Liassic age of an oceanic gabbro of the External Rif (Morocco): Implications for the Jurassic continent–ocean boundary of Northwest Africa

Abstract This work concerns the northernmost limit of the West African Craton (WAC) and Variscan WAC-related terranes of NW Africa. Based on newly obtained radiometric age of an oceanic gabbro from the “Mesorif Suture Zone” of the External Rif Belt, we propose a revised interpretation of this puzzling lineament. We report on a 190 ± 2 Ma LA–ICP–MS U–Pb zircon age of a trondhjemite vein cross-cutting the Bou Adel gabbro, which is one of the largest oceanic units of the quoted suture zone. We previously interpreted the arcuate MSZ in terms of transported, hyper-extended margin of the Alpine Tethys, based on a K–Ar 166 ± 3 Ma age ascribed to the Bou Adel gabbro in the literature. The new, Early/Middle Liassic age coincides instead with the onset of oceanic floor formation in the Central Atlantic. We hypothesize that the Mesorif suture zone corresponds to the transported trace of the West African Atlantic margin surrounding the northwestern Moroccan Meseta promontory and connecting with the ENE-trending North African Transform North African transform. The latter zone sharply bounded the North Africa margin and connected the Central Atlantic with the Alpine Tethys. We propose that transported elements from the North African transform constitute the “Mesorif Basalt–Breccias” lineament parallel to and more external than the Mesorif suture zone. If correct, this new interpretation provides an opportunity to develop detailed field and laboratory studies of an exhumed segment of the up-to-now conceptual Jurassic North African transform.