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Lower Cryogenian calc-alkaline mafic rocks of the Western Anti-Atlas (Morocco): An example of orogenic-like magmatism in an extensional setting

Authors :
Alain Cheilletz
E.H. El Aouli
Dominique Gasquet
Foray, Charlotte
Département de Géologie [Agadir]
Université Ibn Zohr [Agadir]
Environnements, Dynamiques et Territoires de la Montagne (EDYTEM)
Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry])-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques (CRPG)
Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Source :
Journal of African Earth Sciences, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Elsevier, 2010, pp.81-88
Publication Year :
2010
Publisher :
HAL CCSD, 2010.

Abstract

International audience; The lower Cryogenian mafic magmatism from the Igherm, Ifni and Kerdous inliers (Moroccan Western Anti-Atlas) have calc-alkaline, tholeiitic and alkaline affinities. The calc-alkaline dolerite dykes and gabbros bodies emplaced before the conglomeratic formations of the Upper Cryogenian and after the tholeiitic mafic rocks that characterize the pre-Pan-African rifting. They are similar to rocks from orogenic setting and characterized by high LILE, Th, Ce, P, Sm contents and La/Nb ratio and a low HFSE content with negative anomalies in Nb, Zr and Ti. The geodynamic environment of the sedimentary country rocks corresponds to that of a passive margin in a distensive tectonic context. The calc-alkaline affinity of these magmas can be attributed to the influence of a Palaeoproterozoic subduction zone that contributed to the enrichment of the sub-continental mantle. During the extensional event of the Pan-African orogenesis, the mantle would have produced tholeiitic, alkaline and/or transitional magmas before melting (caused by adiabatic decompression) reached the enriched sub-continental mantle. This mantle was previously enriched during the Eburnean subduction, where it would have generated calc-alkaline magmas.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1464343X and 18791956
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Journal of African Earth Sciences, Journal of African Earth Sciences, Elsevier, 2010, pp.81-88
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....a063919a6c42c377316ff3b1194a617f