A Reconsideration of Pan African Orogenic Cycle in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco

The term 'Pan African' orogeny was first proposed in 1964 for a tectonothermal event in Africa ~ 500+/- 50 Ma. Over the past 50 years, the Pan African orogeny has been extended to as much as ~1050-450 Ma and recognized in other Gondwanan continents where regional names such as Brasiliano (South America), Adelaidean (Australian) and Bearmore (Antarctica) have been applied. The Pan African time span of ~500 million years is much longer than any Phanerozoic orogeny. However, it does correlate with time ranges of well defined Phanerozoic orogenic cycles such as the Appalachian cycle, extending from ~1,100 to 250 Ma, and the Cordilleran cycle of ~350 Ma to the present. A significant difference of course is that the Appalachian orogenic cycle has long been recognized as consisting of separate Grenville, Taconic, Acadian and Alleghenian orogenies. Similarly, the Mesozoic-Cenozoic Cordilleran orogenic cycle consists of distinct Antler, Sonoma, Nevadan, Sevier, Laramide and ongoing Cascadian-Andean orogenies. Until recently, the absence of precise geochronology in West Africa has prevented a more refined analysis of individual orogenic events within the Pan-African orogenic cycle. Since 2000, precision geochronologic dating by various researchers in the Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco, has provided critical data by which it is now appropriate to designate a Pan African orogenic cycle consisting of three separate orogenic events. We herein propose the following distinct orogenic events in the Anti-Atlas Mountains of Morocco: Iriri-Tichibanine orogeny (750-700 Ma), Bou Azzer orogeny (660-640 Ma) and the WACadomian orogeny (620-580 Ma). Generalized tectonic map of the Anti-Atlas Mountain inliers (Adapted from Ennih and Liégeois, 2008).

Geodynamic model of the Pan African orogenic cycle in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. Modified from Walsh et al. (2012) and incorporating ideas from Thomas et al. (2002) and El Hadi et al. (2012).