TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of mantle upwelling in a compressional setting
T2 - The Atlas Mountains of Morocco
AU - Teixell, Antonio
AU - Ayarza, Puy
AU - Zeyen, Hermann
AU - Fernàndez, Manel
AU - Arboleya, María Luisa
PY - 2005/10
Y1 - 2005/10
N2 - We discuss the implications of a lithospheric model of the Moroccan Atlas Mountains based on topography, heat flow, gravity and geoid anomalies, taking into account the regional geology. The NW African cratonic lithosphere, some 160-180 km thick, thins to c. 80 km beneath the Atlas fold-thrust belts, in contrast with the shortening regime prevailing there since the early Cenozoic. This fact explains several geological and geophysical features as high topography with modest tectonic shortening, the occurrence of alkaline magmatism contemporaneous to compression, the absence of large crustal roots to support elevation, the scarce development of foreland basins, and a marked geoid high. The modelled lithosphere thinning is related to a thermal upwelling constrained between the Iberia-Africa convergent plate boundary and the Saharan craton.
AB - We discuss the implications of a lithospheric model of the Moroccan Atlas Mountains based on topography, heat flow, gravity and geoid anomalies, taking into account the regional geology. The NW African cratonic lithosphere, some 160-180 km thick, thins to c. 80 km beneath the Atlas fold-thrust belts, in contrast with the shortening regime prevailing there since the early Cenozoic. This fact explains several geological and geophysical features as high topography with modest tectonic shortening, the occurrence of alkaline magmatism contemporaneous to compression, the absence of large crustal roots to support elevation, the scarce development of foreland basins, and a marked geoid high. The modelled lithosphere thinning is related to a thermal upwelling constrained between the Iberia-Africa convergent plate boundary and the Saharan craton.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33344454321&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2005.00633.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2005.00633.x
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33344454321
SN - 0954-4879
VL - 17
SP - 456
EP - 461
JO - Terra Nova
JF - Terra Nova
IS - 5
ER -