Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

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Tectonophysics
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / t e c t o

Apatite ssion-track analyses on basement granites from south-western Meseta,

Morocco: Paleogeographic implications and interpretation of AFT age discrepancies
O. Saddiqi a,, F.-Z. El Haimer a, A. Michard b, J. Barbarand c, G.M.H. Ruiz d, E.M. Mansour a,
P. Leturmy e, D. Frizon de Lamotte e
a

Laboratoire Gosciences, Facult des Sciences, Universit Hassan II An Chock, BP. 5366 Marif, Casablanca, Maroc, Morocco
10 rue des Jeneurs, 75002 Paris, France
Univ Paris Sud, UMR CNRS 8148 IDES, Btiment 504, Orsay cedex, F-91405, France
d
Institut de Gologie, Universit de Neuchtel, 11 rue Emile-Argand, 2009 Neuchtel, Suisse, France
e
Dpartement des Sciences de la Terre et de l'Environnement (CNRS, UMR 7072), Universit de Cergy-Pontoise, 5 mail Gay Lussac, Neuville/Oise 95 031 Cergy-Pontoise cedex, France
b
c

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 11 April 2008
Received in revised form 15 December 2008
Accepted 2 January 2009
Available online 14 January 2009
Keywords:
Apatite ssion-tracks
Thermochronology
Vertical movements
Morocco
Meseta
Atlas

a b s t r a c t
This work is based on apatite ssion-track analysis of samples (mostly granites) from the basement of the
CretaceousTertiary Phosphate and Ganntour Plateaus, exposed in the Jebilet and Rehamna massifs (Western
Meseta, Morocco). This basement belongs to the CarboniferousEarly Permian Variscan Belt, and the earlier
marine onlap is Late Triassic in age. However, the AFT ages are post-Triassic and different in the Jebilet (186
203 Ma) and Rehamna (148153 Ma). Track length modelling support the occurrence of moderate heating
events during the Jurassic and the Eocene, respectively, with cooling during the Permian and Cretaceous
intervals. These results are partly accounted for by considering a moderate subsidence during the Late Triassic
Liassic, which is a noticeable change in the regional paleogeographic concept of West Moroccan Arch.
However, the discrepancies between the AFT results from the studied massifs make necessary to explore
further explanation. We interpret the observed discrepancies by the difference in age and depth of
crystallization of the sampled granites in the Variscan Orogen, i.e. 330 Ma, 56 km in the Jebilet versus ~ 300 Ma,
810 km in the Rehamna. The importance of the Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous uplift and erosion of the entire
Meseta and that of its Late Eocene burial are emphasized.
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Thermochronology on apatite have been used recently in Morocco
to discuss the vertical movements of the basement of the High Atlas
(Barbero et al., 2007) and Anti-Atlas mountain belts (Malus et al.,
2007). In this work, we present an apatite ssion track (AFT) study in
a domain that is dened, according to the classical geological criteria
(Choubert and Faure-Muret, 1962) as a tabular domain, namely the
Moroccan (or Western) Meseta. In fact, this domain forms a relatively
stable area bounded by Cenozoic mountain belts to the south, east and
north (the High Atlas, Middle Atlas, and Rif belt, respectively), and by
the Atlantic Ocean to the west (Fig. 1a). The Western Meseta region
includes Paleozoic massifs characterized by Variscan deformation and
metamorphism, varied granite intrusions, and late orogenic (Early
Permian) continental basins. The Paleozoic basement is directly
overlain either by TriassicLiassic series (Tabular Middle Atlas) or by
CretaceousTertiary plateaus (Plateau des Phosphates and Ganntour), and surrounded by Neogene basins (Bahira-Tadla, Haouz,
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: omarsaddiqi@yahoo.fr (O. Saddiqi).
0040-1951/$ see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2009.01.007

