan orogeny, most of the Anti-Atlas struc-
ture was established. Nevertheless, part of the inherited basement
faults were reactivated again during the Mesozoic-Cenozoic
evolution of the Anti-Atlas. This must be taken into account to
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 3

Fig. 2. Tectonic chart of the Anti-Atlas. Upper case: plate tectonics. Italics: tectonic events outside Anti-Atlas. See text for references concerning the ages and geodynamic
mechanisms.

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
4 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
understand the present day topography of this rejuvenated belt,
next and parallel to the coeval High Atlas. Recent studies based
on thermochronology on apatite clarified the rate and timing of
the Anti-Atlas vertical movements during post-Variscan times
(Malusà et al., 2007a; Ruiz et al., 2011; Oukassou et al., 2013).
The present paper explores the location and importance of the
upper Ediacaran basement faults and their further reactivation in
response to continental extension and compression. We propose
a description of some typical Anti-Atlas structures during the suc-
cessive tectonic events in the light of new field observations and of
apatite thermochronology. Our main purpose is to point out the
permanent tectonic heritage from the late Neoproterozoic (upper
Ediacaran) to Present.
2. Geological setting
The Anti-Atlas mountain range (Fig. 1) displays a N60E-striking
axis where Precambrian rocks crop out as extended antiformal
inliers (‘‘boutonnières’’) surrounded by Cambrian marine series.
The folded Ordovician-Early Carboniferous series of the Anti-Atlas
extend widely south of the mountain axis up to the undeformed
part of the WAC cover, i.e. the Tindouf Basin and overlying Ceno-
zoic plateaus (‘‘hamadas’’). In the north, the Anti-Atlas is separated
from the High Atlas by the South Atlas Fault or South Atlas Front
(SAF) and by narrow, discontinuous Neogene foreland basins,
namely the Souss and Ouarzazate basins. Between the two basins,
the Pan-African basement of the Marrakech High Atlas lies in direct
contact with the basement of the Anti-Atlas cropping out in the
Siroua Plateau (dominated by the Neogene Siroua volcano) through
the steep northward-dipping SAF.
The Anti-Atlas mountain range is divided into two contrasting
parts by the Anti-Atlas Major Fault (AAMF; Choubert, 1947). South
of the AAMF, Paleoproterozoic schists and granites form a large
part of the inliers with granite intrusions dated at ca. 2 Ga (Aït
Malek et al., 1998; Walsh et al., 2002; Thomas et al., 2002;
Gasquet et al., 2005; O’Connor et al., 2010; Hafid et al., 2013;
Soulaimani et al., 2013). These Eburnean rocks are overlain by rem-
nants of their lower Neoproterozoic, shallow-water cover series
(Jbel Lkest-Taghdout Group) folded and recrystallized during the
Pan-African orogeny. Contrastingly, within the AAMF corridor
and immediately north of it (Siroua and Bou Azzer inliers), the
metamorphic rock units overlain by the Ediacaran volcaniclastic
groups are either Neoproterozoic ophiolites or coeval arc-related
gneiss and plutons accreted to the northern edge of the WAC.
Their obduction as tectonic slices along the Bou Azzer-Siroua
suture occurred during two main Pan-African events at 760 Ma
(D’Lemos et al., 2006) and 650 Ma (Saquaque et al., 1989;
Hefferan et al., 2000; Thomas et al., 2002; El Hadi et al., 2010).
The late Pan-African, post-paroxysmal Saghro and Bou Salda
Groups (lower Ediacaran) crops out mainly in the eastern and cen-
tral parts of the Anti-Atlas, whereas the upper Ediacaran Ouarzazate
Group extends all over the belt and occupies more than half of the
total inlier surface (Fig. 1). The conglomerates and volcanics (mainly
andesites and rhyolites) of the latter group are associated with high-
K, calc-alkaline plutons dated at 580–550 Ma (Thomas et al., 2002,
2004; Inglis et al., 2004; Levresse et al., 2004; Gasquet et al., 2005).
The Ouarzazate Group formations are, as a rule, conformably
overlain by the uppermost Ediacaran–Lower Cambrian carbonate
deposits (Taroudant and Tata Groups, from bottom to top),
although an unconformity is observed by place (see below,
Section 3.2). The almost continuous Cambrian-Lower Carboniferous
series, 6–10 km-thick, are deformed into conspicuous fold trains
(Fig. 1), upright and generally open in most areas or reclined and
associated with thrusts in the westernmost regions (Soulaimani,
1998; Belfoul et al., 2001; Helg et al., 2004; Soulaimani and
Burkhard, 2008; Raddi et al., 2007; Michard et al., 2008, 2010).
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
This Late Carboniferous, strong Variscan folding was accom-
panied by weak recrystallization of the deepest Cambrian layers
(Ruiz et al., 2008) and of the basement, as shown by the K-Ar
(Bonhomme and Hassenforder, 1985) and zircon fission-track ages
(Sebti et al., 2009) at about 330 Ma obtained from various western
Anti-Atlas basement samples. The Variscan collision developed a
typical thick-skinned tectonics in the Anti-Atlas (Burkhard et al.,
2006). It was followed by a Late Pennsylvanian-Permian period of
erosion recorded by clastic deposits in the adjoining Tindouf and
Bechar basins (Conrad, 1971; Cavaroc et al., 1976) and responsible
for most of the exhumation of the Precambrian antiformal inliers.
The main Triassic-Liassic records in the Anti-Atlas domain con-
sist of widespread dykes and sills of the Central Atlantic Magmatic
Province (CAMP; Hailwood and Mitchell, 1971; Hollard, 1973a,b;
Leblanc, 1973; Youbi et al., 2003) well dated in varied localities
between 204 ± 3 and 197 ± 2 Ma (Ar–Ar plateau ages; Sebai et al.,
1991). Triassic red beds are only preserved in the Siroua Plateau
next to the SAF (Chevallier et al., 2001; El Arabi et al., 2003). The
Anti-Atlas was likely uplifted and eroded during the Jurassic as a
rift shoulder for both the Central Atlantic and the Atlas Tethys Gulf.
After a shallow burial during the Cretaceous–Eocene, recorded by
scarce Cretaceous outcrops onto the Siroua Plateau, the Anti-Atlas
was definitely exhumed during the Neogene, contemporaneously
with the High Atlas.
3. Late Ediacaran extensional faulting
The timing and tectonic setting of the Ouarzazate Group have
been, and still is the object of active research. Several works have
underlined the strong control of extensional faults on clastic sedi-
mentation and coeval volcanism in a continental rift environment
(Choubert, 1963; Azizi-Samir et al., 1990; Rjimati et al., 1992;
Piqué et al., 1995, 1999; Thomas et al., 2002; Soulaimani et al.,
2003). Simultaneously, the magmatism shows an important chem-
ical variation from bottom to top. The calc-alkaline, arc-related
bimodal magmatism that dominates since the earliest post-oro-
genic periods (Saghro and Bou Salda Groups; see Liégeois et al., this
volume) evolves progressively during the late Ediacaran (Ouarzaz-
ate Group) to widespread continental tholeiitic volcanism, then to
alkaline magmatism in the Lower Cambrian carbonates (Jbel Boho)
at the very beginning of the Cambrian transgression. The late
Ediacaran period corresponds, according to most authors, to the
collapse of the Pan-African chain and onset of a transtensional-
extensional regime subsequent to the Early Ediacaran transpres-
sional regime (Gasquet et al., 2008, and references therein). In
the present section, we aim at featuring a synthetic map of the
main active faults during the late Ediacaran (Fig. 3), based on our
field works and the literature. We first document this map from
west to east, with emphasis on the basement faults that operated
at the boundary of the future Anti-Atlas inliers, and then we
propose its broad interpretation.
3.1. Late Ediacaran faults in western Anti-Atlas
In western Anti-Atlas, the Ouarzazate Group clastic units show
impressive and sudden thickness changes (from 0 up to 800 m-
thick) beneath the Lower Cambrian carbonates, suggesting the role
of synsedimentary normal faults. In several cases, the coarse, cha-
otic facies of the Ediacaran conglomerates reveals the closeness of
steep, fault related reliefs.
3.1.1. Paleofaults in the northern Kerdous
Outstanding examples of Late Ediacaran basement faults can be
observed at the north-eastern border of the Jbel Lkest (Fig. 3)
(Soulaimani et al., 2004). Next to the Ida Ougnidif locality
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 5

