Magnetic fabric and flow direction in the Ediacaran Imider dyke swarms (Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco), inferred from the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS)

Abstract

Located in the Imiter Inlier (Eastern Saghro, Anti-Atlas, Morocco), Ediacaran volcanic dykes have been studied for their petrofabric using Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) technique. Four dykes, namely TF, TD, FF and FE show andesitic compositions and are considered to belong to the same dyke swarm. They are oriented respectively N25E, N40E, N50E, and N10E and have been emplaced during a first tectonic event. The dyke FW, oriented N90E displays a composition of alkali basalt and its emplacement is attributed to a subsequent tectonic event.These rocks are propylitized under greenschist facies conditions forming a secondary paragenesis constituted by calcite, chlorite, epidote and sericite. The dykes TF, TD, FF and FE are sub-volcanic calc-alkaline, typical of post-collisional basalts/andesites, belonging to plate margin andesites. The FW dyke shows a within-plate basalt signature; alkaline affinity reflecting a different petrogenetic process.The thermomagnetic analyses show a dominantly ferromagnetic behaviour in the TF dyke core carried by single domain Ti-poor magnetite, maghemite and pyrrhotite. The dominantly paramagnetic susceptibilities in TF dyke rims and TD, FE, FF and FW dykes are controlled by ilmenite, amphibole, pyroxene and chlorite.The magnetic fabrics of the Imider dykes, determined by our AMS study, allows us to reconstitute the tectonic conditions which prevailed during the emplacement of these two generations of volcanic dykes. The first tectonic event was characterized by a roughly NE-SW compression and the second tectonic event is characterized by an E-W shortening followed by a relaxation recording the end of the Pan-African orogeny in the eastern Anti-Atlas.