ORDIVICIAN DEFORMATIONS IN THE SEHOUL ZON E (NORTHERN MOROCCO) - A CALEDONIAN OROGENESIS IN NORTHERN AFRICA

The Sehoul Zone of northern Morocco differs from the remainder of the Hercynides in having the structural signature of an earlier event of d eformation, Folds and thrusts overturned to the south affect an area i n which Cambrian rocks are represented. The schistose epizonal metamor phism and a granodiorite intrusion have been dated by various methods as being Middle to Late Ordovician in age. This structurally particula r Sehoul Zone was subsequently refolded during the Hercynian orogenesi s at early Carboniferous time. The tectono-metamorphic evolution of th e Sehoul Zone is contemporaneous with the deformation recognized in oc eanic drill holes on the Atlantic margin of Morocco, offshore from El Jadida. This orogenic evolution that affected the northern and western margins of Morocco was contemporaneous with the known Taconic events of the Appalachian chain.