Intracontinental Rifting and Inversion: the Missour
Basin and Atlas Mountains of Morocco.
The Atlas mountains were formed by reactivation of the rift decollement
and related syn-rift normal faults as thrusts, fault-bend
and fault-propagation style folding, and duplex fault zones within
the Paleozoic above the reactivated decollement. Structural styles were
studied using field data,seismic reflection
data, LANDSAT-TM, air photos and well data.
Evolution of the High
Atlas Mountain Belt in Morocco. Based
on a Geological and Geophysical Transect. A transect was constructed to
better understand the tectonic evolution of the intracontinental rift basin
to a major mountain belt. Seismic reflection data acquired by ONAREP (Office
National de Recherches et d'Exploitations Petrolieres), was reprocessed,
and combined with field mapping, LANDSAT-TM and gravity
and magnetic data to enable the construction of a balanced GGT transect
across the Atlas mountains.
Superpositional Folding in the High Atlas Mountains,
Morocco: A Result of the Inversion of a Syn-Rift
Accommodation Zone. Superpositional folding in the Atlas mountains has
resulted in apparent "polyphase" deformation. It is proposed
that the superposed folding recognized in the High Atlas mountains was
formed by the reactivation of syn-rift normal faults across an accomodation
zone in a single phase of deformation.
The Tectonic Evolution of the Atlas Mountains, North Africa. It
is proposed to construct a map that documents the tectonic elements of
the Atlas mountains, using remote sensing imagery,
published geological maps, data from field mapping and GIS. These tectonic
elements will help identify the stress orientations resulting from the
interaction of the North African and European tectonic plates.
Location Map of LANDSAT-TM scenes at Cornell
used for the project.
The Study of the Tectonic History of the Atlas Rift and Mountains using
Apatite Fission Track and Vitrinite Reflectance Data. Apatite
fission track data was collected to document two phases of uplift and inversion
of the Atlas rift system. The first event occurred between 160-75 Ma (Upper
Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous). This event may be related to the opening of
the Atlantic and subsequent isostatic uplift of the Atlantic rift margins.
The second phase of cooling occurred between 20-30 Ma (Miocene-Oligocene).
This uplift phase corresponds to the Alpine orogenic event, responsible
for the major uplift and inversion of the Atlas mountains. This research
is in collaboration with GEOTRACK International Pty. Ltd. , Melbourne University,
Australia .
