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Fission track thermochronology of the Beni Bousera peridotite massif (Internal Rif, Morocco) and the exhumation of ultramafic rocks in the Gibraltar Arc

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Abstract

The Beni Bousera peridotite massif and its metamorphic surrounding rocks have been analyzed by the fission track (FT) method. The aim was to determine the cooling and uplift history of these mantle and associated crustal rocks after the last major metamorphic event that dates back to the Lower Miocene–Upper Oligocene time (∼22–24 Ma). The zircon FT analyses give an average cooling—i.e., below 320 °C—age of ∼19.5 Ma. In addition, the apatite FT data give an average cooling—i.e., below 110 °C—age of ∼15.5 Ma. Taking into account the thermal properties of the different thermochronological systems used in this work, we have estimated a rate of cooling close to 50 °C/Ma. This cooling rate constrains a denudation rate of about ∼2 mm year−1 from 20 to 15 Ma. These results are similar to those determined in the Ronda peridotite massif of the Betic Cordilleras documenting that some ultrabasic massifs of the internal zones of the two segments of the Gibraltar Arc have a similar evolution. However, Burdigalian sediments occur along the Betic segment (Alozaina area, western Betic segment) unconformably overlying peridotite. At this site, ultramafic rock was exposed to weathering at ages ranging from 20.43 to 15.97 Ma. Since the Beni Bousera peridotite was still at depth until 15.5 Ma, we infer that no simple age projection from massif to massif is possible along the Gibraltar Arc. Moreover, the confined fission track lengths data reveal that a light warming (∼100 °C) has reheated the massif during the Late Miocene before the Pliocene–Quaternary tectonic uplift.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the professors A. Jabaloy and G. Booth Rea (Granada University, Spain) for their comments and corrections. We also thank Professor R. A. Ketcham to have placed at our disposal the HeFTy software. The Pierre et Marie Curie University together with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France) and the Mohammed 1 University of Oujda (Morocco) allowed one of us (J. Bourgois) to be funded for field work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire de Géosciences Appliquées, Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed 1, Oujda, Morocco

    Ali Azdimousa

  2. Institut des Sciences de la Terre Paris (iSTeP), UMR 7193, UPMC-CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 4 place Jussieu, 75252, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Jacques Bourgois

  3. Centre de Recherche de Physique Appliquée à l’Archéologie et Institut de Recherche sur les Archéomatériaux, UMR 5060, CNRS and Université Bordeaux 3, Esplanade des Antilles, 33607, Pessac, France

    Gérard Poupeau

  4. Andean Geothermal Center of Excellence (CEGA), Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Mercedes Vázquez

  5. Institut Scientifique, Université Mohammed V, BP. 704, Rabat-Agdal, Morocco

    Lahcen Asebriy

  6. Laboratoire de Géodynamique des Chaînes Alpines, UMR 5025, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France

    Erika Labrin

  7. Department of Geology, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

    Mercedes Vázquez

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  1. Ali Azdimousa
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  2. Jacques Bourgois
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  3. Gérard Poupeau
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  4. Mercedes Vázquez
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  5. Lahcen Asebriy
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  6. Erika Labrin
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Correspondence to Ali Azdimousa.

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Azdimousa, A., Bourgois, J., Poupeau, G. et al. Fission track thermochronology of the Beni Bousera peridotite massif (Internal Rif, Morocco) and the exhumation of ultramafic rocks in the Gibraltar Arc. Arab J Geosci 7, 1993–2005 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0924-3

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