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The Midelt earthquake of November 17th 2019, and its implications on the present-day tectonics of the junction of the High and Middle Atlas (Morocco)

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Abstract

The Midelt area in Morocco, located between the Middle Atlas and the High Atlas, was shaken on November 17th, 2019, by a strong earthquake that was felt with intensity VI MSK. The epicenter was at 32.677°N; 4.126°W, with a depth of 2.1 km. The event was followed by a series of aftershocks and another series of small events later in February 2020. Moment tensors of the main event mainly show strike-slip faulting with a P-axis oriented NW-SE. The review of the available seismic data around the epicentral area encompassing the Middle Atlas, the Eastern High Atlas, and the Missour basin shows three main clusters located in the Southern Middle Atlas, the north-eastern Middle Atlas, and the Central High Atlas, while the Missour basin is almost devoid of seismic activity. The available focal mechanisms and moment tensors show various tectonic regimes, mainly transpression and thrusting, while the Tabular Middle Atlas is undergoing transtension. Detailed review of neotectonic data leads to the conclusion that the area is tectonically active, as witnessed by the deformations of the Mio-Plio-Quaternary foreland formations especially at the master border faults. The review of all data including GPS measurements shows good accordance between tectonics, seismicity, and block motions with respect to fixed Nubia. Transtension in the Tabular Middle Atlas may be explained by a change of kinematics across the Northern Middle Atlas Fault. Comparison of various models set for the Eastern Meseta suggests that the whole area from the Anti-Atlas to the Tabular Middle Atlas is undergoing transpression and/or shortening.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from T-E. C. and F.M. on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Professor Abdelilah Tahayt (University Abdelmalek Essaadi at Tétouan-Tangiers) for providing the numerical GPS data of his paper (Koulali et al. 2011) used in supplementary Table 3. We also thank Mr Ahmed Benlakhdim, head of the Geological Service of Morocco for allowing publication of the excerpts of the geological maps used in the background of the illustrations. The manuscript benefited from the pertinent comments of two anonymous reviewers, which are warmly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moroccan Association of Geosciences, Commission of Natural Hazards, Oued Dra street, Building 28, Apartment 1, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco

    Fida Medina

  2. University Mohammed V, Rabat, Morocco

    Taj-Eddine Cherkaoui

Authors
  1. Fida Medina
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Contributions

T-E.C. determined the parameters of the earthquakes, prepared the seismicity maps, and sections and wrote the seismological parts. FM gathered and analyzed the documentation on the tectonics and seismotectonics of the area and supervised the manuscript preparation and writing. Both authors prepared the Discussion section.

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Correspondence to Fida Medina.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Responsible Editor: Longjun Dong

Supplementary information

Supplementary Figure 1:

Crustal section from Azrou to Errachidia, involving the Middle Atlas, the Moulouya plateau and the High Atlas (simplified from Ayarza et al. 2014). The dotted zones are low electrical resistivity zones. (JPG 113 kb)

Supplementary Table 1.

Details of the determination of the parameters of the Midelt main earthquake (19 November 2019 at 8 h 39 min), based on the arrival times of P and S waves at 49 surrounding stations. (JPG 286 kb)

Supplementary Table 2.

Available fault-plane solutions and rapid moment tensors determined for the Middle Atlas and High Atlas. MC92, Medina and Cherkaoui (1991, 1992), B11, Bensaid et al. (2011), B12, Bensaid et al. (2012), INGV, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica e Vulcanologia, Italy; USGS, US Geological Survey. (DOC 50 kb)

Supplementary Table 3.

Code, coordinates and velocities at GPS sites around Midelt. Authors: V 1999-2007. F06, Fadil et al. (2006); V09, Vernant et al. (2009), K11, Koulali et al. (2011). (DOC 574 kb)

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Medina, F., Cherkaoui, TE. The Midelt earthquake of November 17th 2019, and its implications on the present-day tectonics of the junction of the High and Middle Atlas (Morocco). Arab J Geosci 14, 1717 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07853-2

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