Physical Volcanology, Geochemistry and Basin Evolution of the Ediacaran Volcano-sedimentary Succession in the Bas Draâ inlier (Ouarzazate Supergroup, Western Anti-Atlas, Morocco)

Abstract

New geologic mapping, lithofacies and granulometric analysis, and geochemistry from the volcano-sedimentary successions of the central part of the Bas Draâ inlier, Western Anti-Atlas, constrain the Ediacaran Ouarzazate Supergroup evolution during the post-collisional stage of the Pan-African orogeny. Volcanosedimentary facies analysis is the key aspect of the present contribution. We distinguished sixteen terrestrial volcanosedimentary lithofacies in the Bas Draâ succession (BDS), which reaches a total thickness of 2000 m. BDS evolution can be grouped into four units (Aouinet Aït Oussa I to IV, AO I-AO IV). The earliest volcanic activity produced rhyolitic ignimbrite sheets (AO I), which had been considered as lava flows by previous workers, and which were presumably related to caldera system(s). During AO II, a complex of high-silica andesitic and rhyolitic lavas formed, punctuated by the explosive eruption of a high-temperature silica-rich magma leading to the formation of...