The late Miocene Mediterranean-Atlantic connections through the North Rifian Corridor: New insights from the Boudinar and Arbaa Taourirt basins (northeastern Rif, Morocco)

From Extension to Shortening: Tectonic Inversion Distributed in Time and Space in the Alboran Sea, Western Mediterranean

“…Considering this complex scenario, the Miocene SW‐NE trending normal faults recognized in the central and southern Alboran Sea could have had a significant strike‐slip left‐lateral component and therefore may have acted as transtensional structures. This is consistent with the Miocene strike‐slip movement of the SW‐NE trending Jebha and Nekor faults reported onshore Morocco (e.g., Achalhi et al, ; Azdimousa et al, ; Benmakhlouf et al, ; Chalouan & Michard, ) and would also agree with the hypothesis that the Alboran Channel began to form as a Miocene transtensional corridor bounded by two SW‐NE trending faults (Willet, ).…”

“…In the Rif, Tortonian deposits seal normal fault systems that show extension with SSW‐directed or NE‐directed transport directions (e.g., Booth‐Rea et al, ; Chalouan et al, ) (Figure ). The Jebha and Nekor faults acted as left‐lateral transfer faults accommodating variable rates of extension between the major normal‐fault systems during the Oligocene to middle Miocene (e.g., Achalhi et al, ; Benmakhlouf et al, ; Galindo‐Zaldívar et al, ). A later Miocene N‐S extension controlled the formation of the southern Melilla Basin (e.g., Azdimousa et al, ).…”

“…Onshore‐offshore correlations indicate that the Boudinar and Melilla basins are the emergent parts of the SAB (Achalhi et al, ; Cornée et al, ) (Figure ). The two main structural trends in the Moroccan basins can be correlated with the extensional episodes recognized in the Alboran Sea.…”

“…In the Melilla Basin, the low‐angle extensional detachments were cut by later WSW‐ENE trending systems of high‐angle normal faults recording a younger episode of N‐S extension. Marine ingressions from the Alboran Sea to the North African basins occurred from late Tortonian to Quaternary (Achalhi et al, ; Poujol et al, ). Thus, the offshore Miocene SW‐NE trending depocentre to the NW of Melilla might be the continuation of the northern Melilla Basin (Azdimousa & Bourgois, ) (Figure ).…”

Structure and exhumation of the Cap des Trois Fourches basement rocks (Eastern Rif, Morocco)

“…The horizontal brittle-ductile fault at the base of the Taïdant covering the subhorizontal detachment fault indicate that this fault was exposed at eroding agents during Tortonian times. This is in good agreement with the evolution described in the Boudinar basin further west (Azdimousa et al, 2006;Galindo-Zaldivar et al, 2015;Jabaloy et al, 2015;Achalhi et al, 2016). The last brittle deformation events have recorded a NNW-SSE compression and a WSW-ENE extension of Messinian age.…”