THE TRIASSIC-LIASSIC BASINS OF WESTERN MO ROCCO AND THE DIACHRONOUS INTRACONTINENTAL CENTRAL ATLANTIC RIFTING

Interpretation of industrial seismic reflection profiles along the Atl antic Moroccan margin allows to reconstruct the geometry of the synrif t basins and kinematics of the intracontinental Central Atlantic rifti ng. This extensive event was marked by a Triassic-Liassic horst and gr aben regional pattern. A first Carnian faulting phase, recorded in the eastern part of the Essaouira basin and the Souss basin, controlled d eposition of coarse and sandy synrift sequences. A younger, pelitic-ev aporitic synrift sequence is present over the entire margin. It regist ers a second, northward spreading fracturation episode developed from the Tarfaya southern basin to the Doukkala northern basin during the N orian-Hettangian times. From this structural regional point of view an d at that scale, the Central Atlantic ocean opened diachronously.