Doukkala, External Rif foredeep). The CretaceousTertiary plateaus

have been intensely studied for phosphate exploitation (three
quarters of the phosphate reserves of the world), oil and deep water
resources.
Ultimately, Ghorbal et al. (2008) have presented AFT data from the
northern (Zaer) and central (Rehamna) parts of Western Meseta,
respectively. Our independent study is mainly based on sampling in
the southernmost Meseta massif, i.e. the Jebilet Massif, and on
additional sampling in the Rehamna Massif. The Jebilet Massif
culminates at 1050 m above sea level (a.s.l.), being bounded to the
north by a major Neogene (Atlasic) reverse fault (Had, 2006; Had
et al., 2006; Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2008). The Rehamna Massif,
which culminates at ca. 600 m a.s.l., belongs to the most stable part
of the Meseta, barely affected by the Atlas orogeny.
The striking hiatus of TriassicLiassic deposits over most of
Western Meseta is classically interpreted as related to the occurrence,
during the TriassicLiassic, of an emergent land between the Atlantic
margin and the Atlas basins. Choubert and Faure-Muret (196062)
coined the name of Terre des Almohades for this allegedly emergent
domain, which is currently referred to as the West Moroccan Arch
(WMA; Had, 2006; El Arabi, 2007). Our AFT data allow us to discuss

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O. Saddiqi et al. / Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

Fig. 1. Location maps. (a) Structural provinces of northern Morocco. PR: Prerif Ridges; SB: Selloum Basin; TMA: Tabular Middle Atlas. (b) Schematic map of the studied basement
massifs and surrounding areas, after Hollard et al. (1985) and Hoepffner et al. (2006). Dashed lines (DK 25, etc.): Seismic proles (Had, 2006; Had et al., 2008); Kh: Khouribga;
WMSZ: Western Meseta Shear Zone, Y: Youssoua.

this classical description, and to suggest that, in fact, the WMA

subsided before being eroded during the Late JurassicEarly
Cretaceous.
On the other hand, we recognized puzzling discrepancies between
the AFT ages from two different groups of granite intrusions,

belonging to the Jebilet and Rehamna massifs, respectively. Discussing

these discrepancies represents one of the most signicant topics of the
present study. Our study points to the importance of considering not
only the evolution of the subsidence/uplift history of a tabular area,
but also the structure and evolution of its basement, as the depth and

Fig. 2. (a) Topographic model of the Moroccan Meseta (GETOPO data) and surrounding areas, with location of the studied granites. Bold line: approximate trace of cross-section (b).
Asterisk: location of the photos Fig. 5. (b) Geological cross-section of the Moroccan Meseta south of the Central Massif, located on (a) and more exactly in Fig. 1b. Notice the strong vertical
exaggeration. The shape of the granite intrusions is diagrammatic.

O. Saddiqi et al. / Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

31

Fig. 3. Sampling maps and AFT results (mean ages). (a) Central Jebilet; geologic contours after Huvelin (1977). (b) Central Rehamna; geologic contours after Michard (1982). See Fig.
1b for location.

Atlantic (Favre et al., 1991; Medina, 1995; Had, 2006) and Atlas
(Tethyan) Gulf (Zizi, 2002; El Arabi et al., 2006a,b), respectively. Rifting
occurred during the Late PermianLate Triassic, ending temporarily at
200 Ma with the emplacement of the basalts of the Central Atlantic
Magmatic Province (CAMP: Knight et al., 2004; Verati et al., 2007).
During the Liassicearly Dogger, rifting resumed in the Middle Atlas
(Charrire, 1990) and High Atlas Basins (Studer, 1987; Warme, 1988),
resulting in the accumulation of 3 to 8 km-thick deposits, respectively.
In contrast, the Western Meseta exhibits large exposure of basement
units, from north to south, the Central Massif and Coastal Meseta,
the Rehamna and the Jebilet (Fig. 1b). Triassic and Liassic cover
sequences are preserved only at the fringe of Western Meseta, either
exposed as outcrops to the northeast and north (e.g. Tabular Middle
Atlas, Prerif Ridges; Fig. 1a; Hollard et al., 1985) or documented in
the subsurface to the southeast (Tadla, Bahira), southwest (Essaouira

age of emplacement of a given basement granite control its distance to

surface after a given erosional event.
2. Geological setting
The basement of the Western (Moroccan) Meseta belongs to the
southern branch of the Variscan Orogen, within which a number of
granite stocks emplaced during the Visean to Early Permian interval
(Hoepffner et al., 2006; Michard et al., 2008). In particular, the Jebilet
granites are dated at 330 Ma (UPb zircon; Essai et al., 2003;
Boummane and Olivier, 2007), and those of the Rehamna at ~300 Ma
(Baudin et al., 2003). The belt collapsed and was eroded rst during
the Late CarboniferousEarly Permian (Hmich et al., 2006; Saber et al.,
2007). Then, the rifting associated with the Pangaea break-down
occurred on both sides of the future Western Meseta, i.e. in the Central
Table 1
Apatite ssion-track analyses of Jebilet and Rehamna samples.
Sample

