Structural setting and ophiolitic nature of Jurassic basic rocks associated with the Maghrebian flyschs in the Rif (Morocco) and Sicily (Italy).

At both ends of the Maghrebides belt, in the Rif Mountains and Sicily, Midd le to Upper Jurassic slices of basic rocks with an E-MORB character are ass ociated with various tectonic units of the Maghrebian flysch zone. This zon e, which was located between the internal zones, originally linked to the E uropean plate and the African external zones of this Alpine belt, was there fore oceanized, at least partially, and acted as a transform fault between the mid Atlantic and the Ligurian ocean, both of them being open at that ti me. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences /Editions scientifiques et medicales Els evier SAS.