doi: 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2008.00810.

Cenozoic denudation in the Marrakech High Atlas, Morocco:

insight from apatite fission-track thermochronology
Yves Missenard,1 Omar Saddiqi,2 Jocelyn Barbarand,3 Pascale Leturmy,1 Geoffrey Ruiz,4
Fatima-Zahra El Haimer2 and Dominique Frizon de Lamotte1
1

Univ. Cergy-Pontoise, Departement des Sciences de la Terre (CNRS, UMR 7072), site de Neuville Oise, F-95 000 Cergy, France;
Departement de Geologie, Faculte des Sciences, Universite Hassan II An Chok, Route dEl Jadida, BP5366 Maarif Casablanca, Maroc;
3
Departement des Sciences de la Terre (UMR 8148 IDES), Universite de Paris-Sud, Bat. 504, F-91405 Orsay Cedex, France; 4Institut de
Geologie et Hydrogeologie, Rue Emile Argand 11, CP 158, CH-2009, Neuchatel, Switzerland
2

ABSTRACT
In North Africa, the High Atlas belt culminates at more than
4000 m. In Morocco, recent work shows that a lithospheric
thinning explains about 1000 m of the mean topography, the
remaining topography being related to crustal shortening. We
combine regional geology with new apatite fission-track (AFT)
ages to constrain the timing of these events in the Marrakech
High Atlas (MHA). In the inner belt, 10 AFT ages are comprised
between 9 1 and 27 3 Ma. These Neogene ages indicate
that the MHA underwent significant denudation during that

Introduction
As it results from complex interactions between multiple processes
such as tectonic, climate or astenospheric ows, the evolution of the
topography in mountain belts and
their forelands remains a matter of
debate. In North Africa, the Atlas
intraplate belt exhibits peaks at more
than 4000 m in Morocco for a mean
topography of about 20002500 m. It
is demonstrated that these important
elevations result from the combination of crustal shortening linked to the
Africa-Eurasia convergence with thermal doming related to a lithospheric
thinning (Seber et al., 1996; Frizon de
Lamotte et al., 2004; Zeyen et al.,
2005; Teixell et al., 2005; Missenard
et al., 2006). If there is now a consensus on the uplift mechanisms, the
chronology still remains a matter of
debate (e.g. Beauchamp et al., 1999;
Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2000; Teson
and Teixell, 2008).
The aim of this study was to bring
new constrains on the timing of vertical
Correspondence: Y. Missenard, Departement des Sciences de la Terre et de lEnvironnement (CNRS, UMR 7072), Universite
de Cergy-Pontoise, 95 031 Cergy Pontoise
Cedex, France. Tel.: +33 (0)1 34 25 73 67;
fax: +33 (0)1 34 25 73 50; e-mail: yves.
missenard@u-cergy.fr

 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

time. In the southern foreland domain of the belt, three

samples give scattered AFT ages between 27 2 and 87
5 Ma. Geological evidences allow us to constrain the age of a
major denudation event during Middle Miocene age. We
propose that it is linked to the thermal doming highlighted in
the whole Moroccan Atlas domain.

Terra Nova, 20, 221228, 2008

movements in the High Atlas belt and

its borders, by combining the regional
geological data with apatite ssiontrack
(AFT)
thermochronology
results. At the moment, very few published ssion-track data exist on the
High Atlas belt except Barbero et al.
(2007). We will focus on the Marrakech
High Atlas (MHA Fig. 1), because
this part of the belt presents several
advantages for ssion-track analysis
with important altitude variations and
favourable lithologies. Furthermore,
the lithospheric and crustal structures
are well constrained (Missenard et al.,
2006, 2007).

