New insights into sedimentological and geochemical conditions of marine Pleistocene sediments in the Tangier region (Morocco): First implications for paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic reconstructions

Abstract

The Pleistocene period is characterized by important periodic climatic variations, marked by alternating arid and humid phases. This work aims to reconstruct the prevailing Pleistocene paleoenvironment and paleoclimate in the Tangier area based on a multidisciplinary study of a marine formation dating from 125 ka. Field investigations and sedimentological, micropaleontological, mineralogical, and geochemical analyses were carried out on samples from the Pleistocene Achakkar formation. The granulometric study, combined with a morphoscopic, exoscopic analysis of quartz grains and evidence for diverse benthic foraminifera, suggests a low-energy marine depositional environment, most likely foreshore to shoreface. Moreover, analysis of clay minerals and major elements suggests mineralogical evolution, indicating an arid climate. The sedimentary successions of the Pleistocene Achakkar littoral are progressively more and more coarse; emplacement was subject to several interactive factors, such as climatic and eustatic responsible for reconstituting the geological history of the Tangier Peninsula.