Brittle tectonics and state of stress in the basin of Titzi n'Test (High Atlas, Morocco) during the Tertiary inversion

Abstract

During the Atlasic compressional phase, the Tizi n'Test Triassic basin underwent a tectonic inversion responsible for the reactivation of the extensional Triassic structures. Contrary to former concepts suggesting a transpressional regime, the NE-SW to WNW-ESE trending faults had a reverse displacement, while the NW-SE to NNW-SSE ones were reactivated as strike-slip faults. The reverse motion of the initially normal faults led to the uplift of the basin and its basement in a pop-up style. This inversion is also responsible for a set of footwall synclines and hanging wall anticlines with variable half-wavelength, and related to basement reverse faulting. Striation analysis with the help of software R4DT was carried out at 45 sites in order to determine the state of stress. The 25 most reliable tensors show that the main compressive stress σ1 trends NW-SE to NNE. Analysis of the spatial distribution of the σ1 axis shows a main maximum at N012 and two secondary axes at N123 and N147. In absence of an absolute or relative chronology of the events, we interpret these directions as related to two distinct events, the age of which should be, by comparison with other studies, pre-Mio-Pliocene for the N012 phase and Mio-Pliocene for the NW-SE phase.