Geological setting
The High Atlas belt as a whole is an
intracontinental orogen (Mattauer
et al., 1977) developed on previous
mesozoic rifted basins preceding the
spreading of the Central Atlantic.
During the Upper Triassic-Lower
Jurassic rifting, the MHA belonged to
the so called West Morrocan Arch
(WMA), a persistent topographic high
separating an Atlantic domain to the
west from a Tethyan domain to the
north-east (Choubert and Faure Muret, 1962; Du Dresnay, 1972; Michard,
1976; Medina, 1995). To the South,
the rifted area is limited by a major
deformation zone probably inherited
from the Panafrican orogenesis, the

South Atlas Front (Fig. 1). The rifting

ended during the Middle Jurassic.
After the Upper Jurassic and Lower
Cretaceous, dominated by the deposition of continental red beds, the
Cenomano-Turonian
transgression
led to the development of a carbonate
shelf which covered the whole Atlas
system and large areas in Western
Africa (see a review in Frizon de
Lamotte et al., in press).
During the Cenozoic, the convergence between Eurasia and Africa
triggered the inversion of the rifted
zones. Most of the previous publications aiming to describe the geometry
of the belt focus on the Central and
Western High Atlas (Fig. 1), where
the Mesozoic cover is well preserved
(Beauchamp et al., 1999; Frizon de
Lamotte et al., 2000; Benammi et al.,
2001; Teixell et al., 2003; Frizon de
Lamotte et al., 2004). The shortening
values obtained from these studies
range between 10 and 25 km. Across
the MHA, characterized by the abundance of basement rocks, the total
shortening including the displacements along the North Jebilet and
Anti-Atlas Major Faults (AAMF)
(Fig. 1) is of about 10 km (Missenard,
2006). These relatively low values are
consistent with the poorly developed
crustal root under the High Atlas,
imaged by seismic surveys and geophysical modelling (Makris et al.,
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Cenozoic denudation in the Marrakech High Atlas Y. Missenard et al.

Terra Nova, Vol 20, No. 3, 221228

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Fig. 1 Geological map of the Marrakech High Atlas and surrounding areas. Fission-track samples of the Marrakech High Atlas
and Siroua plateau are localized. Lower left corner: main geological domain of Morocco and location of the studied area.

1985; Tadili et al., 1986; Wigger et al.,

1992; Ramdani, 1998; Fullea Urchulutegui et al., 2006). According to
these authors, the Moho depth does
not exceed 3539 km. As such values
cannot maintain isostatically a mean
topography of about 2500 m, at least
another process is required to explain
the high topography of the belt (Schwarz and Wigger, 1988; Fullea
Urchulutegui et al., 2006).
In 1996, Seber et al. imaged for the
rst time a P-wave low velocity zone
under the High Atlas. Recent work
based on geophysical modelling of
gravity data, geoid, topography and
heat ow (following the procedure
developed by Zeyen and Ferna`ndez,
1994) has conrmed the existence of a
thinned lithosphere under the AntiAtlas, the Marrakech and Central
High Atlas, and the Middle Atlas
(Frizon de Lamotte et al., 2004; Zeyen
et al., 2005; Teixell et al., 2005; Fullea
222

Urchulutegui et al., 2006; Missenard

et al., 2006). Even if the origin of this
anomaly is still under debate, it is now
accepted that an astenospheric process
has to be considered to explain the
very high relief of the Western Maghreb. Missenard et al. (2006) evaluate
the eect of the lithospheric thinning
on the relief of the aected area and
show that it accounts for 1000 m of
additional topography in the AntiAtlas, the Central High Atlas and the
Middle Atlas.
In the typical foreland basins, the
sedimentary record mainly reects the
tectonic load and is therefore frequently used to infer the timing of
deformation. In Morocco, the Atlas
foreland basins are poorly developed
and the Cenozoic sedimentary pile
supposed to be associated with mountains building is locally up to 1700 m
thick (Toundout area, Gorler et al.,
1988) but generally does not exceed

1300 m (Mustaphi, 1997). The Neogene series always lie unconformably

on the Palaeogene. Furthermore, the
determination of the orogenesis
chronology is complicated by the difculty to date detrital series. Until
now, various interpretations have
been proposed: following Beauchamp
et al. (1996) and Beauchamp et al.
(1999), a rst phase took place during
early Cretaceous, but the major uplift
phase occurred between 30 and 20 Ma
(Oligo-Miocene) and corresponds to
the Alpine orogenic event. On the
contrary, Frizon de Lamotte et al.
(2000), propose a chronology implying two major tectonic events, the rst
one being late Eocene, the second one
being Plio-Quaternary. For Laville
et al. (1995), the shortening began as
earlier as Senonian. Teixell et al.
(2005) and Missenard et al. (2006)
estimate that the lithospheric thinning
emplaced during Miocene on the basis
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Y. Missenard et al. Cenozoic denudation in the Marrakech High Atlas

Terra Nova, Vol 20, No. 3, 221228

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of the age of Moroccan volcanism.
The lack of a unied scenario prevents
to determine the exact role of this
orogen in the context of the AfricaEurasia convergence and has to be
constrained with new arguments.