Fig. 3. (A) Main faults related to the Upper Ediacaran–Lower Cambrian rifting in the Anti-Atlas; Inliers: BD: Bas Draa; If: Ifni; Kr: Kerdous; Ir: Igherm; TA: Tagragra of Akka;
TT: Tagragra of Tata; AM: Agadir Melloul; Ig: Iguerda; Ze: Zenaga; Sr: Sirwa; BA: Bou Azzer; Sg: Saghro; Og: Ougnate. (B) Rose diagrams of Ouarzazate Group and Lower
Cambrian faults; RW: western Anti-Atlas, RC: central Anti-Atlas, RE: eastern Anti-Atlas and RG: for the entire Anti-Atlas.

Fig. 4. Simplified geological map of the Kerdous inlier (A) with location of the Ida Ougnidif (B) and Jbel Kerkar (C) cross-sections.

(Fig. 4B), the Jbel Lkest Neoproterozoic metaquartzites are bounded
by a set of NW-trending faults running at the border of Upper Edi-
acaran clastic deposits topped by continental tholeiites (Soulaimani
et al., 2004; Soulaimani and Ouanaimi, 2011). Here, the uplifted
quartzites display various extensional structures such as tension
gashes and mini-grabens whose orientation is consistent with a
normal throw along the main faults. Within the collapsed block to
the NE, the Ouarzazate Group conglomerates show poorly-sorted,
angular quartzite clasts, implying proximal deposition. Their thick-
ness varies from a few tens of meters to several hundred meters
beneath the unconformable carbonates of the Adoudou Fm, which
may results of late Ediacaran, synsedimentary faulting, or post-sed-
imentary faulting prior to the Cambrian sedimentation, or both. The
occurrence of tens of meters of continental tholeiitic basalts on top
of the conglomerates at Ida Ougnidif, and that of similar tholeiites
in several other places in the Anti-Atlas (Youbi, 1998; Algouti
et al., 2002; Soulaimani et al., 2004) supports the idea of an incipi-
ent rifting event by the end of Late Ediacaran.
The role of synsedimentary faulting is also made clear in the
north of the Jbel Lkest massif, where the destruction of the quartz-
ites generated breccias and conglomerates collected in topographic
lows most likely associated with fault zones (O’Connor’s et al.,

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
6 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
2010). Maximum quartzite clasts size is commonly in excess of 1 m
with frequently sub-angular shape. The occasional presence of
gabbro and granite clasts can be observed. The presence of inter-
bedded tuffaceous deposits in the conglomerates implies that
explosive volcanism occurred during deposition. Indeed, the J.
Lkest example allows us confirming the importance of both synse-
dimentary and post-sedimentary normal faulting along NW- to
NNW-trending faults during the late Ediacaran, prior to the Lower
Cambrian transgression. It is worth noting that this fault corridor
was the locus of superimposed reactivations, (i) during the Lower
Cambrian, as shown by the west-ward directed slumps and hydro-
plastic minor faults in the adjacent Tata Group limestones (Fig. 5F);
and (ii) during the Variscan episode, with the development of
N150E sub-vertical pressure solution cleavage in the conglomer-
ates along the Ida Ougnidif fault zone (Soulaimani and Ouanaimi,
2011). However, the (moderate) reactivation of the paleofault does
not hamper its identification as a Late Ediacaran normal fault.
3.1.2. Other basement faults in western Anti-Atlas
In the southern Kerdous massif, the Ouarzazate Group outcrops
are relatively thin (Fig. 3). Clastic deposits and volcanic flows are
controlled by NE–SW to E-striking faults, which participate to the
uplift of the basement (Chèvremont et al., 2005; Roger et al.,
2005). The ensuing horst and graben architecture has been invaded
and sealed by marine limestones of the Taroudant and Tata groups
before being reactivated by the Variscan compression.
The Lakhssas synclinorium between the Kerdous and Ifni inliers
offers another example of Variscan inversion of upper Ediacaran
horst and graben structures (Soulaimani and Bouabdelli, 2005).
Gravimetric and magnetic data suggest the presence of an uplifted
basement horst at depth beneath the folded Cambrian limestones
(Jbel Inter) in the axis of the synclinorium (Soulaimani, 1998)
(Fig. 4C). An upper Ediacaran hemigraben can be restored south
of the Tazeroualt (southern Kerdous) horst (Fig. 3). The Variscan
inversion mainly affected the western part of this transect.
A similar configuration can be reported in the Tagragra of Akka
inlier where Ediacaran paleofaults are related to mylonitic zones
in the Paleoproterozoic basement (Gasquet et al., 2001). This is
illustrated at the south-western tip of the inlier where a NW-dip-
ping, N50E-striking normal fault separates the Ouarzazate Group
deposits in the hanging-wall from the Paleoproterozoic basement
in the footwall. This fault bounds a half-graben structure filled with
poorly-sorted conglomerates, which display chaotic facies with
basement clasts up to 2 m in size close to the fault. The correspond-
ing half-graben structure is sealed by the Adoudou Fm carbonates.
3.2. Late Ediacaran structures in central Anti-Atlas
Extensional structures of late Ediacaran age can be recognized
on both sides of the Anti-Atlas Major Fault (AAMF), on the one
hand in the Agadir Melloul and Iguerda inliers and on the other
hand in the Siroua and Bou Azzer inliers, south and north of the
AAMF, respectively.
3.2.1. Agadir Melloul and Iguerda inliers
In the Agadir Melloul inlier, the Adrar Iguiguil hill consists of
several hundred meters-thick Lower Neoproterozoic quartzites
(Taghdout-Lkest Group), transgressive onto the Paleoproterozoic
basement and intruded by Neoproterozoic mafic dykes (Faure-
Muret et al., 1992; Ouanaimi and Soulaimani, 2011; Soulaimani
et al., 2013). The quartzite slab has been converted by gravity faults
into a system of roughly concentric tilted blocks. These blocks are
covered by reddish, Ouarzazate Group deposits including chaotic
fault scarp breccias with quartzite clasts up to 2 m in size (Fig. 5B)
and poorly-sorted conglomerates with dominant quartzite clasts
and occasional Paleoproterozoic clasts (Soulaimani et al., 2013).
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
In the eastern side of the Iguerda inlier (Fig. 3), the Aguinane Val-
ley offers a perfect illustration of upper Ediacaran extensional
structures, which controls the Ouarzazate Group deposits
(Fig. 5C). On both sides of the valley, and particularly in its northern
flank, a succession of NE-striking listric faults and tilted basement
blocks can be observed at the border of the inlier. Volcaniclastic
deposits of the Ouarzazate Group constitute the infilling of these
half-graben structures, which are topped and sealed by the Tarou-
dant Group marine limestones (Hafid et al., 2013). Therefore, the
Iguerda basement, like many other Anti-Atlas inliers, was already
a raised block during the Ediacaran crustal extension.
3.2.2. Siroua and Bou Azzer inliers
The Ouarzazate Group formations outcrop widely north of the
Anti-Atlas Major Fault (AAMF) in the Siroua and Bou Azzer inliers.
In the Siroua massif, the thick deposits are the result of both explo-
sive volcanic activity and rapid clastic sedimentation, controlled by
normal faults. Thomas et al. (2002) pointed out the importance of
basement fractures in the onset and evolution of the Ouarzazate
Group basins there. Remarkably, the contents and thicknesses of
these basins are different north and south of the AAMF system.
Whereas the group is dominated by basement-derived conglomer-
ates in the south, its succession is characterized in the north by a
major thickness of mainly acid volcanic/volcanoclastic rocks asso-
ciated with a lower amount of clastic sediments (Thomas et al.,
2002). Therefore, the Ediacaran faulting clearly reactivated the
inherited AAMF in this area. It is not clear however whether the
E–W fault-related grabens developed by pure extension or by
transtension.
In the Bou Azzer inlier, the Ouarzazate Group is only repre-
sented by its middle and upper formations (Choubert, 1963;
Boyer and Leblanc 1977). The volcaniclastic sequences overlie
unconformably the Pan-African ophiolites and oceanic arc units.
NE–SW directed grabens and half-grabens are observed beneath
the unconformable carbonates of the Adoudou Fm (Fig. 5E).
According to Azizi-Samir et al. (1990), they correspond to en ech-
elon faults related to the sinistral reactivation of the WNW-striking
major fault (AAMF) inherited from the Pan-African orogeny. Cou-
pled with the presence of the huge Ediacaran magmatism, an
intense hydrothermal activity developed during the extensional
event, playing a major role in the formation of the well-known
ore deposits (Co–Ni–As–Ag–Au) of the area (Leblanc, 1975;
Gasquet et al., 2005; Maacha et al., 2011).
3.3. Late Ediacaran faults in eastern Anti-Atlas
Due to the gentle eastward plunge of the Anti-Atlas axis, the
eastern Precambrian inliers (Jbel Saghro and Ougnat; Fig. 3) display
essentially Upper Ediacaran volcanics and volcanoclastic sequences
of the Ouarzazate Group (Hindermeyer, 1954; Choubert, 1959;
Choubert and Faure-Muret, 1977; Paile, 1983; Ouguir et al., 1996;
Abia et al., 2003; Gasquet et al., 2005; Raddi et al., 2006a,b). These
voluminous sequences unconformably overlie the lower Ediacaran
folded series (Saghro Group) that outcrop in small windows
(Sidi Flah, Boumalne and Imiter in the Saghro massif; Mellab
and Ouin Oufrouh in the Ougnat massif). The Ouarzazate Group
in both massifs is also associated with important felsic to
intermediate dyke swarms, gabbro stock (Raddi et al., 2006a,b)
and high-K pink granite intrusions (Fauvelet and Hindermeyer,
1952).
3.3.1. Saghro Massif
The Saghro massif is affected by several ENE- to NE-striking,
tens of kilometres-long faults (Fig. 3). These regional faults cross-
cut all the Precambrian rocks and locally the folded Paleozoic
series or even the Mesozoic-Cenozoic cover, which attests for
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 7