Lithology

Ns
5

10 t/cm

Ni
6

10 t/cm

Nd
5

10 t/cm

P (2)

FT age

Ma 1

Dpar

m 1SD

Jebilet massif
JGO1
Granodiorite
JOG3
Granodiorite
JGO4
Granodiorite
JTB2
Granophyre
JTB3
Granophyre
JTB4
Granophyre

26
29
26
29
24
26

7.76
6.21
5.55
6.52
1.81
2.05

5496
4029
4881
4229
2482
2702

3.76
2.91
2.72
3.28
8.47
9.42

2224
1891
2394
2126
1163
1243

5.41
5.41
5.41
5.41
5.41
5.41

16,464
16,464
16,464
16,464
16,464
16,464

99.9
99.1
100
99.3
100
99.8

193 5
199 6
190 5
186 5
199 7
203 7

111

100
80

11.90 2.12

11.07 2.27
11.37 2.45

1.48 0.12
1.43 0.19
1.28 0.12
1.32 0.10
1.31 0.10
1.27 0.13

Rehamna massif
RH1
Schist
RH4B
Schist
RH8
Leucogranite
RH9A
Leucogranite

11
10
15
15

1.90
0.19
3.88
4.00

633
168
649
997

1.80
0.18
3.62
3.55

598
154
605
885

8.52
8.52
8.52
8.52

17,645
17,645
17,645
17,645

99.9
99.8
99.6
100

148 9
153 18
150 9
153 8

100
100

12.43 1.96
11.91 1.94

1.75 0.14
1.83 0.15
1.30 0.09
1.49 0.13

See Fig. 3 for sample location.

n, Ns and Ni, respectively number of crystals dated, total number of spontaneous and induced tracks counted; s and i, respectively spontaneous and induced track density in apatite grains
and their detectors (JGO-JTB: kapton; RH: muscovite); d, means induced track density in the detectors associated to NIST neutron glass monitors 962 (JGO-JTB) and CN5 (RH). P(2) is the
probability of obtaining a 2 value for n-1 degrees of freedom. As all samples passed the test at a 95% condence level with P(2) N 5%, ages were calculated using pooled statistics (Green,
1981). Zeta value of F.Z. El Haimer, analyst, 350 17 (JGO-JTB) and O. Saddiqi, analyst, 333 8 (RH) (1). Conned tracks: L and l s.d. are respectively the mean value and standard deviation, (N) is
the number of tracks measured.

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O. Saddiqi et al. / Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

Fig. 4. Modelling experiments (AFTSolve) for the Central Jebilet granite (a, b) and Central Rehamna granite and schists samples (c, d).

Basin; Had, 2006) and west (Doukkala, Abda; Echarfaoui et al.,

2002a,b). Elsewhere, the Western Meseta basement is onlapped by
younger deposits, Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous in the Mouissat hills
west of the Jebilet (Hollard et al., 1985), and Cretaceous (mainly postAptian) in the Rehamna and southern Central Massif (Gigout, 1954;
Bolleli et al., 1959; Baudin et al., 2003).
In addition to the map in Fig. 1b, these geological constraints are
summarized in the cross-section in Fig. 2. The latter gure also makes clear
that the southernmost part of the Meseta has been involved in the Atlas
shortening, with the Jebilet Massif thrust over the Bahira TriassicNeogene
deposits through a southward-dipping reverse fault. In contrast, further to
the north, the Meseta basement and overlying CretaceousEocene tabular
sequence are only affected by much weaker deformation.