Sampling
The sampling follows a roughly
NorthSouth cross-section through
the MHA (see detailed sample positions Fig. 1). The altitude variations
allow sampling at a wide range of
altitudes, from 1000 m on the northern front to 2600 m at Ifni Lake. The
mostly granitic and metamorphic Precambrian to Cambrian basement
crops out widely, whereas in the Central and Western High Atlas the
Triasico-Jurassic carbonates and
sandstones dominate.
Eight samples were taken in the
Ourika valley, in the northern part of
the MHA (Fig. 1). This deeply incised
valley erodes the crystalline basement
on which the Upper Triassic Oukaimeden sandstones lies unconformably. Samples are gneisses (1OU,
5OU, 13OU, 14OU), volcanodetritic
material (8OU), granodiorite (15OU,
17OU) and amphibolite (20OU).
On the southern ank of the belt,
eight samples were taken along a vertical cross-section, but only one gave
signicant apatite content (sample
2SA, gneiss). A sample from the Ifni
Lake (sample 1SA, granodiorite) has
been analysed and provided another
age for this part of the belt (Fig. 1).

Last, four samples of 12 analysed

from the Siroua Plateau revealed valid
ages. This area is situated south of the
main limit of the High Atlas belt, the
South Atlas Front, and corresponds
to a topographic high with Precambrian basement cropping out at more
than 2500 m. On the plateau, the
Triassic and Jurassic units are missing.
Small remnants of continental Lower
Cretaceous and Cenomano-Turonian
marine limestones testied that the
surface of the plateau was at or below
sea level during this period. Sample
02Si (granite), 01Si (volcanodetritic
material) and 03Si (granite) have been
taken respectively at 1, 5 and 15 km of
the Cretaceous deposits (Fig. 1). No
major faults exist between the samples
and these remnants indicating that no
vertical displacement occurred between them. A voluminous Mio-Pliocene volcano (113 Ma, Berrahma
and Delaloye, 1989), the Siroua, lies
unconformably on the basement.

Methodology
Fission-track analysis was performed
by O. Saddiqi and Y. Missenard with
a Zeiss microscope under dry 1000
magnication. The external detector
method (Hurford, 1990) was used for
the age determination. Apatite was
mounted in epoxy, polished and
etched with 0.8 weight % HNO3
during 45 s at ambient temperature
for the spontaneous track revelation.
The plastic external detectors are
etched with boiling blench during

40 min at ambient temperature for

revealing the tracks induced during
the irradiation under thermal neutrons ux at the ORPHEE facility
(CEA, Saclay, France). Zeta (f) factor
(Hurford and Green, 1983) used for
the age calculation is 396 (measurement by Yves Missenard) for the ages
on the Siroua Plateau and south part
of the belt, and 321 (measurement by
Omar Saddiqi) for the Ourika valley
ages.

Results
The analytical results are presented on
Table 1. Three groups of ages are identied (Table 1 and Fig. 2). In the northern part of the belt, all the eight ages
are comprised between 17 1 and
9 1 Ma (Middle to Upper Miocene).
On the southern ank, the two samples
give close values (24 3 and 27
3 Ma).
South of the South Atlas Front,
ages are scattered between 27 2
and 87 5 Ma. Sample 03Si has an
AFT age of 63 4 Ma, whereas 04Si
is 27 2 Ma in AFT age. Sample
04Si has been sampled at <1 km to
volcanic vents and lava ows. We
cannot exclude that this age has been
partially rejuvenated by volcanic heating, even if the thermal eect of
volcanic extrusion on the underlying
rocks remains weak (Gallagher et al.,
1994), depending of the lava thickness
and temperature (assumed here to be
below 900 C considering the acid
material). This result will therefore

Table 1 Apatite ssion-track analytical results.