Fig. 5. (A) Transition between the Ouarzazate Gp rhyolite and the lower Adoudou Fm ‘‘Série de base’’ at the eastern border of the Kerdous massif (photograph and
corresponding cross-section). (B) Top: westward view of the J. Iguiguil Quartzites in the Agadir Melloul inlier; Bottom: Ouarzazate Gp conglomeratic breccias accumulated at
the foot of J. Iguiguil. (C) Northern side of the Aguinane Valley showing basement blocks tilted during the upper Ediacaran rifting before the transgression of the Adoudou Fm
limestones. (D) Northward view of the angular unconformity between the Ouarzazate Gp volcaniclastics and Adoudou Fm limestones at the NE of Taliwine (central Anti-
Atlas); (E) Photograph of the Bou Azzer inlier northern side showing moderate angular unconformity between Ouarzazate Gp volcaniclastics and Adoudou Fm limestones.
(F) Synsedimentary structures at the base of Adoudou limestones at the eastern border of the Kerdous massif. Top: view of the entire slump structure. Bottom: details of
synsedimentary normal faults backing the normal limb. (G) Google Earth views of large scale synsedimentary normal faults and detachments (half arrows) associated with
slump folds south of Tiouine (westernmost Saghro massif) in the Taroudant Gp formations on top of the Ouarzazate Gp (‘‘PIII’’ of the geological map 1:100.000). SB: Adoudou
clastics = ‘‘Série de base’’; Cinf: Adoudou limestones = ‘‘Calcaires inférieurs’’; LdV: Taliwine Fm = ‘‘Série lie-de-vin’’; Arrows 1 and 2: unconformities. (H) Eastward
continuation of the outcrops shown in (G).

