The abundance of the NE-SW direction veins mineralized in barite, copper, lead and zinc in the Tadaout-Tizi n'Rsas (TTR) anticline make this area one of the principal vein fields in Tafilalet (easternmost border of the Eastern Anti-Atlas). Reactivation of faults and alternation of competent (thicks Ordovician series, Silurian limestone and Devonian limestone) and incompetent levels (Silurian shales and Devonian marls) have an important role in the deformation of the TTR anticline during the NE-SW Variscan shortening. Our work based on lineaments extraction using a Landsat 8 OLI combined with some geological cross sections, shows a N130° major fold corresponding to TTR anticline. This big fold shows internal N130°, N95° and N20° minor folds. This structure indicates that the TTR area was formed in the hinge between the Anti-Atlas and the Ougarta belts. A number of these folds are the consequence of the underlying Precambrian faults reactivation and alternation of competent and incompetent levels. Brittle tectonics is dominated by NE-SW normal faults which result from the NE-SW shortening consequence of the Gondwana and Eurasia continents collision. Consequently, the mineralization of TTR is necessarily related to late or post-Variscan orogeny.

Extraction of mineral resources is the backbone of the national economy in many developed and developing countries of the world. However, the exploitation can have many negative impacts on the immediate environment of the exploitation sites. In this study performed on some mining areas of the Moroccan Anti-Atlas, four principal negative effects were detected: effect on the physiognomy, on safety, on health, and on recovery rate. The principal source of this situation is the exploitation of the ore deposits from top to bottom without using any geological preparation and the use of non-adapted exploitation technics. To minimize these impacts, we propose to establish a geological study and advanced mining exploration before starting exploitation, and follow an exploitation technic well adapted to the morphology of the ore deposit like cut-and-fill mining and sublevel stoping methods.

International audienceIn the Tifnoute Valley, three plutonic units have been defined: the Askaoun intrusion, the Imourkhssen intrusion and the Ougougane group of small intrusions. They are made of quartz diorite, granodiorite and granite and all contain abundant mafic microgranular enclaves (MME). The Askaoun granodiorite and the Imourkhssen granite have been dated by LA-ICP-MS on zircon at 558 ± 2 Ma and 561 ± 3 Ma, respectively. These granitic intrusions are subcontemporaneous to the widespread volcanic and volcano-detrital rocks from the Ouarzazate Group (580-545 Ma), marking the post-collisional transtensional period in the Anti-Atlas and which evolved towards alkaline and tholeiitic lavas in minor volume at the beginning of the Cambrian anorogenic intraplate extensional period. Geochemically, the Tifnoute Valley granitoids belong to an alkali-calcic series (high-K calc-alkaline) with typical Nb-Ta negative anomalies and no alkaline affinities. Granitoids and enclaves display positive εNd-560Ma (+0.8 to +3.5) with young Nd-TDM between 800 and 1200 Ma and relatively low 87Sr/86Sr initial ratios (Sri: 0.7034 and 0.7065). These values indicate a mainly juvenile source corresponding to a Pan-African metasomatized lithospheric mantle partly mixed with an old crustal component from the underlying West African Craton (WAC). Preservation in the Anti-Atlas of pre-Pan-African lithologies (c. 2.03 Ga basement, c. 800 Ma passive margin greenschist-facies sediments, allochthonous 750-700 Ma ophiolitic sequences) indicates that the Anti-Atlas lithosphere has not been thickened and was never an active margin during the Neoproterozoic. After a transpressive period, the late Ediacaran period (580-545 Ma) is marked by movement on near vertical transtensional faults, synchronous with the emplacement of the huge Ouarzazate Group and the Tifnoute Valley granitoids. We propose here a geodynamical model where the Tifnoute Valley granitoids as well as the Ouarzazate Group were generated during the post-collisional metacratonic evolution of the northern boundary of the West African craton. The convergence with the peri-Gondwanan active margin produced brittle fracturing of the cratonic boundary without thickening, allowing rising of magmas. The Tifnoute Valley granitoids display a metasomatized lithospheric mantle source mixed with a minor ancient (2 Ga) continental crust component from the underlying WAC

El Jbel Tijekht es una de las estructuras geológicas más importantes de la cordillera de Ougnat-Ouzina en el Anti-Atlas Oriental. Este macizo en forma de media luna fue afectado por una red de fracturas que es visible a diferentes escalas. Es particularmente rico en vetas mineralizadas de barita y está asociado con otros minerales (por ejemplo, pirita, calcopirita, esfalerita y galena). Para estudiar los sistemas de fracturas en la zona minera de Jbel Tijekht, optamos por una combinación de teledetección e investigación de campo que se convirtió en una importante herramienta para la cartografía de las fracturas y la exploración de minerales. Este trabajo presenta un enfoque metodológico para detectar los lineamientos estructurales. Para ello, se aplicaron diversas técnicas a la imagen del Landsat 8 para mejorar la visibilidad de las estructuras lineales. Tras correcciones radiométricas y atmosféricas, los colores compuestos y los filtros direccionales aplicados al componente principal (PC1) se pudo establecer un mapa de lineamientos para Jbel Tijekht. La validación y corrección de estos lineamientos se basan en documentos preexistentes combinados con observaciones de campo. El análisis estadístico del mapa de lineamientos permite la identificación de al menos tres sistemas de fractura direccional con orientaciones promedio NS, NE-SW y ENE-WSW. Los sistemas NS y NE-SW muestran una alta densidad en la mayor parte del área de estudio. Estos resultados claramente se superponen a diferentes estructuras tectónicas y a las vetas existentes. Esto permitió establecer un vínculo geológico entre la litología, los sistemas de fracturas y la mineralización. La densidad de fracturas puede atribuirse a las últimas fases de fragilidad del orógeno varisco, lo que refleja la reología de las unidades de roca; la alta densidad de fractura se observa en las rocas competentes como las areniscas de Tabanit. Estas zonas constituyen un área favorable para los depósitos de mineralización.

Located in the eastern part of the Anti-Atlas, the Tafilalet region shows numerous dykes and sills that crosscut the Paleozoic terrains. The magmatic structures (dykes and sills) of the Tadaout-Tizi n'Rsas (TTR) anticline is studied here, it located neighboring the main branch of the Anti-Atlas Major Fault (AAMF), known in this location as the Oumejrane-Taouz Fault (OJTF). The N20° to N60°t rending dykes crosscut the Paleozoic formations (Ordovician to Devonian), whereas sills are injected into the Silurian and Devonian ones. The dyke swarms of TTR have been studied using the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS), petrographic study and structural analyses. The petrographic study of the TTR doleritic dykes shows a dominance of plagioclase feldspars, alkali feldspars, amphiboles, pyroxenes and biotite. The dykes contain also mesotype (natrolite), sphene (titanite), apatite, actinolite and pegmatitic enclaves of biotite, orthoclase feldspars and pelites. Concerning field works, they show the deformation of TTR dykes by the Variscan tectonics events, it is marked by the presence of displacements (strike-slip faults) and cleavages. The Magnetic Susceptibility (MS) measured on magmatic specimens show the dominance of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic minerals. The high values of MS in the dykes are due to the presence of hematite, amphibole, pyroxene and biotite. In addition their magnetic fabric, determined by our AMS study, allows us to reconstitute the tectonic event which affected the magmatic bodies. This one is characterized by a magnetic foliation and a NNW-trending lineation that reflect the Variscan shortening orientation.