The Upper Jurassic-lower Cretaceous Siliciclastic System in the Morocco Offshore - Prevenance, Transport and Deposition

Abstract

SUMMARYThe Morocco segment of the Central Atlantic passive continental margin experienced km-scale exhumation during the early post-rift (late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous). In the Meseta and the High Atlas this led to the development of a N-S trending ridge sourcing terrigenous sediments which were brought to the Atlantic sea via wide rivers flowing on fairly flat plains. In correspondence with the W termination of the High Atlas, waters were deeper and no terrigenous sediments are found in the Lower Cretaceous. South of the High Atlas, exhumation followed a different pattern and led to the formation of a WSW-ENE striking topgraphic high which formed the first order divide of the region. Coeval sediments along the coast are sands to conglomerates deposited mainly in fluvial systems. The source-to-sink approach helps in predicting offshore distribution and characteristics of the sand bodies which form one of the most interesting reservoirs along the coast of NW Africa