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
8 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
repeated reactivation events. This longitudinal fault system was
active during the Late Ediacaran as it controls the thickness of
the Ouarzazate Group deposits and the associated magmatic intru-
sions (Rjimati et al., 1992; Walsh et al., 2012). As an example, the
Tagmout graben, in the southern flank of the Saghro massif, is an
Ouarzazate Group-filled graben bounded by N60-striking faults
associated with the tholeiitic, 563 ± 5 Ma-old Tagmout gabbro
(Benziane et al., 2008). This fault system shows frequent markers
of sinistral strike-slip movements at the map scale. For instance,
in the Sidi Flah window, the N60-striking fault is accompanied
by strike-slip duplexes and its left lateral movement is accommo-
dated by a horsetail at its eastern tip (Walsh et al., 2012). In addi-
tion, the bulk left-lateral kinematics is consistent with the N10
trend of the oblique dikes, particularly of those of the ‘‘Zone des
dykes’’ locally dated at 564 ± 7 (Bouskour mining district; Walsh
et al., 2008). In the north-eastern part of the Saghro massif, NE to
ENE sinistral strike slip faults are also reported as inherited from
late Ediacaran paleofaults (El Boukhari et al., 2007; Malusà et al.,
2007b; Massironi and Moratti, 2007). These faults are likely
contemporaneous to the E-trending fault system described in the
Imiter area (Ouguir et al., 1996; Cheilletz et al., 2002; Levresse
et al., 2004). The latter faults, inherited from old Pan-African
dextral faults, were reactivated first as normal faults controlling
the Ouarzazate Group deposits, then as sinistral strike-slip fault
(Ouguir et al., 1994). These fractures served as hydrothermal
drains leading to the first class Imiter Ag-Hg deposits (Gaouzi
et al., 2011).
NW-striking faults were also active during the late Ediacaran in
the Saghro massif. This is documented in the Boumalne area where
N120E, kilometre-long normal faults control the Jbel Habab graben
filled up with Ouarzazate Group formations (El Boukhari et al.,
2007). The bordering faults of this graben are sealed in the north-
west by Cambrian beds, thus excluding significant post-Precam-
brian reactivations.
3.3.2. Ougnat Massif
In the easternmost Anti-Atlas, i.e. the Jbel Ougnat massif, the
Ouarzazate Group is dominated by felsic volcanics, mainly ignimb-
ritic sheets, associated with various magmatic intrusions, either
gabbroic or granitic (Paile 1983; Abia et al., 2003). The scarcity of
clastic deposits belonging to the group hampers defining synsedi-
mentary grabens or half-grabens. In contrast, the widespread dol-
erite and granite dykes can be used as indicators of extension
coeval with magmatism. In most areas, the mafic dykes strike
dominantly NE–SW (Fig. 3; Raddi et al., 2006a,b), crosscutting
the Saghro Group basement as well as the Ouarzazate Group vol-
canics and plutons. A great number of N–S and NW–SE mafic or fel-
sic dykes also occur in the western and central areas. Around the
Bou Madine mine, the NW-trending felsic dykes are crosscut by
the N-striking mafic ones. In this area, major sinistral N30-striking
faults are associated with N160-striking tension joints hosting the
epithermal polymetallic ore deposit (Abia et al., 2003). As a whole,
the dyke orientation suggests a multidirectional extension during
the Upper Ediacaran magmatic evolution, with a dominant NW–
SE direction of extension. Contrary to the Jbel Saghro, it is not clear
here whether the Ouarzazate Group was controlled by a global left-
lateral transtensional context along N70 faults along the north and
south borders of the massif.
4. Paleozoic evolution and inherited basement faults
4.1. Early Cambrian rifting
In many places, as reported above, the base of the Adoudounian
carbonates conformably overlie the Ouarzazate Group without
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
apparent stratigraphical gap (e. g. eastern flank of the Kerdous
inlier (Fig. 5A). This is verified mainly in the western and southern
part of the Anti-Atlas. However, in other places, this transition is
marked by an angular unconformity on top of the tilted formations
of the Ouarzazate Group (e. g. NE of Taliwine, Fig. 5D). Everywhere,
extensional tectonics went on during the Early Cambrian, as illus-
trated hereafter.
The Cambrian marine transgression was progressive from the
western ‘‘Gulf of Souss’’ (Choubert and Marçais, 1952) to the cen-
tral and eastern Anti-Atlas (Destombes et al., 1985). The Adoudou
Fm-Lower Cambrian thickness, up to 3000 m in the western Anti-
Atlas, decreases gradually eastward while continental influences
increase. The role of extensional tectonics during the evolution of
the Lower Cambrian basin has been emphasized either by struc-
tural (Soulaimani et al., 2003; Soulaimani and Piqué, 2004;
Gasquet et al., 2005) or sedimentological studies (Benssaou and
Hamoumi, 2003; Chbani et al., 1999; Algouti et al., 2002). Thick-
ness and facies changes have been used to map a NE-striking Lower
Cambrian graben (Benssaou and Hamoumi, 2003). The Adoudou
limestones often show disruptions by synsedimentary extensional
faults and slump structures (Soulaimani et al., 2003) (Fig. 5G and
H). Large scale synsedimentary normal faults, detachments and
slump folds can be observed south of Tiouine (westernmost Saghro
massif; Fig. 5E) in the lower Adoudou clastics (‘‘Série de base’’) and
limestones (‘‘Calcaires inférieurs’’) and the Taliwine Fm (‘‘Série lie-
de-vin’’), suggesting the occurrence of tilted basement block
underneath (Saddiqi et al., 2011).
Lower Cambrian faults are also exposed in the Issafen syncline
(Fig. 3) where many NNE-striking, kilometre scale faults cut prefer-
ential levels of the Lower Cambrian units suggesting a synsedimen-
tary deformation. Likewise, alkaline volcanism went on during the
Early Cambrian as a continuation of the tholeiitic flows at the top
of the Ouarzazate Group (Section 3.1.1). The most important record
corresponds to the J. Boho volcano whose flows are interleaved in
the uppermost Adoudou beds at the southern side of the Bou Azzer
inlier (Ducrot and Lancelot, 1977; Leblanc and Lancelot, 1980;
Alvaro et al., 2006). This stratigraphic position is consistent with
the 529 ± 3 Ma U-Pb age yielded by the J. Boho syenite (Gasquet
et al., 2005).
In the Anti-Atlas, Early Cambrian rifting aborted before the
widespread sandy sedimentation of the Asrir Fm (former ‘‘Grès ter-
minaux’’) now attributed to the base of Middle Cambrian (Geyer
and Landing, 1995, 2004). The thickness of the Lower Cambrian
and Asrir formations decreases eastward (Destombes et al., 1985;
Buggisch and Sieger, 1988) and they vanish finally at the northern
border of the eastern Saghro and Ougnat inliers (Fig. 6A). Abrupt
thickness changes clearly suggest the activity of (inherited) base-
ment faults with N70 and N110 dominant directions. Minor faults
with NW-directed normal throw are illustrated at the south border
of the Precambrian inlier (Fig. 6B).
During the Middle Cambrian transgression, sedimentation is
dominated by fairly continuous, mainly south-derived detrital
input with minor disconformities. Extensional tectonics is evi-
denced by mega-slumps and seismites in eastern Anti-Atlas
(Raddi et al., 2007), associated with a voluminous mafic volcanism
(Destombes, 2006c,d; Raddi, 2014). This volcanism is dominated
by trachy-basalt flows and microdolerite stocks and dykes with
alkaline affinity. Distribution of the paleovolcanoes seems mostly
controlled by N70- and N120-striking faults.
The Upper Cambrian (Furongian) corresponds to the most impor-
tant interruption in the Palaeozoic sedimentation all over Morocco
except in restricted areas of western Anti-Atlas (Destombes and
Feist, 1987), western High Atlas (Cornée et al., 1987) and western
Meseta (André et al., 1987; El Attari et al., 1997; Mergl et al.,
1998). The scarcity of stratigraphic records has not been explained
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 9

Fig. 6. Lower Cambrian extensional faulting in the Ougnat area. (A) Minor synsedimentary faults controlling the Lower Cambrian sedimentation on top of the Precambrian
basement at the south-eastern border of the Ougnat inlier (Raddi, 2013). (B) Thickness variation of the Lower Cambrian series across the Ougnat inlier from SW to NE,
controlled by four major faults, namely the North-Oukhit, South-Oukhit, Oued Smile and Alnif Faults (NOF, SOF, OSF, ANF, respectively), after Baidder (2007).

yet; it could result from an uplift of central and eastern Morocco as a
tectonic shoulder of the spreading Iapetus.
4.2. Ordovician-Lower Devonian, the subsiding platform
The Lower and Middle Ordovician deposits consist of several
hundred meters-thick pelites and sandstones with frequent hiatus,
disconformities and shallow water ferruginous oolithes (Destombes
et al., 1985; Destombes, 2006a–d). The maximum of subsidence of
the Ordovician Saharan platform is observed in the western and
central Anti-Atlas. Contrastingly, the eastern Anti-Atlas was poorly
subsident, with a complete hiatus of the Tremadoc deposits around
the Ougnat massif. Isopachs are dominantly E–W (i.e. parallel to the
former coast line concealed beneath the Tindouf Basin) in most of
the belt up to the Upper Ordovician (Caradoc), when they turn to
NW–SE in eastern Anti-Atlas (Destombes et al., 1985). This suggests
the first activation of basement faults along the Ougarta Belt trend
and its northward continuation, namely the Ougnat-Ouzina axis.
At the scale of the entire Anti-Atlas, shows that the Pan-African
suture zone was reactivated into a crustal flexure zone during the
Middle Ordovician.
The NW–SE direction is also that of the Hirnantian tilloids and
Rhuddanian black shales along the paleofjords of eastern Anti-
Atlas (Destombes, 2006d; Le Heron, 2007). However, after this per-
iod of fault activity, the Saharan platform entered again a period of
quiescent, although uneven subsidence that lagged during most of
the Silurian and Lower Devonian.
4.3. Middle–Late Devonian to Early Carboniferous: marginal platform
dislocation
During the Middle–Late Devonian the Saharan platform was
converted into a complex of uplifted blocks (minor platforms)
and downthrown basins (Fig. 2). This ‘‘disintegration’’ event (Wendt,
1985) is well documented in the eastern Anti-Atlas (Wendt and
Belka, 1991; Baidder, 2007; Baidder et al., 2008). There, the Devonian