schists from the Central Rehamna. All samples were collected at 500
600 m of elevation.
Apatite grains were separated using conventional heavy liquids/
magnetic separation procedures. Samples were dated with the
external detector technique using kapton foils (Jebilet samples) or
muscovite (Rehamna samples). Tracks were etched in apatite with
1 M HNO3 solution at 20 C for 45 s, in kapton using a boiling solution
of potassium hypochlorite for 8 min, and in muscovite in 40% HF for
45 min. For each sample, a single age population is observed. Dpar has
been measured for each sample (ve measurements per grain).
Horizontal conned track length (TINTS) measurements have been
performed on ve samples using a digitising tablet (Table 1).
4. Results

3. Sampling and experimental procedure

Eight samples out of ten (Fig. 3; Table 1) have been collected from
granites, among which three from the east Central Jebilet (Ouled
Ouaslam granite laccolith; Boummane and Olivier, 2007), three from
the west Central Jebilet (Tabouchent granophyric granite; Huvelin,
1977; Essai et al., 2001, 2003), and two from the Central Rehamna
(Ras-El-Abiod leucogranite; Hoepffner et al., 1982; Baudin et al.,
2003). Additionally, two samples were collected in the Paleozoic

Our AFT analyses on the Jebilet granites show AFT ages grouped
between 202.6 7.1 and 185.7 5.1 Ma (Table 1). The Mean Track
Length (MTL) varies from 11.90 to 11.07 m with standard deviations in
the range 2.42.1 m. These results are consistent with those obtained
by Mansour (1991) using the population method, with AFT ages
ranging from 218 23 Ma to 170 15 Ma (mean age 186 Ma).
In the Rehamna samples the AFT ages of the granite and countryrock schists are grouped between 148.4 9.3 and 157.8 8.4 Ma

Fig. 5. The Cretaceous transgression at the northern border of the Rehamna massif, as seen in the Oum-er-Rbia valley (see Fig. 2a for location). (a) Overview of the Lower Cretaceous
(LC) CenomanianTuronian (CT) escarpment (about 100 m high) above the Paleozoic basement (Cb: Middle Cambrian). (b) The major unconformity at the bottom of the Lower
Cretaceous red beds is marked by coarse conglomerates with poorly sorted, barely rounded pebbles of Ordovician quartzites likely sourced in the Central Rehamna (3 m high
roadcut). S1: Variscan cleavage. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this gure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

O. Saddiqi et al. / Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

33

recorded in the adjoining Atlas Basins, Eastern Meseta Platform

and Prerif domain (Charrire, 1990; Zizi, 2002).
(3) A renewed exhumation bringing the Rehamna granites and
schists as well as the Jebilet granite up to the surface before the
transgression of the CenomanianTuronian, and probably as
early as the BarremianAptian, i.e. at 120100 Ma (Gigout,
1954; Bolleli et al., 1959; Baudin et al., 2003; Frizon de Lamotte
et al., 2008).

Fig. 6. Estimated PT conditions of crystallization of the Jebilet and Rehamna schists and
granites plotted on the petrogenetic grid, based on the mineral associations described by
Essai et al. (2001) and Hoepffner et al. (1982), respectively. Dashed: high-temperature
PTt paths of the studied samples. Horizontally ruled: andalusitesillimanite transition
(Pattison, 1992). Vertically ruled: cordieritegarnet transition (Holdaway and Lee
(1977). Staurolitecordierite experimental curve after Richardson (1968). Peraluminous
granite melt after Willye (1977). And: andalusite; As: aluminium silicate; Chl: chlorite;
Cld: chloritoid; Crd: cordierite; FeCtd: iron-rich chloritoid; Grt: garnet; Kfs: K-felspar;
Ky: kyanite; Ms: muscovite; Qtz: quartz; Sil: sillimanite; St: staurolite.

A moderate burial during the Late CretaceousEocene until 35

40 Ma, which corresponds to the last marine sedimentation in the
Atlantic gulf where the phosphate series deposited over the Meseta
and Atlas domains (Boujo, 1976; Charrire, 1990; Herbig and Trappe,
1994; Zouhri et al., 2008).
The Tt paths show two humps of the acceptable t domain,
whatever the sampled granite will be, whereas good ts correspond to
slightly higher T in the Rehamna with respect to the Jebilet. The
thermal amplitude dened by the good t is small, as maximum
temperature remains always within the APAZ domain, with T b 100 C
during the earliest heating episode (at 180170 Ma), and T b 80 C
during the latest (around 40 Ma).
5. Discussion
5.1. Regional implications

(Table 1), which is identical to the ages obtained by Ghorbal et al.