Samples

Altitudes
(m)

1OU

1360

5OU
8OU
130U
140U
15OU
17OU
20OU
1SA
2SA
01Si
02Si
03Si
04Si

1230
1100
1265
1560
1580
1480
1520
1900
2150
2100
1340
2130
2150

Lithologies

qs
(106 t cm)2)

Biotite and
hornblende-bearing gneiss
Gneiss
Volcanodetritic
Gneiss
Eyed-Gneiss
Granodiorite
Granodiorite
Amphibolite
Volcanodetritic
Volcanodetritic
Volcanodetritic
Granite
Granite
Granite

17

0.354

19
14
17
18
15
14
10
17
18
22
19
20
55

0.188
0.138
0.331
0.896
0.253
0.353
0.628
0.140
0.194
0.845
0.973
1.395
0.204

P(v2)
%

Ages 1r
(Ma)

15672

66

14.3 0.7

15672
15672
15672
15672
15672
15672
15672
2127
2127
16656
2127
2127
2127

62
100
65
80
95
75
82
100
75
38
60
46
79

qi
(106 t cm)2)

Ni

qd
(105 t cm)2)

Nd

519

1.57

2298

3.95

408
121
486
715
261
436
450
79
174
1005
973
848
242

1.27
0.7
1.49
3.35
1.21
1.91
2.83
0.289
0.367
0.473
0.563
1.128
0.391

2747
613
2180
2675
1253
2356
2027
163
329
563
563
686
464

3.95
3.95
3.95
3.95
3.95
3.95
4.08
4.25
4.25
2.22
4.25
4.25
4.25

Ns

9.2
12.5
14.1
16.9
13.2
11.5
14.5
24.6
26.9
47.5
87.5
62.7
26.5

0.5
1.2
0.7
0.7
0.9
0.6
0.8
3.4
2.6
2.9
5.4
3.8
2.3

n is the number of grains counted, qs, qd and qi are respectively the track density for the standard, the fossil track density and the induced track density. Ns, Ni and Nd
are the corresponding number of traces. P(v2) is the chi-squared probability. AFT ages provided here are central ages.

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223

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0

North
15OU
13 1

Elevation (m)

4000

14OU
16 1
20OU
14 1

3000

2000

17OU
11 1

2SA
27 3

Toubkal
Massif

Haouz Basin

10

20 km

South

1SA
24 3

SAF

01Si
47 3

02Si
87 5

Siroua Plateau

03Si
63 4

04Si
27 2

AAMF

NAF
Assarag valley

1000
8OU
12 1

5OU
91

1OU
14 1

13OU
14 1

Cenozoic

Triassic

Paleozoic

Precambrian

Main faults

Fig. 2 Section across the Marrakech High Atlas and the Siroua Plateau. The ssion-track ages have been projected. Three groups
of ages can be identied. In the northern part of the belt, ages are comprised between 9 and 17 Ma. On the southern border, 1SA
and 2SA samples are 25 Ma old. The ages obtained on the Siroua Plateau are scattered between 47 and 87 Ma.

not be considered in the following

discussion. Samples 01Si, 02Si and
03Si have been taken, respectively, at
13, 10 and 5 km of the volcano.
Sample 02Si has been taken in a
deeply incised valley that is unlikely
to have been lled by the Pliocene lava
ows, thus excluding any volcanic
heating. It is slightly older than 03Si,
at 87 5 Ma. Sample 01Si is the
youngest of the Siroua Plateau samples at 47 3 Ma.
Low track density for all samples,
combined with the poor content in
apatite of the rocks, did not allow us
to perform length track analysis.
Therefore, ages data have been interpreted in the light of the geological
constraints.

