Magnetic fabrics in the Jurassic–Cretaceous continental basins of the northern part of the Central High Atlas (Morocco): Geodynamic implications

Abstract

The aim of this work is to study the Anisotropy of the Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) in two Jurassic–Cretaceous synclines located in the northern border of the Central High Atlas (Morocco): the Aït Attab and Ouaouizaght basins. AMS is used in order to obtain the magnetic fabric and its relationship with the kinematic evolution of both basins. The tectonic evolution of the basins, still under discussion, is mostly considered as the result of inversion during Tertiary and perhaps since Bathonian, of extensional and/or strike-slip Jurassic basins. Both basins are filled with Upper Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous silts and sandstones, with less frequent marine marly limestones.The bulk magnetic susceptibility (km) generally shows higher values in the red facies (163.2 E−6 in AT and 168.6 E−6 in WZ) than in the yellowish marly limestones (97.88 E−6 in AT and 132 E−6 in WZ). Most sites show an oblate magnetic fabric. The rock magnetic analyses indicate that the main carrier of the magnetic susceptibility for the red facies is hematite, whereas in the yellowish facies there is a dominance of paramagnetic minerals. In both basins, the magnetic lineation (long axis of the ellipsoid, kmax axes) shows a predominant E–W direction. The overlapping of the stress fields during the Atlasic basins evolution, in both compressional and extensional regimes and hinder the straightforward interpretation of the magnetic fabrics. However, a coeval N–S compression during the times of sedimentation with an E–W transtension can explain the magnetic lineation found in many of the sites analyzed in the present work. There are also other less frequent directions of kmax axes (NE–SW and NW–SE) are interpreted as the result of local change of the stress field during the early extensional stage of basin formation.