(2008) within the error bar. The MTL in the granite samples are in the
range 12.4311.91 m (less by ~ 1 m than the MTL given by Ghorbal
et al.) with standard deviation 1.961.94 m. Dpar values are
homogeneous within samples and are between 1.27 and 1.83. There
is no signicant variation between the Dpar values for the two studied
massifs.
Data have been modelled using the Ketcham et al. (1999)
annealing model and AFTSolve (Ketcham, 2005). Geological constrains used in this modelling are:
(1) The presence of both massifs close to the temperature of total
annealing at 280 Ma as i) the studied granites are dated at
330 Ma in the Jebilet (Essai et al., 2003; Boummane and
Olivier, 2007) and ~300 Ma in the Rehamna (Baudin et al.,
2003) and ii) the lack of granite pebbles in the Autunian
deposits occurring at the rim of both massifs (Fig. 1b) testies
that the granites were still below the surface at 280 Ma. Then
280 Ma represents a reasonable proxy for the initiation of the
low temperature cooling history.
(2) The presence of the samples at lower temperature during
Triassic times as Upper Triassic deposits are recovered on top of
the Ouled Ouaslam granite and to the West of the Jebilet
(Huvelin, 1977; Hollard et al., 1985), in the Bahira boreholes
north of the Jebilet Fault, and in the outcrops west and north of
the Rehamna Massif (Figs. 1b and 2b).
(3) The presence of the samples close to the surface at the end of
the Lower Cretaceous prior to the overall Cenomanian
Turonian transgression which extends across North Africa
(Guiraud et al., 2005; Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2008).
Results of the modelling show (Fig. 4):
(1) A rapid exhumation during Permian times which brings the
samples towards the surface. This exhumation is coeval with
the collapse and erosion of the Variscan chain. Distance to the
surface appears however different for the two massifs: the
Jebilet granite was at least partly at the surface (cf. onlap of
Triassic sediments) whereas the Rehamna massif was still at
depth.
(2) A phase of heating until the ToarcianBajocian (180170 Ma).
This episode is coeval with the accumulation of sediments

The Moroccan Meseta is currently regarded as a former, Triassic

Liassic subaerial land, raised between the Atlantic and Atlas rift basins:
this is the classical Terre des Almohades (Choubert and Faure-Muret,
1962), now referred to as the West Moroccan Arch (WMA: Had,
2006; El Arabi, 2007). Contrastingly, we might infer from the heating
which affected the Jebilet and Rehamna granites up to 80 b T b 100 C
(Fig. 4) before their Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous cooling that the
southern Meseta basement subsided signicantly during the Triassic
Middle Jurassic, a conclusion also reached independently by Ghorbal
et al. (2008). In the case of the Jebilet granites, which were cropping
out at 260250 Ma (see above), heating would have attained 60
80 C. With a conservative geothermal gradient of 30 C/km, this
would correspond to 22.4 km-thick sedimentary burial at 180
170 Ma, disregarding the shape of the geotherm close to the surface
(Dempster and Persano, 2006). However, the geotherm was likely
steeper during the 200 Ma185 Ma interval, due to the huge CAMP
magmatism (Knight et al., 2004; Verati et al., 2007). In particular, the
widespread barite veins of western Jebilet yield evidence of pervasive
hydrothermal activity during the TriassicMiddle Jurassic Atlantic
opening (Valenza et al., 2000). Likewise, based on KAr analysis of the
b0.20.4 m micas in the Cambrian metapelites and Triassic argillites,
Huon et al. (1993) documented the occurrence of a TriassicLiassic
thermal event (195 4 Ma, locally 184 4 Ma) in western Meseta.
Therefore, assuming a geothermal gradient of 40 C/km, burial of the
WMA could have been limited to 1.52 km, less than the N3 km value
proposed by Ghorbal et al. (2008).
The 1.52 km burial here restored compares with the thickness of
the TriassicLiassic sequences preserved, respectively, i) west and
northwest of the Jebilet Massif, beneath the Upper JurassicLower
Cretaceous unconformable sequences, i.e. 22.5 km in the Essaouira 1
well (Had, 2006), and 1.52 km in the seismic proles from the
Doukkala-Abda Basin (Echarfaoui et al., 2002a,b); ii) north and
northeast of the Moroccan Meseta, i.e. 11.5 km in the Prerif Ridges
(Sani et al., 2007), as well as in the Tabular Middle Atlas (Charrire,
1990; Gomez et al., 1996) and the Selloum Basin south of it (El Arabi
et al., 2001, 2004). The contemporaneous deposits in the Atlas basins
are thicker (~23.5 km), and subsidence continued there during the
Dogger, so as the thickness of the sequences predating the Late
JurassicEarly Cretaceous regression attain ~3.5 km in the Middle
Atlas (Charrire, 1990) and along the northern border of the Central

