Aerial interference of Hercynian folds and their morphological peculiarities in the Bani Geopark of southern Morocco

Abstract

The Bani Geopark of southern Morocco belongs to the chain of Anti-Atlas; it is characterized by a very heterogeneous ductile deformation, materialized by the succession of two Hercynian folding phases. The latter were controlled by Precambrian basement fractures that played into normal faults that replayed in reverse faults at the end of the Hercynian orogeny. It will be shown that this adaptation of the base to the cover propagates and amortizes laterally and vertically, giving rise to a very heterogeneous deformation. In the Tata-Akka region, the interference of these two phases of folding is spectacular in aerial view. In several places, it has generated structural patterns, some of which are known as “egg tray,” which show a great diversity of relief shapes after erosion processes. Other interference patterns recall the shape of mushrooms belonging to the second type according to the Ramsay classification. Of these facts, it presents a scientific interest for the researchers, esthetic for the geotourism, and educational in the field of Earth sciences. In this work, we will first highlight the general characteristics of the two phases of folding in the Tata-Akka area; then, we will try, through a scientific mediation, in a tourist perspective, to understand the origin, singularity, and value of forms of relief involved in this type of deformation. It is also a question of showing the pedagogical integration concerning the close relations between the folded geological structure and the formation of relief in the potential tourist circuits of the Bani Geopark of southern Morocco.