Widespread Cadomian-Pan-African Ediacaran magmatism across the Moroccan Meseta: Implication for the geodynamic evolution of the NW Gondwana margin

The Moroccan Meseta constitutes a key peri-Gondwanan and Variscan terranes linking the branches between the SW European Cadomian and the north West African Craton (WAC), anti-Atlas metacratonic Pan-African terranes. While the Paleozoic sedimentary and tectono-magmatic record of the different blocks of the Moroccan Meseta is well documented, there is still a lack of systematic absolute ages and geochemical isotopic data of putative Precambrian basement rocks from different Meseta blocks. Here we present new U-Pb zircon ages, petrological, and whole-rock major, trace, and Sr-Nd-Pb isotope geochemical data of (meta)igneous rocks from the Bou-Acila, Jbel-Hadid, Goaida, Midelt and El Jadida, constituting the basement of two main Moroccan Meseta blocks. Basaltic rocks, unconformably overlain by Cambrian platform sediments, in the Western Meseta Bou-Acila basement yield U-Pb zircon age of c. 581 +/- 9 Ma that unveils the existence of Ediacaran magmatism in the Moroccan basement of this area. Alleged early Paleozoic mafic sills in the metasedimentary series of the Midelt Sidi-Said yield U-Pb zircon ages of c. 554 +/- 12 Ma reveals, for the first time, the presence of Ediacaran magmatism in the basement of the Moroccan Eastern Meseta. U-Pb zircon ages in the Jbel-Hadid and El Jadida rhyolitic basement rocks (c. 604-543 Ma and c. 575-559 Ma, respectively), as well as granitic pebbles (c. 573 Ma) in the Goaida Cambrian limestone series, further attest for coeval Ediacaran magmatism in the basement of Western Meseta. The geochemical affinity of the investigated Moroccan Meseta Ediacaran magmatic rocks is mainly metaluminous, low-K tholeiites for mafic rocks, and peraluminous, high-K calc-alkaline for the felsic rocks, consistent with a back-arc tectonic setting. Geochemical and Sr-Nd-Pb isotopic data indicate that the source of the Moroccan Meseta Ediacaran magmatism involved sources from the depleted mantle and old WAC crustal basement. Altogether, these data show widespread Ediacaran magmatism in the Moroccan Meseta mostly likely formed in a back-arc south of the Cadomian active margin along the NW Gondwana during the waning stages of the Cadomian-Pan-African orogeny, recording a transitional stage between the Ediacaran subduction and early Paleozoic rifting.

Automated summary

The Moroccan Meseta is an important region that links the SW European Cadomian and the north West African Craton, but there is still a lack of systematic research on the absolute ages and geochemical isotopic data of putative Precambrian basement rocks.