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O. Saddiqi et al. / Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

Fig. 7. Interpretation of the AFT results obtained on the basements massifs of the southern Moroccan Meseta (diagrammatic cross-sections along the same trace as Fig. 2b). (a) At ~250 Ma
(Late Permian), the early and shallow Jebilet granites are totally exhumed, whereas the deeper and younger Rehamna granites are still overlain by ~2 km of Paleozoic rocks. (b) At the
maximum of the TriassicLiassic subsidence, i.e. at 180170 Ma (latest Liassicearly Dogger), heating is comparable in both massifs, suggesting a southward thickening of the sedimentary
burial. (c) Late Eocene (4035 Ma) heating event. The Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous uplift and erosion (not shown) have completed the denudation of the Rehamna granites, whereas
remnants of TriassicJurassic sequences are preserved southward. The Meseta basement is buried beneath the Upper CretaceousEocene series, the thickness of which slightly increases
southwestward. (d) During the Atlas Orogeny, the Meseta Domain itself has been deformed, particularly close to the High Atlas (not shown, south of the Tadla and Haouz Basins). The
basement massifs are exhumed and cooled below the apatite PAZ temperature. The vertical movement is related to a major reverse fault in the Jebilet, and to a very large wave-length crustal
fold in the Rehamna.

High Atlas (Ellouz et al., 2003), and ~ 8 km in the axis of the CentralEastern High Atlas (Studer, 1987, Warme, 1988). In contrast, the
relatively moderate TriassicLiassic subsidence suggested by our AFT
data for the southern part of the Western Meseta compares favourably
with that of the High MoulouyaMissour Basin in Eastern (Oran)
Meseta, which varies from 1 to 2 km (Beauchamp et al., 1996; Ellouz
et al., 2003). To conclude, the Western (Moroccan) Meseta would have
been a submarine high in the TriassicLiassic paleogeography of
Morocco, comparable to the Eastern (Oran) Meseta, instead of being
an emergent land as postulated up to now. The partitioned Liassic high
formed by the Tabular Middle Atlas and Selloum Basin (El Arabi et al.,
2001) could be an image of the WMA, prior to its Late JurassicEarly
Cretaceous uplift and erosion.
Another implication of the reported AFT results (Fig. 4) is the
importance of the Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous uplift which affected
the Jebilet and Rehamna Massifs, and likely the entire WMA, resulting
in the very active erosion (Fig. 5) of the TriassicJurassic cover and
underlying basement. This phase of uplift (responsible for the second
hump of the Tt paths) is coeval with the emersion of most of the Atlas
domain, which was covered by widespread red beds of Bathonian
Barremian age, partly sourced from the rising WMA (Charrire et al.,
1994, 2005; Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2008). Discussing the geodynamic
meaning of this uplift event should be beyond the scope of this paper
(see Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2009-this issue).

Following the Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous uplift, thermal

