Abstract
The Pleistocene Moghrebian strata in the Tarfaya (Morocco) coastal basin comprise alternating beds of conglomerate, lumachelle, sandstone, calcarenite, and a calcareous crust on the surface. The diagenetic evolution of the Moghrebian strata is very precocious. It is characterized by the dissolution of bioclasts, the crystallization of microsparitic calcite, and the corrosion of quartz in the crust due to the over-saturation of the medium with calcium carbonate. Supersaturation of the environment with calcium carbonate has promoted the development of a calcareous crust on the surface of the Mogrebian strata by isovolumetric epigeny of the initially deposited detrital material. This calcification has occurred in a climate of alternating wet and dry seasons, where wet seasons are characterized by the dissolution of quartz and dry seasons are characterized by intense evaporation, the crystallization of calcite in quartz corrosion concavities, and the neoformation of palygorskite and sepiolite. The fine fraction of the different beds are characterized by the following clay minerals: chlorite, illite, kaolinite, smectite, interlayered clay (chlorite-smectite, chlorite-vermiculite, vermiculite-smectite), and fibrous clay (palygorskite and sepiolite) of detrital origin. Palygorskite and sepiolite occur as detrital clays in all the studied beds and as newly formed clays in the superficial calcareous crusts.
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Jira, F., Lakhouili, A. (2023). Microfaciological Characterization of Calcareous Crusts of Pleistocene Moghrebian Strata in the Coastal Basin of Tarfaya (Morocco): Paleoclimatic Implications. In: Çiner, A., et al. Recent Research on Sedimentology, Stratigraphy, Paleontology, Tectonics, Geochemistry, Volcanology and Petroleum Geology . MedGU 2021. Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-43222-4_27
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