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, Middle to Upper Jurassic slices of basic rocks with an E-MORB character are associated with various tectonic units of the Maghrebian flysch zone. This zone, which was located between the internal zones, originally linked to the European plate and the African external zones of this Alpine belt, was therefore 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 time. (C) 2000 Academie des sciences /Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.