modelling indicates that the south-western Meseta underwent a
phase of heating up to ~ 6080 C, modelled from Early Cretaceous till
3550 Ma. This would represent (assuming a gradient of 30 C/km) a
burial of 1.52 km, which compares with the 1 km value proposed by
Ghorbal et al. (2008). In fact, in the Phosphate Plateau, the preserved
CretaceousEocene sequence is only 200400 m thick as observed in
industrial wells (Bolleli et al., 1959; Anonymous, 1986), whereas it
attains 1000 m in the Tadla and Bahira further south (Had, 2006;
Had et al., 2006). Hence, in the southern part of the WMA, the
Thersitea slab (Lutetian) which tops presently the Cretaceous
Tertiary tabular sequence must have been covered by ~1 km thick
deposits prior to the Late EoceneOligocene Atlas phase (Frizon de
Lamotte et al., 2008). Interestingly, gypsiferous marls up to 400 m
thick are preserved above the Lutetian limestones in the Timhadite
syncline of Middle Atlas, i.e. in the westernmost part of the
CretaceousTertiary marine gulf (Charrire, 1990; Herbig and Trappe,
1994), beneath the unconformable, Oligocene (?) continental deposits
(J. Hayane conglomerates: Martin, 1981; Charrire, 1990). We assume
that similar deposits accumulated up to greater thickness in the
central and western part of the CretaceousEocene gulf. This implies
that the uplift and subsequent erosion of the WMA was important
during the Atlas orogeny, consistent with the last part of the Tt paths
of both the Rehamna and Jebilet Massifs (Fig. 4), and although only the

O. Saddiqi et al. / Tectonophysics 475 (2009) 2937

latter is bounded by a major reverse fault (Fig. 3). However, crustal

shortening, which really began by the Late Eocene (Frizon de Lamotte et
al., 2009-this issue), only represents a rather little part of the WMA recent
uplift; the most signicant part results from the regional lithosphere
thinning also responsible for most of the Atlas and Anti-Atlas uplift
(Teixell et al., 2005; Missenard et al., 2006; Babault et al., 2008).
5.2. General inference: role of the age and depth of emplacement of the
sampled granites
The Jebilet and Rehamna granites yield heterogeneous AFT ages,
i.e. 186203 Ma and 148153 Ma, respectively, although they followed
only slightly distinct Tt paths (Fig. 4). We argue in the following that
this surprising AFT age discrepancy can be explained by the
differences in the age and depth of emplacement of the studied
granites.
The Jebilet granites emplaced as shallow stocks or laccoliths at
~ 330 Ma, prior to and during the main folding event, in still weakly
deformed turbidite formations of late Early Carboniferous age (Essai
et al., 2001, 2003; Boumanne and Olivier, 2007), i.e. in the upper
structural level at probably less than ~ 7 km depth. This estimation is
supported by the petrology of the country-rock schists, characterized
by widespread crystallization of andalusite (Fig. 6).
Contrastingly, the Sebt Brikiine granite from the Rehamna Massif
(Fig. 2b) yielded a RbSr whole-rock age at 270 Ma (Mrini et al., 1992),
and emplaced probably at 300290 Ma, as the subsequent array of
microdiorite dykes was locally dated at 285 6 Ma (U/Pb zircon;
Baudin et al., 2003). This late-orogenic batholith, hardly older than the
Early Permian rhyoliticdacitic volcanism, emplaced at the very
bottom of the folded Paleozoic as shown by the detail mapping
(Hoepffner et al., 1982; Baudin et al., 2003), i.e. at about 10 km depth
(similar to the Oulmes granite in the Central Massif; Tahiri et al., 2007).
The eastern part of the batholith and the adjoining apexes such as the
studied Ras-el-Abiod leucogranite emplaced at similar depth in the
high grade unit of the Western Meseta Shear Zone (WMSZ; Hoepffner
et al.,1982; Lagarde and Michard, 1987; Michard et al., 2008). The latter
unit, characterized by the widespread development of staurotide and
kyanite, equilibrated rst at about 15 km depth (Fig. 6) during the Early
Namurian (ca. 330 Ma), which corresponds to the main Variscan
folding and metamorphic event in the entire WMSZ, including the
Central Jebilet (Fig. 1b). When the Sebt Brikiine granite and associated
apexes emplaced (i.e. at ~ 300 Ma), the high-grade schists were already
exhumed to the ~10 km depth of the granite apex due to extensional
collapse (Aghzer and Arenas, 1995; Baudin et al., 2003) and erosion.
Thus, exhumation of the metamorphic units during the 330300 Ma
interval can be estimated at about ~5 km in the Rehamna transect.
Therefore, by the eve of the Permian (300 Ma), the just born
Rehamna granites and their country-rocks were located at 910 km
depth. The 330 My-aged Jebilet granites have already been exhumed
(as the Rehamna schists) by several kilometres from their initial
emplacement depth (~ 7 km) up to shallow depth (about 34 km). The
Jebilet granites were probably entering the APAZ at ~ 280 Ma (Fig. 4),
being prone to reach the surface during the Late Permian (~ 250 Ma),
and then to be overlain by Late Triassic deposits. Assuming a similar or
even slightly stronger exhumation (67 km?) of the Rehamna granites
between 300 and 250 Ma, they were still located at about 23 km
depth during the Late Permian, consistent with the modelled Tt path
(Fig. 4). Remarkably, the Zaer granite of NW Meseta (Fig. 1), which
displays the same structural characteristics and age of emplacement
as the Rehamna batholith yielded also the same AFT results to Ghorbal
et al. (2008).
In conclusion, the discrepancy between the older AFT ages yielded
by the Jebilet granites (186202 Ma) with respect to the Rehamna
granite and country-rocks (148158 Ma) can be explained by the fact
that the former emplaced 30 My earlier and 34 km shallower than
the latter, and then crossed the APAZ earlier than the older and deeper