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
10 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

normal fault pattern indicates a multi-directional extension with a
dominant northward direction (Fig. 7). The most important faults
are inherited from the NNW- and ENE-trending basement faults active
during the Precambrian. This is clearly the case with the Oumjerane-
Taouz Fault, which is the eastern continuation of the Pan-African main
fault zone (AAMF). In the south of the Ougnat massif, the N-Mecissi
fault is another example of ENE-striking, N-dipping Late Devonian
faults (Raddi et al., 2007). The extensional reactivation of the
NNW-striking faults on both sides of the Ougnat-Ouzina axis deter-
mines the differentiation of two subsiding basins, namely the Maider
and South Tafilalt basins, bounded by shallow pelagic platforms
(Hollard, 1974, 1981; Wendt 1985,1988; Baidder et al., 2008).
In the Western Anti-Atlas, faulting and paleogeographic differen-
tiation occurred earlier, as shown by the important sequence
variations in the Lower to Middle Devonian Rich Group (Ouanaimi
and Lazreq, 2008), contrasting with the monotonous basinal facies
of the Upper Devonian successions.
Finally, by the end of the pre-orogenic evolution, the Lower
Carboniferous sedimentation was controlled by the same basement
fault pattern as during the Upper Devonian. The activity of the
Oumjerane-Taouz fault zone is documented by coarse conglomer-
ates, slumpings and olistostromes at the south border of the Tafilalt
Basin, next to the shallow platform further in the south (Jebel Begaa
carbonates; Hollard, 1970). Likewise, turbidites and olistostromes
accumulated along the northern boundary of the eastern Anti-Atlas
(Tineghir area north of Saghro and Ougnat inliers) and adjacent
Bechar Basin (Ben Zireg), in relation with ENE-striking normal fault
activation (Michard et al., 1982; Soualhine et al., 2003; Cerrina
Feroni et al., 2010).
The geodynamic framework of the Middle–Late Devonian–Early
Carboniferous sedimentation has been discussed by Frizon de
Lamotte et al. (2013) from North Africa to Arabia. They point to a
major thermo-mechanical event at the scale of northern Gondwana
resulting in diffuse extensional deformation (rifting) with contrast-
ing uplifted archs and deep basins. This can be regarded as the
consequence of the Laurussia plate incipient subduction beneath
Gondwana along the nascent Variscan Belt.
5. Variscan inversion of the inherited structures
5.1. Faulted inliers of the foreland fold belt: General
During the Variscan Laurussia-Gondwana collision, the Paleo-
zoic series of the Anti-Atlas basin has been folded whereas large
blocks of its Proterozoic basement were uplifted as antiformal
inliers or ‘‘boutonnières’’ (Fig. 1 and 7). Except the westernmost
part of the belt where narrow NNE-trending Cambrian ridges along
the Atlantic coast are affected by a west-verging (craton-ward)
thin-skinned thrust system (Soulaimani, 1998; Belfoul et al.,
2001), most of the Anti-Atlas shows an obvious implication of
the Precambrian basement defining a thick-skinned tectonic style
(Hassenforder, 1987; Soulaimani et al., 1997; Belfoul et al. 2001;
Caritg et al., 2004; Helg et al. 2004; Burkhard et al., 2006;
Baidder et al., 2008; Raddi et al., 2007; Soulaimani and Burkhard,
2008; Michard et al., 2008, 2010).
In the basement samples collected throughout western and
central Anti-Atlas, zircon fission-track (ZFT) ages cluster between
340 ± 20 and 306 ± 20 Ma (average age 321 ± 21 Ma; Sebti et al.,
2009; Oukassou et al., 2013). These ZFT ages are consistent with
the K/Ar and 40Ar-39Ar results from the Kerdous area (Bonhomme
and Hassenforder, 1985; Soulaimani and Piqué, 2004). Therefore
a single thermal event has been responsible for resetting of the var-
ious dating systems about 310–330 My ago (late Visean-Bashkiri-
an), being followed by rapid cooling below 240 ± 20 °C (closure
temperature for zircon fission-track dating). Peak temperature in
the upper part of the basement hardly exceeded T = 300 ± 20 °C
according to the epizonal recrystallization of the overlying Cam-
brian rocks of the area (Ruiz et al., 2008). As a consequence of
the low temperature of the basement rocks during collision, they
were deformed in brittle conditions, so as the Precambrian inliers
correspond to strongly faulted basement-cored uplifts of various
size and orientation (Fig. 1). In many cases, they are bounded at
least on one side by steeply-dipping faults either exposed or con-
cealed under the Adoudounian-Cambrian beds (Fig. 7). Along other
sides, they are overlain by the folded Paleozoic series detached on

Fig. 7. (A) Structural map of the Variscan Anti-Atlas Domain. Zircon fission-track (ZFT) ages after Sebti et al., 2009 (Ifni, Kerdous) and Oukassou et al. (2013). Zircon U–Th/He
ages after Ruiz et al. (2011). (B) Rose diagrams of Variscan faults (black) and Variscan folds (Brown) in the Western, Central, Eastern and entire Anti-Atlas. (For interpretation
of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
numerous décollements levels linked to the main incompetent for-
mations. In the western Anti-Atlas, the deepest décollement horizon
is located in the Lower Cambrian Taliwine Fm (‘‘Lie-de-Vin’’ pel-
ites), whereas in the eastern Anti-Atlas it is located in the Middle
Cambrian Internal Feijas Gp (‘‘Schistes à Paradoxides’’ pelites). Evi-
dence for the ancestry of most bounding-faults of the Anti-Atlas
inliers and their Variscan reactivation has been reported in many
areas of the western Anti-Atlas (Hassenforder, 1987; Piqué et al.,
1987; Soulaimani, 1998). In the following, we investigate key
examples from the whole belt attesting for the Variscan reactiva-
tion of late Ediacaran structures with various rates and motions.
5.2. Totally inverted listric paleofaults
Total inversion of former listric faults can be only observed in
the westernmost part of the belt, close to the front of the Maurit-
anides thrusts (Fig. 1). The Bas Draa inlier (Bourcart, 1937;
Choubert and Faure-Muret, 1969), here discussed is bounded along
its south-eastern side by steeply-dipping reverse faults (Fig. 8a and
b; Soulaimani et al., 1997). During the Variscan collision, the base-
ment block was simultaneously uplifted and thrust southeast-
ward inducing folding and axial-plane cleavage development in
the sedimentary cover at its front. The south-eastern border of
the inlier corresponds to one of the Ediacaran–Cambrian faults that
bounded the western Anti-Atlas Cambrian rift. Thus, in the Bas
Draa case study, the Variscan contraction brought the hanging-
wall of the Cambrian paleofault higher than the footwall removing
entirely the extensional geometry (Fig. 8c).
5.3. Incompletely inverted paleofaults
Contrary to the Bas Draa example, many of the basement faults
bounding the Anti-Atlas inliers still preserve normal throw. The
Assaragh fault is an outstanding example of such incompletely
inverted paleofault. This fault constitutes the eastern branch of
NNE–SSW to N–S fault system that affects the Agadir Melloul-Ass-
aragh basement (Fig. 9A). It separates the Iguerda Paleoproterozoic
inlier from the Aguinane inlier. The latter is characterized by the
double unconformity of the Adoudou Fm limestones onto the
Ouarzazate Group volcaniclastics and the Paleoproterozoic schists.
The present throw of the Adoudou unconformity between both
inliers looks like a normal fault throw, but mapping of the fault
zone shows that both the Ediacaran lavas and Adoudou limestones
are folded with geometry only compatible with a reverse basement
fault underneath (Fig. 9B and C). The Assaragh fault then appears as
a polyphase fault that acted as a normal fault during and/or after
the late Ediacaran (rifting phases, see Sections 3 and 4.1), and as
a reverse fault during the Variscan compression, but with a lesser
throw than the previous normal one. It is worth noting that the
Assaragh fault parallels the nearby Paleoproterozoic Lamdint shear
zones (Faure-Muret et al., 1992; Hafid et al., 2013), suggesting that
the paleofault itself is inherited from a much older weakness zone.
5.4. Blind inverted paleofaults
Outside the Anti-Atlas axis where inverted basement faults are
exposed, many other basement faults are buried beneath the
Paleozoic cover. In the absence of convenient seismic data, these
hidden basement faults are revealed by the propagation of second-
ary faults cutting through the entire Palaeozoic cover and demon-
strating a normal, then reverse or reverse strike-slip activity.
In the western Anti-Atlas, these faults are organized in two
main directions, broadly E–W and N–S. The most important
E–W lineament is the Anti-Atlas Major Fault (AAMF; Section 3.2)
that crosscuts the Jebel Bani and extends eastward in the
Zagoura and Oumjerane-Taouz faults (Fig. 7). This is a Pan-African
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
11
compressional structure (Section 2) reactivated during the Ediaca-
ran and the Paleozoic as an extensional fault, and again as a
reverse-transcurrent faults during the Variscan compression.
The E–W Tata fault (Fig. 7) parallels the AAMF in the south and
has a strong control on the Variscan structures (Hassenforder,
1987; Caritg et al., 2004). Other remobilized basement faults do
not broke the surface and are only expressed by fault-propagation
folds. South of the Tata Fault, the Adrar Zouggar-Addana Ordovi-
cian anticlinorium overlies a hidden Precambrian high (Michard,
1976; Burkhard et al., 2006). Still more in the southwest, the
N70°E-striking shear zone between the Anti-Atlas and the cratonic
Tindouf Basin (Fig. 7) is another conspicuous example of basement
paleofault whose inversion induced en echelon folds within the
Jebel Rich Devonian sequences in response to the dominating SE-
directed compression (Michard 1976; Jeannette and Piqué 1981;
Soulaimani et al., 1997; Michard et al., 2010).
Between the AAMF and Tata E–W basement faults, an N–S fault
system is represented by the Lakhssas Plateau shear zone and the
Agadir Melloul lineament as principal examples. The Lakhssas Pla-
teau shear zone (Fig. 4C) is the expression in the Lower Cambrian
of the inversion of a listric basement fault carrying the Ifni block
eastward against the Kerdous (Soulaimani and Bouabdelli, 2005;
Michard et al., 2010). The Agadir Melloul lineament is N–S poly-
phase fault system that exhumed the granitic basement against
the Ouarzazate Group before the Adoudou Fm deposition. The Ass-
aragh branch of the lineaments still a normal fault, as described
above (§ 5.3, Fig. 9),but laterally to the south, the fault system is
expressed in the Adoudounian-Lower Cambrian cover as an
impressive fold system (Soulaimani et al., 2013).
In the eastern Anti-Atlas, both NW–SE and E–W basement
paleofaults reactivated as reverse strike-slip faults can be
observed. In particular, two major NW-striking faults occur on
both sides of the Ougnat-Ouzina Cambrian-Ordovician axis. They
operated as the boundaries of a mega-dextral shear zone in
response to the N–S compression that first prevailed there
(Baidder et al., 2008).
6. Reactivation of basement faults during the post-Variscan
Anti-Atlas evolution
The Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonics of the Anti-Atlas has long been
misunderstood or at least underestimated, probably due to the lack
of related deposits upon most of the chain (Section 2). The Anti-
Atlas was erroneously considered as totally outside the Alpine Atlas
system (Choubert and Marçais, 1952; Michard, 1976). Contrastingly
and mostly based on apatite fission-track (AFT) data, it is now
accepted that the Anti-Atlas underwent superimposed phases of
post-Variscan burial and exhumation (Missenard et al., 2006;
Malusà et al., 2007a; Ruiz et al., 2011; Oukassou et al., 2013). In
the following, we examine the role of the inherited basement faults
during three significant periods, i.e. the Triassic-Jurassic, the Creta-
ceous–Eocene and the Neogene to Present.
6.1. Triassic rifting and Jurassic emersion
The Triassic-Early Jurassic rifting of Pangea culminated with the
CAMP magmatic event at ca. 200 Ma (Sebai et al., 1991; Verati
et al., 2007). At that time, the Anti-Atlas area basically belongs to
the uplifted shoulder of the rift zone, which extended in the future
Atlantic margin and High Atlas basin. The shoulder erosion sourced
the redbeds of the Kenadza-Bechar Basin in the east (Fabre, 2005),
those of the High Atlas in the north (Beauchamp et al., 1996, 1999;
El Arabi et al., 2006; Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2009) and those of the
Atlantic margin onshore and offshore (Mustaphi et al., 1997; Hafid
et al., 2006).
12 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

