Abstract
The Precambrian inliers of the Anti Atlas belt located at the southern part of Morocco contain numerous mafic dyke and sill swarms thought to represent the erosional remnants of Proterozoic Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs). As part of a continuing research campaign to date and characterize these LIPs, four dykes have been dated by the U–Pb TIMS (Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry) method on baddeleyite and zircon: ca. 1758Ma in the Tagragra of Akka inlier, 1741±10Ma in the Tafeltast-Kerdous inlier, 1746.8±3.7Ma in the Iguerda-Taïfast and 1734±5Ma in the Zenaga inlier. The age matches (and chemical features akin to continental flood basalts) confirm a widespread intraplate magmatic event at 1750Ma, herein termed the Tagragra of Akka LIP, that represents an important new magmatic ‘barcode’ line for the West African Craton (WAC). Contemporaneous 1750Ma LIP magmatism is reported in other crustal blocks including northwestern Laurentia and Siberia; together with the newly defined Tagragra of Akka event of the Anti Atlas region of the WAC this widespread 1750Ma magmatism is postulated to collectively constitute a single huge LIP associated with a breakup attempt of Nuna (Columbia) shortly after its final assembly at ca. 1.8Ga.
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