From the Tethyan Margin to Alpine Orogeny across the Northern African margin: Geodynamics, Tectonosedimentary Evolution, and Georesources

Mohamed Gharbi¹, Hakim Gabtni¹, Mohamed Soua², Kevin Mickus³, Abderrezek Bouzid⁴ & Abdelaziz Mridekh^5
1Laboratory of Georesources, Water Research and Technologies Centre, Tunisia.
²Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences at Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunisia.
³School of Earth, Environment and Sustainability, Missouri State University, Springfield, MO, 65897, USA.
⁴Centre de Recherche en Astronomie, Astrophysique et Géophysique (CRAAG), Alger, Algeria.
⁵Department of Geology, Ibn Tofail University, Kénitra, Morocco.
Corresponding author e-mail: mohamed.gharbi@certe.rnrt.tn, gharbim.mohamed@gmail.com.

The Northern African margin, running from the Rif Mountains in Morocco to northern Tunisia, offers a unique geological record of the transition from a Mesozoic Tethyan passive margin to the Cenozoic Alpine orogen. This editorial synthesizes current research on geodynamic processes, tectono-sedimentary evolution, and the distribution of georesources along this margin. Structural inheritance from Mesozoic rifting, salt tectonics, and pre-existing basement structures exerted a strong control on the development of the fold-thrust belts, foreland basins, and fault-propagation folds. Research throughout Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia illustrates the reactivation of these structures under NW–SE to NNW–SSE compressional shortening, which in turn impacts seismic hazard, groundwater distribution, and hydrocarbon prospectivity. Consequently, this tectonic inheritance was instrumental in controlling both the structural architecture and the localisation of resources, offering a comprehensive framework for deciphering the relationships between rifting, orogeny, and georesource potential along the North African margin.

Tethyan passive Margin, Alpine Orogeny, Geodynamics, Georesource, Northern African plate.