Fig. 8. (a) Structural map of the Bas Draa area; (b) Geological cross-section showing the basement/cover relationships; (c) Cartoon of the creation of a listric normal fault
during the Late Ediacaran (left) subsequently totally reactivated during the Variscan compression (right).

However, the stability of the Anti-Atlas during the latest Triassic
times is a matter of debate. Late Triassic extension certainly
affected the Variscan Anti-Atlas belt, being recorded by the intru-
sion of several NE-trending dykes and associated sills of gabbro
and dolerite (Hailwood and Mitchell, 1971; Hollard, 1973a,b;
Sebai et al., 1991) (Fig. 10). Such large intrusions strongly suggest
that basaltic trapps covered the whole Anti-Atlas 200 Ma ago, asso-
ciated with some continental red beds as those observed on the
northern edge of the Siroua Plateau (Chevallier et al., 2001).
Besides of these dykes, normal faults (probably inherited from
Variscan ones) contributed to the lowering of the post-Variscan
peneplain at the northern border of the eroded belt (Robert-
Charrue and Burkhard, 2008).
The faulted Anti-Atlas remained or became again a subaerial,
eroded domain during the Jurassic, as shown by the elimination
of any Triassic basalts or sediments in most of the domain beneath
the unconformable Early Cretaceous continental deposits of the
hamadas (Zouhri et al., 2008). Apatite fission-track (AFT) studies
on samples from the Precambrian inliers yielded varied, but mostly
Jurassic-Cretaceous apparent ages (Fig. 10). They are presented at
the end of the section as they heavily depend on the Cretaceous–
Eocene evolution.
6.2. Cretaceous–Eocene burial
Continental red beds began to accumulate onto the eroded Anti-
Atlas fold belt possibly as early as the Barremian (like in the High
Atlas and Meseta domains) or at least during the lower Cenoma-
nian (fossiliferous beds of the ‘‘Continental intercalaire’’ at the
bottom of the Kem Kem and hamada plateaus; Zouhri et al.,
2008). Sedimentation went on in shallow marine conditions during
the Late Cretaceous (Cenomanian-Turonian carbonates, ‘‘Seno-
nian’’ = Coniacian-Maastrichtian gypsiferous marls) and the
Lower-Middle Eocene (Swezey, 2009). Reactivation of paleofaults
is likely during the Early and ‘‘Middle’’ Cretaceous, which corre-
sponds to the breakdown of Gondwana and early drifting of the
South Atlantic (Guiraud et al., 2005; Geraldes et al., 2013).
6.3. Oligocene to present
The Cretaceous–Eocene deposits of the Anti-Atlas and Saharan
hamadas are overlain by unconformable Oligocene (?)-Neogene
continental deposits that overlie directly the Anti-Atlas axis in
some areas (e.g. west of Ouarzazate or south-east of Erfoud).

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx 13

Fig. 9. (A) Southward view of the Assaragh fault showing the thrusting of the Ouarzazate Group and Lower Cambrian formations on the Iguerda Paleoproterozoic basement;
(B) Schematic diagrams of the Ediacaran listric normal fault (left) incompletely reactivated in compression (right).

Fig. 10. Digital Elevation Model of the Anti-Atlas with main Atlasic faults. Circled numbers: apatite fission-track apparent ages (after Oukassou et al., 2013) and Liassic and
Neogene magmatism. BD: Bas Draa; If: Ifni; Kr: Kerdous; Ir: Igherm; TA: Tagragra of Akka; TT: Tagragra of Tata; AM: Agadir Melloul; Ig: Iguerda; Ze: Zenaga; Sr: Sirwa; BA:
Bou Azzer; Sg: Saghro; Og: Ougnate. Insert: Location of the Anti-Atlas in a Digital Elevation Model of Morocco. Rose diagrams of Liassic dykes and Atlasic faults, left and right,
respectively.

