The Late Eocene and Late Miocene fronts of the Atlas Belt in eastern Maghreb: integration in the geodynamic evolution of the Mediterranean Domain

• DOI: 10.1007/s12517-016-2609-1
• Publication Date: 2016-09-29T06:43:39Z
• Authors: Sami Khomsi; Dominique Frizon ...; Mourad Bédir; Oussema Echihi
• Keywords: Magnetostratigraphy; Passive margin

Regional cross sections at the scale of the eastern Maghreb based on subsurface and field data allow presenting the structural styles related to the Middle-Late Eocene compressional events. The structural cross sections depict that the Late Eocene front of the Atlas Belt extends far through the Northern Africa plate margin comparatively to the Late Miocene front cropping out in the Eastern Tunisian Atlas. The sections allow proposing a new subsurface front for the Atlas belt encompassing a large part of the Pelagian-Sirt basins. The consequences of this particular configuration are discussed at the scale of the south Tethys margin and replaced in the frame of the geodynamic evolution of the Mediterranean Domain.