AFT ages discussion

High Atlas domain
In the northern part of the MHA, the
sample ages are comprised between 9
and 17 Ma, indicating denudation
between early and middle Miocene.
The two ages obtained on samples in
the southern ank of the MHA are
slightly older, about 25 Ma. They are
located at higher altitudes than the
other samples but the existence of
faults delimitating structural blocks in
the belt prevents from calculating a
global exhumation rate from all samples. Samples 1OU, 13OU, 14OU and
20OU are taken in the same block and
allow calculating an exhumation rate
of about 80 m Ma)1. The same calculation for samples from the south
ank also provides a similar result
224

about 100 m Ma)1. These rates indicate that between 27 and 14 Ma, both
the north and south anks of the
MHA have been slowly eroded at
the same rate. The current altitude
discrepancy is thus more probably
related to Plio-Quaternary tectonic
activity or to enhanced climatic
erosion on the northern ank.
The AFT ages we produced in the
inner MHA are all testifying of a
signicant
Neogene
denudation.
These results contrast with the ones
of Barbero et al. (2007) in the Central
High Atlas where AFT ages all ranges
between 76 and 270 Ma except for
two syenites whose Eocene AFT ages
date their emplacement. The MHA
therefore appears to be the solely
region of the whole Moroccan High
Atlas and surroundings (including Jebilet massif, El Haimer, 2005 and
Anti-Atlas, Malusa` et al., 2007) where
Cenozoic AFT ages are revealed. This
particular region therefore underwent
more denudation in the last 30 Ma
than the other parts of the belt. As a
consequence, we have to consider that
the almost complete absence of Mesozoic rocks in the MHA is not only
inherited from the rifting phase (the
West Moroccan Arch concept, see
above) but also a consequence of a
more important exhumation during
the Neogene, in agreement with the
high topography of the region. This
dierence in denudation between the
MHA and the Central High Atlas is
most probably related to signicant
changes in the geometry of the belt.
Indeed, the Central High Atlas is
wider than the MHA (115 and

30 km respectively). As a consequence, the shortening is distributed

on multiple faults in the Central High
Atlas (see for instance Teixell et al.,
2003) whereas deformation is concentrated on few major faults in the
MHA (Missenard et al., 2007). Thus,
considering similar shortening values
for both domains, expected vertical
movements are more important in the
MHA than in the in the Central High
Atlas.
As previously discussed, two mechanisms can account for the LowerMiddle Miocene erosion phase put
forward by our AFT results in the
MHA: thermal doming related to the
thinning of the lithosphere, or crustal
shortening. To determine which of
these processes account for this erosion phase, we analysed the AFT ages
of the South foreland in the light of
the well-constrained geological frame.
As the lithospheric thinning aect the
whole Atlas system, its imprint should
have been recorded in the foreland.
Siroua Plateau
The outcrops of lower Cretaceous and
Cenomano-Turonian limestones on
the Siroua Plateau, just above the
sampled Precambrian rocks, bring
important constraints on their thermal
history: they imply that the samples
were at the surface at that time. Thus,
one must expect ssion-track ages
older than 110 Ma. Our ssion-track
ages from the Siroua Plateau are all
comprised between 87 and 47 Ma,
indicating that they have been partly
rejuvenated. These ages are thus not
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Y. Missenard et al. Cenozoic denudation in the Marrakech High Atlas