This echoes the stratigraphic evolution of the Atlas System imme-
diately in the north (Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2009).
The Cretaceous tabular plateaus all around the belt yield evi-
dence of significant ‘‘Atlasic’’ deformations, mainly faults, but also
very open folds. A number of ENE-trending faults are observed
along the southern Sub-Atlas Zone (Souss and Ouarzazate Basins;
Fig. 10). They broadly parallel the SAF and correspond to inherited
basement faults as the SAF itself. To the south of the belt, the Tata
Fault is reported as a recently active fault with hundred meters of
normal throw (Choubert and Marçais, 1952).
In the western Anti-Atlas, N-striking faults control the present
day topography of the area. Isolated Cretaceous outcrops preserved
south and north of Tiznit (Waters et al., 2001) unravel the large
throw (>400 m) of these normal faults, which likely correspond
to the negative inversion of the Variscan faults beneath the Lakhs-
sas Plateau. Likewise, the northern part of the Siroua Plateau is
affected by a set of N-striking faults that bound an equal number
of Cretaceous mini-grabens. This setting is consistent with the
N–S directed push of the Marrakech High Atlas against the Siroua
Plateau.

Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
14 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
In the eastern Anti-Atlas, post-Eocene, ENE-striking faults have
been mapped along the northern Saghro and Ougnat inliers.
Likewise, north of Erfoud, very open E-trending folds affect the
Cenomanian-Turonian slab of the Meski Hamada that detached
on the reddish Cenomanian clays (Saddiqi et al., 2011). Further in
the south-east, the J. Zorg fault close to Taouz is oriented N140E,
parallel to the Ougarta Belt (Fig. 10); its normal throw exceed
the thickness of the neighbouring Cretaceous plateau (ca. 200 m-
thick). The latter is crosscut by several ENE-striking faults, parallel
to the Oumjerane-Taouz basement fault.
Globally, the Cretaceous-Cenozoic cover of the Anti-Atlas dips
north and south along the northern and southern borders of the
mountain belt, respectively. Thus, the belt looks like a lithosphere-
scale fold (‘‘pli de fond’’) coeval with the neighbouring High Atlas
and related to the Alpine collision (Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2000,
2009). However, the relatively high relief of both the High Atlas and
Anti-Atlas also relies on a hot mantle anomaly extending obliquely
from the Ifni-Siroua area to the Middle Atlas and eastern Rif region
(Missenard et al., 2006; Fullea et al., 2010 and references therein).
Numerous neotectonic records such as faulted Holocene spring
tuffs (Boudad et al., 2003; Weisrock et al., 2006) occur in the Anti-
Atlas. Finally, seismicity is relatively important and reveals pres-
ent-day fault reactivation events. The Rissani earthquake (1992)
occurred in the core of the eastern Anti-Atlas (Hahou et al., 2003;
Bensaid et al., 2009). Its focal mechanism have been ascribed to
dextral displacements along E–W directed strike-slip faults, paral-
lel to the many Paleozoic faults of the area (e.g. Erfoud fault).
6.4. Low-temperature geochronology
Numerous apatite fission-track (AFT) and zircon U-Th/He (ZHe)
studies helped reconstructing the vertical movements of the Anti-
Atlas belt during the post-Variscan times. The apparent AFT ages
(Fig. 10) span between 200–130 Ma in the western and central
Anti-Atlas (Ruiz et al., 2011; Oukassou et al., 2013), except in the
Siroua where they range from 87 Ma to 27 Ma (Missenard et al.,
2008). The apparent ages from the eastern Anti-Atlas are only
slightly different and span between 284 and 139 Ma (Malusà
et al., 2007a), leaving aside the Tineghir thrust zone where samples
yielded apparent ages between 88–95 Ma.
Track-length modelling was performed in most areas except the
Siroua Plateau. The resulting T–t models (Fig. 11) show that the
Anti-Atlas cooled progressively from ca. 300 Ma (Variscan orogeny)
to ca. 110 Ma, and then suffered slight heating in relation with the
Cretaceous–Eocene sedimentation before being definitely exhumed
during the last 40 Ma. AFT modelling from the central Anti-Atlas
samples suggests burial under some 1500 m of Cretaceous-Ceno-
zoic sediments (Oukassou et al., 2013). The coeval burial was likely
deeper in the Siroua domain. In the eastern Anti-Atlas, Malusà et al.
(2007a) point to fast exhumation during the Neogene and unravel
contrasting cooling paths across ENE-striking basement faults.
These faults correspond to inherited Ediacaran faults (Section 3).
As for the ZHe ages, they were determined by Ruiz et al. (2011)
from the Ighrem basement inlier (Fig. 7). They span between
193 ± 15 and 248 ± 20 Ma, thus indicating that the Igherm inlier
and most of the western-central Anti-Atlas basement were at tem-
peratures between 200 °C and 160 °C, implying a depth of 9–7 km,
until the Permian–Triassic.
7. Discussion and conclusion
7.1. Upper Ediacaran
In Section 3, we illustrated the importance of the extensional
faulting that affected the Anti-Atlas area during the late Ediacaran.
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
Volcanic and volcano-clastic sequences of the Ouarzazate Group
display dramatic thickness changes across basement faults. These
abrupt thickness changes suggest the activity of extensional nor-
mal faults that dissected the eroded Pan-African Belt into horsts
and grabens. The bounding faults frequently correspond to reacti-
vated Pan-African or even Eburnean faults.
The geometry and kinematics of the upper Ediacaran faults vary
from west to east. In the western Anti-Atlas, in response to E–W to
NW–SE pure extension, N–S to NE–SW fault system control a suc-
cession of basins filled with synrift deposits, separated by uplifted
basement blocks that correspond broadly to the present-day
inliers. Additionally, the preservation of Ouarzazate Group deposits
mainly on the northern side of many inliers (Kerdous, Bas Draa,. . .)
is in favour of a coeval northward tilting of these Precambrian
blocks. In the central Anti-Atlas, upper Ediacaran faults correspond
to the reactivation of the pre-existing Anti-Atlas Major Fault sys-
tem. The Ouarzazate Group deposits in the Bou Azzer inlier are
controlled by N 70° sinistral faults en echelon between sinistral
N 110° trending faults implying a transtensive opening regime.
This configuration evolves to an E–W directed fault system in the
Siroua windows, likely related to N–S crustal extension. The same
kinematic regime is reported along the Saghro and Ougnat massif
were the Ouarzazate Group deposit are controlled by sinistral N
30° faults, bounded by regional left-lateral N 70° faults.
In this extensional setting, the geodynamic interpretation and
significance of the Ouarzazate Group accumulation is still open
to discussion (Boyer et al., 1978; Youbi, 1998; Doblas et al.,
2002; Thomas et al., 2002). For instance, the thick conglomerate
units have been interpreted either as late-orogenic molasse depos-
its (Leblanc, 1975) or as post-orogenic deposits (Piqué et al., 1999;
Soulaimani et al., 2003). Likewise, huge blocks or klippes of quartz-
ite reaching locally several hundred meters in size are incorporated
in some places within the Ouarzazate Group conglomerates close
to the lower Neoproterozoic quartzite massifs. This is observed at
the eastern border of the Aït Abdellah inlier (Soulaimani et al.,
2001) and at the Aït Makhlouf locality in the western part of
Igherm inlier (Oudra et al., 2006) and was interpreted as the result
of tectonic fragmentation along Ediacaran paleofaults. However, in
the quoted cases, the possibility that the klippes derive from tec-
tonic fragmentation during the Variscan reactivation of the paleo-
fault cannot be discarded at the moment.
Simultaneously, the associated magmas show an important
chemical variation from calc-alkaline arc-related to alkaline mag-
mas in the Lower Cambrian with a transition of continental tholei-
itic volcanism preceding the Cambrian transgression. What is
certain is that these magmas occur in an apparent continuous
extensional context, from post-orogenic collapse to continental rif-
ting at the end of the Pan-African cycle.
7.2. Paleozoic
There is no major geodynamic break between the accumulation
of the Ouarzazate Group continental formations and that of the ear-