35

Rehamna batholith (Fig. 7). One could wonder if some Permian fault
could have exhumed the Jebilet granite, leaving the Rehamna granite
deeper in the APAZ. This tentative hypothesis is contradicted by
several observations: i) Autunian deposits are widespread all around
the Rehamna and Jebilet massifs, and the associated, synsedimentary
normal/wrench faults crosscut both massifs with a dominant NE trend
(Saber et al., 2007); ii) the conspicuous, E-trending North-Jebilet
reverse fault (NJF), similar to the other faults of the Atlas System,
corresponds to a former TriassicEarly Jurassic normal fault inverted
during the Tertiary orogenic evolution, with a major reverse throw
dated from the Neogene (Had, 2006; Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2008);
at that time, both massifs were located at about the same shallow
depth and the reverse movement had few consequences, if any, on the
AFT ages.
6. Conclusion
The AFT data presented here concern a major structural zone of
Morocco, i.e. the West Moroccan Arch (WMA) which constituted
during the Late PermianMiddle Triassic the eastern shoulder of the
Central Atlantic rift and the north-western shoulder of the Atlas
(Tethyan) rift. This zone acted as a relatively stable block of Variscan
crust during the MesozoicPaleogene, being widely covered by the
tabular CretaceousEocene series of the Phosphate and Ganntour
Plateaus.
Our AFT results are based on samples collected in two basement
massifs of the southern WMA, namely the Jebilet and Rehamna
Massifs. Remarkably, they yielded different ages, 203186 Ma and
148153 Ma, respectively. The Tt paths produced are characterized
by a two-hump aspect. They demonstrate that the WMA subsided
during the TriassicMiddle Jurassic before being uplifted and eroded
during the Late JurassicEarly Cretaceous. Therefore, the previous
concept of a permanently subaerial Western Meseta prior to the
CenomanianTuronian transgression must be abandoned. Our results
suggest that, during the Early-Middle Jurassic, the WMA could be
compared to the Eastern MesetaMissour Basin submarine high, with
less than 2 km thick sedimentary cover.
Regarding the surprising discrepancies (4050 My) between the
mean AFT ages from the studied massifs, they can be explained by the
difference in age and depth of emplacement of the sampled granites:
the older and shallower granites crossed the APAZ earlier than the
younger and deeper ones. In other words, in both massifs, the
succession of cooling and heating phases was identical as far as the
chronology of erosion and subsidence events is considered, but the
temperature reached during the earliest phase of erosion has been
different. Thus, the initial structure and evolution of the basement of
any young tabular or mountainous domain has to be taken into
account in order to interpret the potential differences in the AFT ages
observed in the various basement rocks.
Acknowledgments
We are indebted to P. Van der Beek and E. Labrin (Joseph-Fourier
Univ., Grenoble) and D. Seward (Univ. of Zurich) for their help in
irradiation process. Thanks are due to M. Had (Univ. of Kenitra) for
helpful discussions and to A. Charrire (Paul-Sabatier Univ., Toulouse)
for enlightening comments. We acknowledge useful discussions with
B. Ghorbal (Vrije Univ. Utrecht) during the MAPG-ILP congress,
Marrakech 2007. This work has been supported by the FrenchMoroccan program Volubilis (Ma/05/125 and Ma/01/13).
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