.............................................................................................................................................................
true cooling ages but only the result of
partial annealing of the AFT system.
So, the Siroua Precambrian rocks
forming the top of the plateau must
have been buried signicantly after the
late Cretaceous and exhumed during
the Tertiary up to their present altitude. Consequently, they testify of a
major erosion event during late Cretaceous or Cenozoic. The eroded
rocks are therefore necessarily Senonian or younger.
To the south, the Siroua volcano
lies unconformably on the Precambrian rocks of the Plateau. Its rst
activity began at 11 Ma (Berrahma
and Delaloye, 1989) and constrains
the upper boundary for the age of the
eroded rocks that must be older than
this age. Undated detritic rocks are
sandwiched between the volcano and
the Precambrian basement (Imzi formation, De Beer et al., 2000). De Beer
et al. (2000) propose a Miocene age
for this formation. A minimum thickness of 2000 m of sediments must
have been reached to explain the
rejuvenation of the ssion-track ages
considering a 30 per km geothermal
gradient and a 60 C value for the
partial annealing zone upper boundary (Gallagher et al., 1998). This
thickness is reduced to 1000 m if
considering a high geothermal gradient of 60 C km)1 that could have
been reached during the Mio-Pliocene
volcanic activity. The inll of the
adjacent sedimentary basins gives
some constraints on the nature and
age of the eroded series.
In the Ouarzazate basin (Fig. 1),
seismic proles show thicknesses up to
1.5 km for the Upper Cretaceous and
Palaeogene units (Beauchamp et al.,
1999). The PalaeoceneEocene is up
to 600 m thick (El Har et al., 2001).
As the top of the Neogene series is
rarely preserved, this value of 1.5 km
corresponds to a minimum thickness.
In the Souss basin (Fig. 1), the
Upper Cretaceous is 700 m thick
(Mustaphi et al., 1997). The Palaeocene and Eocene crop out in the
eastern part of the basin. Its thickness
is <500 m, but here again, its top is
rarely preserved and this value is a
minimum. The Miocene and Oligocene series are poorly developed. They
only crop out along the northern
border of the basin, where they are
always <300 m thick (Frizon de
Lamotte et al., 2000).
 2008 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

The Ouarzazate and Souss basins

and the Siroua Plateau are covered by
the same Cenomano-Turonian marine
limestones testifying of similar low
bathymetry marine palaeoenvironnements and resulting from a general
transgression 200 m above the present
sea level (Haq et al., 1987). This
indicates that at that time, the Ouarzazate, Souss and Siroua domain
formed a single domain and were at
similar altitudes.
The thicknesses of the Upper Cretaceous strata do not exceed 1500 m
and is too low to explain the rejuvenation of the ssion-track ages. It
must therefore be consider that the
Upper Cretaceous to Eocene, and
maybe Oligo-Miocene series were also
deposited on the Siroua Plateau to
explain the rejuvenation. As a consequence, the erosional event must be
younger than Eocene.
Three main causes, namely tectonic,
thermal and volcanic, contribute to
the uplift of the Siroua Plateau:
1 The Anti-Atlas Major Fault
(Fig. 1), situated at the southern
border of the plateau (Fig. 1), is a
crustal scale fault zone aecting the
whole Siroua Plateau. The shift of
the Mio-Pliocene Siroua lava ows
testify of a post-Miocene vertical
throw of about 500 m. The Cenomano-Turonian strata, north of the
plateau lies at about 2100 m, that is
1000 m higher than the same unit in
the Ouarzazate basin. As a consequence, 500 m of vertical throw
must have occurred after the deposition of the Cenomano-Turonian,
but before the lava emplacement
during the late Miocene;
2 The lithospheric thinning identied
across the whole Morocco including
Anti-Atlas, Central High Atlas and
Middle Atlas (Fullea Urchulutegui
et al., 2006; Missenard et al., 2006)
aects the Siroua plateau and the
MHA. The surface uplift is of about
1000 m (see Fig. 6B in Missenard
et al., 2006);
3 The magmatic activity has also an
eect on the topography of the
Plateau. The Siroua strato-volcano,
covering more than 500 km2 emplaced from 11 to 3 Ma (Berrahma,
1982; Berrahma and Delaloye,
1989). To quantify the eect of
crustal magmatic injections below
this volcano, we reconstructed the

geometry of the ante volcano (i.e.

