Permo-Triassic Argana Valley Field trip

03 - 04 May 2025


The thematic of this field trip is the examination of the extraordinary Triassic Early Jurassic continental Argana basin rift, in Morocco. Argana Valley is in fact the unique area, in theNorth-western African margin, that offers an exceptionally good outcrops of a continuous and complete section, for the scrutiny and the’ understanding of the first tectonic and sedimentary development of the Central Atlantic Margin. 

The valley is located in the western High Atlas, some 100 km southwest of Marrakech and extends 85 km southwards with a maximum width of 25 km. It’s a large rift basin striking approximately North-South, subdivided into 4 sub-basins. It lays unconformably on its Palaeozoic basement hinterland on the East, deeps gently westwards and deepening below the Jurassic and the Cretaceous sediments of the passive margin and records the transition from non marine to marine facies.

Triassic rocks in the valley consist of about 2,500 m of coarse to fine-grained red-brown clastic deposits, subdivided from a litho-stratigraphic and facies stand point into informal formations and members that have been adapted from early geological studies in 60s and70s. However, recent structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological studies have elucidated the complete evolution history of the basin.

Scrutiny of the various formation, from the base to the top, at different locations, show the depositional conditions changed through time and space, and how tectonic reactivations controlled the facies distributions in the sub-basins and the basin as whole, making the Argana Triassic-Lower Jurassic basin the analogue to be used for understanding and modelling of buried continental rift basins.

Itinerary

Date:  03 May 2025 (Day 1)

Starting Point:  Kenzi Rose Hotel Marrakech

Departure Time:  9:00AM

Inclusions: Transport / 1 Lunch per day / 1 Dinner per day / Water and Snacks / Guide Book / 1 Overnight Stay in hotel

Minimum participants: 10

Maximum participants: 28

(To provide a comprehensive field trip experience, we have limited the number of field trip spots. These will be provided on a first come, first serve basis)


Figure 1: Location map of day one field trip itinerary and stops

9:00 AM - Departure from Kenzi Rose Hotel Marrakech 

  • Departure from Kenzi Rose Hotel Marrakech to accommodation 

Stop 1-1: Southwest of Imi N’Tanout village
Topic: Panoramic views
- The Imi N’Tanout reverse fault; branch of the North Atlas bounding fault
- Lower Cretaceous succession in faulted contact with the Palaeozoic

Stop 1-2: Ikakern area
Topic: T-1 and T-2 Permian alluvial fan deposits in contact with the basement (Palaeozoic);

Stop 1-3: Timezgadouine village area
Topic: T-3 Triassic alluvial and fluvial fans setting on a Palaeozoic paleo-high and T-4 Braid to meandering stream with high sinuosity deposits,

Stop 1-4: Argana village area
Topic: T-5 Triassic fluvial to distal playa deposits and T-6 fluvial braided to meandering stream deposits with aeolian sandstones;

Stop 1-5: Abderrahman dam
Topic: T-6 Triassic aeolian deposits and T-7 and T-8 Playa deposits

Night in the accommodation
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Date:  04 May 2025 (Day 2)

Starting Point:  Accommodation 

Departure Time:  9:00AM

Figure 2: Location map of day two field trip itinerary and stops

9:00 AM - Return from the hotel (TBC) to Marrakech 

Stop 2-1: Accommodation area
Topic: Volcanic lava flows of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province CAMP and overlyingLower Jurassic fluvial deposits;

Stop 2-2: Inzekri village area
Topic: Post volcanics Lower Jurassic carbonates and fluvial deposts;

Stop 2-3: Next to Foum Jrana (Frog mouth) rock
Topic: Panoramic views of the complete Triassic and proximal Jurassic successions

Stop 2-4 and 2-5: Imziln area
Topic:
- Transition from Triassic-Lower Jurassic continental depositional conditions to Lower Jurassic marine ones. Question about the age of the end of rifting (Break up unconformity)?
- Middle Jurassic and Upper Jurassic proximal facies of the Moroccan Atlantic Margin.

End of the field trip

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Field Trip Leader: Abdellah Ait Salem (Petro-Geol Consulting)

Abdallah AIT SALEM was born in 1956 in Morocco. He was admitted to The “Ecole National del’Industrie Minérale” (ENIM) of Rabat in Morocco in 1977 and graduated in 1982 as mining geology engineer. He was recruited the same year at the Moroccan national office of petroleum exploration and exploitation “Office National de Recherches et d’Exploitations Pétrolières” (ONAREP), that became later the National Office for Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), from which he retired in 2020. 

He also participated, during 12 months to fieldwork with Robertson Research group in 1986-87 and spent 3 months in 1995 as research associate at the department of geology of Rice University in Houston/Texas/USA. He organised several field trips in different areas of Morocco for petroleum companies and on sidelines of conferences.

During the 38 years period span at ONHYM, he worked as surface geologist (1982-1983), he was admitted at the French “Ecole National Supérieur du Pétrole et des Moteur” (ENSPM/IFP School) and graduated in 1985 as Petroleum geologist with engineer degree. 

Since then, he worked at ONHYM as junior petroleum explorationist, then senior explorationist in charge of North Offshore Morocco in 1991, Head of department in charge of offshore Morocco in 1996, head of Moroccan basin evaluation division in 2011 till his retirement. 

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