SEDIMENTARY EVOLUTION AND PALEOGRAPHY OF LATE JURASSIC AND EARLIEST CRETACEOUS DEPOSITS FROM EASTERN RIF FORELAND (MOROCCO)

The late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous sediments of the eastern Rif foreland are represented by four formations of terrigenous and carbonate platform. From middle Oxfordian to early Kimmeridgian, a deltaic complex was bounded northward and eastward by a sandy strand plain with a barrier made of oolitic and bioclastic limestones. From late Kimmeridgian to early-middle Berriasian a carbonate rimmed shelf and ramp were developed and characterized by a fine grained sedimentation in very shallow water favouring the life of green algae and benthonic foraminifera. In the successive palaeogeographic reconstructions, isopic lines are mainly oriented N045-070 and N110-130 and interpreted as the result of the synsedimentary reactivation of deep seated inherited fault zones. Extension along the N045-070 trend seems to be linked with a general divergence between Africa and Iberia; the N110-130 trends are considered as transfert faults in the Mograbin Tethys transform system.