ante 11 Ma) surface. We digitized
the lava-basement contact on the
basis of the recent 1 50 000 geological maps of the Siroua and
Tachoukart areas (De Beer et al.,
2000). We then extrapolated these
data using a minimum curvature
digital method (Smith and Wessel,
1990) to obtain an envelope map of
the basement top below the volcano
(Fig. 3). The presence of the
AAMF in the southern part of
the plateau has been considered in
the gridding method. North of the
fault the basement is aected by an
elongated dome (15 35 km) following a N160 direction. The continuation of the dome to the south
of the AAMF cannot be evidenced
due to the small area covered by the
lavas, but this doming may explain
the altitude increase of the basement from West to East. Along this
dome, the basement reaches
2600 m, that is 500 m above its
altitude along the borders of the
plateau. The orientation of this
bulge is inconsistent with the main
compressive trends lying between
N50E and N90E. As the main
volcanic centres are aligned along
this dome (Fig. 3), we propose that
its geometry is linked to the
magmatic activity and may be
related to magma injections under
the volcano.
This last process only aects the
Precambrian basement directly under
the Siroua volcano and cannot explain alone the uplift and denudation
of the whole plateau. The vertical
post-Mio-Pliocene throw is about
500 m, as testied by the shift of the
Siroua lava ows. The CenomanoTuronian strata, north of the plateau,
actually lies at about 2100 m, that is
1000 m higher than the same unit in
the Ouarzazate basin. As a consequence, 500 m of additional vertical
throw must have occurred after the
deposition of the Cenomano-Turonian, but before the lava emplacement
during Miocene. Therefore, this alone
process cannot explain the erosion of
more than 1500 m of sediments. Consequently, the main process at the
origin of the uplift and erosion of the
Siroua basin is likely the lithospheric
thinning-related doming. As this
event is a large scale process, it might

225

Cenozoic denudation in the Marrakech High Atlas Y. Missenard et al.

Terra Nova, Vol 20, No. 3, 221228

.............................................................................................................................................................

ages in the Moroccan High Atlas

testifying of signicant Cenozoic
denudation.
The analysis of these new AFT ages
in the light of the geological constraints shows that the Siroua Plateau
must have been subsiding during
Upper Cretaceous to Eocene times as
testify by the partial reset of the AFT
ages. As this plateau is currently
mostly formed of Precambrian basement, an erosion phase occurred during Lower or Middle Miocene in this
foreland domain. This event is also
recorded in the High Atlas belt, with
AFT ages ranging between 9 1 and
27 3 Ma.
The review of mechanisms inducing
uplift in the High Atlas foreland
shows that this large scale erosion
event is probably related to the thinning of the lithosphere under the Atlas
domain, synchronously with the intense magmatic activity in this area
(El Azzouzi et al., 1999).

Acknowledgements

Fig. 3 Reconstruction of the basement topography under the Siroua volcanic massif;
see localization Fig. 1. Black crosses correspond to basement lavas contact digitized
from the 1 50 000 geological maps (De Beer et al., 2000) to reconstruct the antevolcano surface. Their altitudes have then been extrapolated using minimum
curvature. The Anti-Atlas Major Fault is included and acts as a barrier between
the northern and southern blocks, which appear shifted of about 500 m, conrming
the throw observed on the eld. In the northern block, the basement forms a 500-mhigh dome over the plateau borders, lying at about 2100 m. The 2300 m and 2400 m
isolines are drawn in bold to underline the elongated geometry of this dome, which is
localized exactly under the main eruptive centers (black circles).

also aect the adjacent areas and may

be at the origin of the erosion event
preceding the so-called Pontian
molasses deposition in the High Atlas
foreland domain and in the AntiAtlas (Choubert and Faure Muret,
1962).
To summarize, ssion-track ages in
the MHA foreland domain indicate
that post-Cenomano-Turonian series
were deposited at the emplacement of
the Siroua Plateau. Geological data
show that they were eroded between
the Upper Eocene and the MiddleUpper Miocene. Field analysis and
geophysical modelling show that one
of the main processes at the origin of
this erosion is an uplift associated with

226

a major lithospheric thinning. The age

of the relief building related to this
thinning is comprised between the
Upper Eocene and the Upper Miocene. It is worth noting that this
Upper EoceneUpper Miocene period
is also characterized by the onset of
intense magmatic activity in the Atlas
system, with a highest alkaline volcanic production during the Middle
Miocene (see review in El Azzouzi
et al., 1999).

Conclusion
The AFT ages discussed in this study
are the rst from the inner MHA.
They are also the rst ssion-track

This research was funded by the CNRSINSU Relief programme and by the Action
Integree
Volubilis,
Project
MA 05 125. We are grateful to C. Doglioni (Ed.) for his comments on this manuscript. We thank J. Van den Driessche and
A. Teixell for their careful reviews that
strongly enhanced the text. We are also
grateful to A. Michard for his help and
fruitful discussions.

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