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Over 10,000 published detrital zircon ages have been reprocessed (applying a +10% normal and reverse concordance range) and analysed to understand the evolution of the detrital zircon record of north‐west Africa during the Phanerozoic. Using dissimilarity and clustering analysis, shifts in detrital zircon populations allow interpretation of the evolution of source regions and source to sink systems throughout the Phanerozoic within the West Gondwana superfan. Previous thermochronology and field studies conducted across north‐west Africa indicate significant and sustained shifts in source regions in Meso‐Cenozoic times which are not recorded in the detrital zircon geochronology record. This discrepancy is most notable for Mesozoic to modern source to sink studies focused on the evolution of the Atlasic rift and opening of the Atlantic and Tethyan Oceans to the west and north respectively. Our results indicate a high degree of similarity between samples from Cambrian times onwards due to successive phases of sediment recycling. This highlights the need to integrate detrital zircon analysis with other techniques to provide confident reconstruction of sediment routing systems across Morocco. This systematic review also reveals the ubiquitous occurrence of Mesoproterozoic zircons within Moroccan sediment. No basement of this age is known from north‐west Africa—often described as the 'Mesoproterozoic Gap', which was thought to be a diagnostic feature of sediment derived from the West African Craton. However, zircons of this age form 7% of all analysed zircons and are present in sediments from at least 700 Ma. The presence of this population is interpreted as strongly diagnostic of provenance from either the Amazonian Craton or the Eastern Gondwana Orogen within Central Africa. Their presence in the Moroccan detrital record from the Neoproterozoic onwards raises questions about the position of the West African Craton in the Proterozoic, and for the spatial extent of Mesoproterozoic orogeny within north Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent thermochronological work has established several uplift phases in the main orogenic belts of Morocco (the Moroccan Mesetian and Atlasic domains). The results identify: (1) km-scale uplift and subsidence episodes recorded during the post-rift evolution of the margin (Jurassic to Lower Cretaceous) and (2) well-constrained highly asynchronous dynamic vertical movements in the northern (Meseta and Western High Atlas) and southern domains (Anti-Atlas and Reguibat Shield). This evolution highlights a more tectonic active flank of a passive margin than previously recognised, which will have controlled both the origin and distribution of sediments delivered to the subsiding basins along the margin. Untangling the complex post-rift evolution of the NW African margin is fundamental to constraining the behaviour of the shallow-marine to fluvial transition zone as well as the formation and distribution of potential reservoirs.The Lower Cretaceous regression recorded in the Essaouira-Agadir basin with shallow-marine to fluvial coarse siliciclastic units, and potentially deepwater facies, are an exploration target offshore. However, limited success in recent drilling campaigns reflects the poor understanding of the depositional systems from source to sink and its links to the eroding hinterland.This integrated provenance analysis offers new constraints on a regional source to sink model of North West Africa by deciphering the controls, timing and volume of the sediment supply to the margin and by providing new evidence of the importance of sediment recycling, mixing and storage. The main focus is on the late Early Cretaceous (Latest Barremian to Earliest Aptian) marine regression that is associated with substantial input of detrital sediments into the deep-water basins. The study area offers a unique opportunity to study a well constrained source to sink system, where integration of data from superbly exposed outcrops with tectonic analysis allows testing of models for delivery, mixing and storage and development of new models for the evolution of passive margins and controls on sediment delivery. To assess the multiple origins of the sediment supply, a detailed petrographic study has been conducted along with SEM and QEMSCAN imagery. It has demonstrated the occurrence of various granitic and volcanic clasts mixed with recycled sedimentary grains, likely from both intrabasinal and hinterland origin. Generation of reconstructed palaeogeological maps integrated with detrital zircon geochronology and heavy mineral analysis indicates a source shift between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous, with an input of sediments likely from the Anti-Atlas during the Lower Cretaceous. The study is currently focusing on source discrimination based on the heavy mineral populations and erosion modelling. This would yield data not only on the provenance but will have implications on the sediment volumes and nature allowing a better prediction of the potential offshore reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]