{"title":"The major Adassil-Medinet fault; a complex evolution of high angle transpressive Variscan shear zones (Western High Atlas, Morocco)","authors":"R. Dias , M. Hadani , M.R. Azevedo , N. Ait Ayad","doi":"10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2024.105332","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The Western High Atlas is one of the most important sectors of the Variscan foldbelt in Morocco and also of its Alpine intracontinental orogen. Its tectonic evolution is thus essential for the understanding, not only of the Moroccan geology, but also of the interaction between successive orogenic cycles which is one of the focus of this article. Furthermore, as the Moroccan Variscides must be seen in the context of the complex dextral collision between Laurasia and Gondwana, this is also a contribution to the comprehension of the complexity of transpressive regimes and strain partitioning processes.</p><p>New data show that WNW-ESE sinistral Variscan shear zones (mainly the Addouz-Adassil-Anamrou one - AAAsz), although secondary to the main orogenic scale ENE-WSW dextral shear zones, must be considered in order to understand the Late Paleozoic deformation and its Alpine reactivation. In fact, the concentration of the last stages of the Variscan ductile deformation in the steep and irregular AAAsz played an important role in the initiation and localisation of the minor magmatic events and influenced the geometry and kinematics of the Late Variscan WNW-ESE sinistral shear zones. Furthermore, during the Alpine inversion, the orientation of the AAAsz and related major anisotropies tend to be reactivated, with a major reverse component, giving rise to the irregular Adassil-Medinet fault zone, one of the most important structures of the Western High Atlas.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":14874,"journal":{"name":"Journal of African Earth Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.2000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X24001651/pdfft?md5=c264205b37e8857a5a2207aff4f763a9&pid=1-s2.0-S1464343X24001651-main.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of African Earth Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1464343X24001651","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"GEOSCIENCES, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The Western High Atlas is one of the most important sectors of the Variscan foldbelt in Morocco and also of its Alpine intracontinental orogen. Its tectonic evolution is thus essential for the understanding, not only of the Moroccan geology, but also of the interaction between successive orogenic cycles which is one of the focus of this article. Furthermore, as the Moroccan Variscides must be seen in the context of the complex dextral collision between Laurasia and Gondwana, this is also a contribution to the comprehension of the complexity of transpressive regimes and strain partitioning processes.
New data show that WNW-ESE sinistral Variscan shear zones (mainly the Addouz-Adassil-Anamrou one - AAAsz), although secondary to the main orogenic scale ENE-WSW dextral shear zones, must be considered in order to understand the Late Paleozoic deformation and its Alpine reactivation. In fact, the concentration of the last stages of the Variscan ductile deformation in the steep and irregular AAAsz played an important role in the initiation and localisation of the minor magmatic events and influenced the geometry and kinematics of the Late Variscan WNW-ESE sinistral shear zones. Furthermore, during the Alpine inversion, the orientation of the AAAsz and related major anisotropies tend to be reactivated, with a major reverse component, giving rise to the irregular Adassil-Medinet fault zone, one of the most important structures of the Western High Atlas.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of African Earth Sciences sees itself as the prime geological journal for all aspects of the Earth Sciences about the African plate. Papers dealing with peripheral areas are welcome if they demonstrate a tight link with Africa.
The Journal publishes high quality, peer-reviewed scientific papers. It is devoted primarily to research papers but short communications relating to new developments of broad interest, reviews and book reviews will also be considered. Papers must have international appeal and should present work of more regional than local significance and dealing with well identified and justified scientific questions. Specialised technical papers, analytical or exploration reports must be avoided. Papers on applied geology should preferably be linked to such core disciplines and must be addressed to a more general geoscientific audience.