liest marine sediments. The latter began as early as the latest Ediac-
aran and continued during the Early Cambrian, the stratigraphic
boundary being located somewhere within the Adoudounian beds
(Latham and Riding, 1990; Maloof et al., 2005). As illustrated above,
extensional tectonics went on during the Early Cambrian. A late
Ediacaran compressional event has been suggested in the central
and eastern Anti-Atlas (Pouclet et al., 2007), but this statement is
mostly based on an erroneous attribution of the Trifya basin of
the Bou Azzer inlier (lower Ediacaran; Leblanc, 1975; Hefferan
et al., 1992) to the Ouarzazate Group (Upper Ediacaran).
As a whole, the Cambrian rifting in the Anti-Atlas was more
moderated than that of the late Ediacaran, being concentrated in
the western and central parts of the domain, and more in the north,
 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
Fig. 11. AFT modelling in western and central Anti-Atlas. Ifni and Kerdous after Ruiz et al., 2011. Bou Azzer after Oukassou et al., 2013. APAZ: Apatite partial annealing zone.
Two constraints have been imposed: black boxes: T > 220 °C at ca. 320 Ma (zircon fission-track ages); T < 40 °C at ca. 120 Ma (regional unconformity of Early Cretaceous
continental deposits).
i.e. in the Atlas and Meseta domains. In the Anti-Atlas, rifting
aborted before the widespread sandy sedimentation of the Asrir
Fm (‘‘Grès terminaux’’) attributed to the base of Middle Cambrian
(Geyer and Landing, 1995, 2004). Thinning of the Lower Cambrian
deposits in the east of the Anti-Atlas shows that this area repre-
sents an uplifted shoulder respective to the north-westerly Early
Cambrian rifted domain. The Middle Cambrian marine sedimenta-
tion is dominated by fairly continuous south-derived detrital input
with minor disconformities. The frequent Late Cambrian gap has
been tentatively correlated with eustatism or with epeirogenetic
uplift (Destombes et al., 1985). Considering the rifting that affected
the north of Gondwana during the Cambrian-Early Ordovician
(Stampfli and Borel, 2002), the Furongian hiatus can be interpreted
in terms of rift shoulder position of the Anti-Atlas south-east of the
Cambrian rift (Burkhard et al., 2006).
The Ordovician deposits show a maximum of subsidence in the
western and central Anti-Atlas in relation with E–W to NW–SE
basement fault; whereas its eastern part remains poorly subsident.
Faulting again occurred contemporaneously with the development
of the Hirnantian inlandsis. However, this period of moderated
fault activity stopped and the Saharan platform entered a period
of quiescent subsidence during most of the Silurian and Lower
Devonian.
During the Middle–Late Devonian, an important dislocation of
the Saharan platform occurred, mainly in the eastern Anti-Atlas
where many Precambrian faults were remobilized in response to
a multidirectional extension. As suggested by Frizon de Lamotte
et al. (2013), this could be the consequence of the Laurussia plate
incipient subduction beneath Gondwana along the Variscan Euro-
pean–West African belt. The same basement faults controlled the
Carboniferous sedimentation, being recorded by the olistostromes
along the northern flank of the Saghro massif, the future Variscan
border between the Anti-Atlas and the Meseta.
The late Early Carboniferous Variscan collision determined the
partial or complete inversion of the previous normal faults of the
Anti-Atlas basement, whereas the Palaeozoic sediments were
involved in more or less tight folding. Large blocks of the Protero-
zoic basement were uplifted, forming the nuclei of regional
anticlinoria. Many evidences for the ancestry of most bounding-
faults of the Anti-Atlas inliers and their Variscan reactivation have
been reported above. The basement/cover relationships show that
pre-existing late Ediacaran–Cambrian rift-related faults were
inverted during the Variscan collision.
In the westernmost part of the Anti-Atlas, approaching the front
of the Mauritanide orogen where a maximum shortening and
strong detachment tectonics occurred, basement faults show clear
reverse throw and the previous extensional geometry is entirely
Please cite this article in press as: Soulaimani, A., et al. Late Ediacaran–Cambrian structures and their reactivation during the Variscan and Alpine cycles in
the Anti-Atlas (Morocco). J. Afr. Earth Sci. (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2014.04.025
15
removed. Conversely, many basement faults around the central
Anti-Atlas inliers still preserve an extensional throw, due to a les-
ser inversion. Apart from the exposed basement faults, many oth-
ers are buried beneath the thick Paleozoic cover. The reactivation
of these hidden basement faults is revealed by the propagation of
secondary faults cutting through the Paleozoic series. Some of
them accommodate the Variscan shortening by strike-slip move-
ment and are expressed by en echelon folds pattern in the cover.
7.3. Mesozoic-Cenozoic
During the post-Variscan evolution of the Anti-Atlas, part of the
inherited basement faults were reactivated again. The Mesozoic-
Cenozoic vertical movements of the Anti-Atlas have been generally
overlooked because of the erosion of the coeval deposits from most
of the belt. The recent studies based on apatite fission-track ther-
mochronology revealed a continuous exhumation of the basement
from Permian to Early Cretaceous. The lack of Triassic-Early Jurassic
heating/burial event contrasts with what occurs in the Meseta
domain (Ghorbal et al., 2008; Saddiqi et al., 2009). This suggests
that the Anti-Atlas domain was the uplifted shoulder of the Atlan-
tic-Atlas rift zone at that time. The protracted uplift that occurred
afterwards according to AFT modelling (Fig. 11) could be the result
of the large asthenosphere uplift suggested by the general emersion
of the Atlas and Meseta domains during the Middle–Late Jurassic
and part of Early Cretaceous (Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2009).
The Jurassic-Cretaceous cooling recorded by the AFT modelling
experiments is followed by a moderate Cretaceous–Eocene heat-
ing, which can be interpreted as a shallow sedimentary burial,
much more generalized than shown by the sedimentary remnants.
The Cretaceous subsidence was seemingly triggered by the break-
down of Gondwana and spreading of the South Atlantic (Guiraud
et al., 2005; Geraldes et al., 2013) and then the Upper Creta-
ceous–Eocene transgression onto the continental lowlands was
permitted by the global high stand (Swezey, 2009).
Finally, during the Late Eocene–Neogene Africa–Europe colli-
sion, the E-striking fracture zones as well as some NW-striking
ones were reactivated, not only within the uplifted and eroded
mountain range, but also in the surrounding hamada plateaus.
Hence, the Anti-Atlas appears as the attenuated forebelt of the
High Atlas mountain range at the fringe of the West African Craton.
Nevertheless, the present-day topography of the Anti-Atlas with
relatively high relief cannot be only ascribed to the Alpine shorten-
ing. Part of it results of a hot mantle anomaly extending obliquely
from the Ifni-Siroua area to the Middle Atlas and eastern Rif region,
also recorded by the Neogene alkaline volcanism of the Siroua and
Saghro regions.
16 A. Soulaimani et al. / Journal of African Earth Sciences xxx (2014) xxx–xxx
To sum up, in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, the basement fault sys-
tem that operated during the collapse of the Pan-African Belt and
the subsequent Cambrian rifting plaid again a major role as normal
faults during the Paleozoic sedimentation before being inverted
during the Variscan orogeny. During the Alpine cycle, the eroded
Anti-Atlas Variscan belt, mostly suffered vertical movements,
i.e. a protracted Triassic-Jurassic uplift followed by a shallow
Cretaceous–Eocene subsidence, but far-field effects of the Late
Eocene–Neogene Rif–Atlas orogeny can be also recognized. The
inherited faults were again reactivated then, and indeed they still
constitute zones of crustal weakness and seismicity today.
Acknowledgments
This research was completed at GEOHYD Laboratory of the Cadi
Ayyad University of Marrakech. We acknowledge thoughtful
comments by D. Frizon de Lamotte and anonymous reviewer and
special volume editor, which greatly helped in improving the final
version of this manuscript.
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