Field reconnaissance of the Anti-Atlas coastline, Morocco: fluvial and marine evidence for Late Cenozoic uplift

Westaway, R., Aït Hssaine, A., Demir, T. and Beck, A. (2009) Field reconnaissance of the Anti-Atlas coastline, Morocco: fluvial and marine evidence for Late Cenozoic uplift. Global and Planetary Change, 68(4), pp. 297-310. (doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2009.03.016)

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Abstract

The available evidence regarding the disposition and chronology of Pliocene–Pleistocene fluvial terraces, coastal rock flats, raised beaches and lacustrine sediments adjoining the Anti-Atlas coastline of Morocco has been reviewed and supplemented by additional information from our own field reconnaissance. It is thus suggested that the study region has experienced uplift by ∼ 130 m since the Mid-Pliocene climatic optimum (∼ 3.1 Ma), by ∼ 90 m since the latest Pliocene (∼ 2 Ma), and by ∼ 45 m since the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (∼ 0.9 Ma). Each of these phases of uplift correlates with a phase of global climate change known independently, and it is thus inferred that the observed uplift is being driven by climate through mechanisms such as erosional isostasy and the associated induced lower-crustal flow. Numerical modelling of the observed uplift history indicates that the mobile lower-crustal layer in the study region is ∼ 9 km thick, with a temperature at its base of ∼ 500 °C. The base of this mobile layer is inferred to be at ∼ 24 km depth, the deepest crust consisting of a layer of mafic underplating that does not flow under ambient conditions. The principal landform in the study region, the coastal rock platform at ∼ 60 m a.s.l., thus formed during a succession of interglacial marine highstands in the late Early Pleistocene when uplift rates were low. Although control on the ages of young sediments and landforms is currently extremely limited, being dependent on regional correlation schemes rather than on absolute dating, the study region fits the pattern, emerging worldwide, that climate change is driving the systematic growth of topographic relief evident during the Late Cenozoic.

Item Type:Articles
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Westaway, Dr Robert
Authors: Westaway, R., Aït Hssaine, A., Demir, T., and Beck, A.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
Journal Name:Global and Planetary Change
Publisher:Elsevier
ISSN:0921-8181

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