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Upper Cretaceous-Cenozoic uplifts and tectonics within a Precambrian shield — insight from the Hoggar (Algeria) local sedimentary cover

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Abstract

In order to better constrain the Mesozoic-Cenozoic evolution of the Precambrian Hoggar shield, a paleomagnetic study, combined with detailed fieldwork, was carried out to date its detrital local cover, the Serouenout Formation. Thermal demagnetization yields, only in a few samples, the characteristic remanent magnetization carried by hematite. Post-tilting remagnetization was obtained in sites located along a fault affected by intense fluids circulation. The paleomagnetic directions recorded at seven widespread other sites are on the contrary associated with a positive fold test. It provides a relatively well-defined paleomagnetic pole (A95 = 4.1°), sufficient to estimate the age of the Serouenout Formation. The comparison of this pole with the reference curve of Africa suggests two possible age windows, Triassic and Upper Cretaceous-Lower Paleocene, while the discovery in the uppermost levels of the Serouenout Formation of a fern-rich level with Weichselia reticulata (Bathonian to Cenomanian; Blanco-Moreno et al., 2018) imposes a deposition during the Cenomanian. The presence of a detrital formation at least 350 m thick, with a basal conglomerate containing large pebbles, implies the existence, during this time period, of a tectonic event that generated differential uplift. In addition, structural observations indicate that the Serouenout Formation recorded later brittle tectonics, dominated by a network of vertical N–S dextral faults. The horizontal displacement generated by one well-developed fault has been estimated to be at least 1 km. This activity is related to the known Alpine reactivations of the N–S Pan-African mega-structures, which are still at the origin of the current intraplate seismicity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Algerian–French cooperation CMEP- PHC “Tassili” program 12MDU878. Many thanks to the Algerian DPGRF of the MESRS and to the French Foreign Office for their help. We are very grateful to Jean-Paul Liégeois for his detailed and constructive review

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRAAG, B.P. 63, Bouzaréah, 16340, Alger, Algeria

    Mohamed E. M. Derder, Said Maouche, Mohamed Amenna, Boualem Bayou & Rafik Bestandji

  2. UMR8148, GEOPS, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405, Orsay, France

    Yves Missenard & Djouher Kettouche

  3. Univ. Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Sorbonne Paris Cité, and UMR 7154 CNRS, 1 Rue Jussieu, 75238, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Bernard Henry

  4. Laboratoire “Géodynamique, Géologie de L’Ingénieur Et Planétologie”, FSTGAT/USTHB, BP 32, El-Alia Bab Ezzouar, 16111, Alger, Algeria

    Aziouz Ouabadi & Hamid Haddoum

  5. Department of Geology, FSTGAT/USTHB, BP 32, El-Alia Bab Ezzouar, 16111, Alger, Algeria

    Djouher Kettouche

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  1. Mohamed E. M. Derder
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Aziouz Ouabadi and Boualem Bayou deceased.

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Derder, M.E.M., Maouche, S., Missenard, Y. et al. Upper Cretaceous-Cenozoic uplifts and tectonics within a Precambrian shield — insight from the Hoggar (Algeria) local sedimentary cover. Arab J Geosci 16, 650 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-023-11761-y

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