Research Article| September 01, 2000 Role of the Atlas Mountains (northwest Africa) within the African-Eurasian plate-boundary zone Francisco Gomez; Francisco Gomez 1Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Weldon Beauchamp; Weldon Beauchamp 1Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Muawia Barazangi Muawia Barazangi 1Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Francisco Gomez 1Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Weldon Beauchamp 1Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Muawia Barazangi 1Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 25 Feb 2000 Revision Received: 13 Jun 2000 Accepted: 14 Jun 2000 First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2682 Print ISSN: 0091-7613 Geological Society of America Geology (2000) 28 (9): 775–778. https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<775:ROTAMN>2.0.CO;2 Article history Received: 25 Feb 2000 Revision Received: 13 Jun 2000 Accepted: 14 Jun 2000 First Online: 02 Jun 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Francisco Gomez, Weldon Beauchamp, Muawia Barazangi; Role of the Atlas Mountains (northwest Africa) within the African-Eurasian plate-boundary zone. Geology 2000;; 28 (9): 775–778. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2000)28<775:ROTAMN>2.0.CO;2 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract The magnitudes and timing of deformation in the intracontinental Atlas Mountains of northern Africa suggest that the Atlas Mountains have been an integral part of the African-Eurasian plate-boundary zone in the western Mediterranean during the Cenozoic. Shortening of the Moroccan Atlas has accommodated 17%–45% of the total African-Eurasian plate convergence since the early Miocene, whereas the majority of the plate convergence is accommodated in the Rif-Betic-Alboran region. Although the latter underwent other geodynamic processes, as demonstrated by extension of the Alboran Sea contemporaneous with plate convergence, shortening directions in the Atlas are generally consistent with ongoing plate convergence and show no influence of these additional processes. In the framework of plate tectonics, the western Mediterranean region, including the Atlas system, should be regarded as a diffuse plate boundary in which the Atlas Mountains comprise narrow deformable zones bounding larger, relatively rigid crustal blocks. The deformable zones reflect the influence of crustal structures inherited from a major early Mesozoic episode of intracontinental rifting in the Atlas. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.