Tag Archives: Carboniferous detrital suites

Carboniferous Culm correlation of the Algerian Kabylian and the Betic-Rif Belt

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The Carboniferous Culm deposits of the northern Gondwana continental margin constitute a significant knowledge gap in our understanding of the Paleotethyan tectonic evolution. This study presents novel detrital data of sandstone rocks from the Kabylian Culm in Algeria, providing critical insights. The available coarse sandstones (25 samples) in five representative sections of the Kabylide Domain (Chenoua Massif, Great Kabylia, and Little Kabylia) were sampled. The quartzolithic metamorphiclastic composition indicates the influence of a high-to-low metamorphic grade source. Most of the detritus is moderately sorted, consisting of plutonic-gneissic rock fragments and, suggesting low-to-medium-grade metamorphic lithics. Coeval volcanic activity (andestitic to rhyolitic) is also testified. A significant ophiolite-derived content suggests the existence of a lost oceanic branch. Some samples were determined to be metasediments exhibiting greenschist-facies (<450 ◦C), linked to the later Paleotethyan tectonic phase. We have found similarities and a few differences in metamorphism, magmatism and ophiolitic suites, when compared with neighboring paleogeographic sectors in the Rif-Betic Chain, belonging to the Paleo-Mesomediterranean Terrane (northern Gondwana). The presence of impure chert detritus probably represents the erosion of a lowermost Carboniferous cherty marker bed, which is absent in Kabylia but present in the Rif-Betic Chain. The Culm cycle in the southern margin of the Paleo-Mesomediterrean Terrane represents the foredeep depozone of the foreland basin of the Culm Cycle. This terrane, together with the Iberian-French massifs, should act as the hinterland. The detrital signatures seem to indicate a lost oceanic closure, subduction, magmatic arc, tectonic stacking, and continental collision, all of which occurred in the northern Gondwana during the Visean Variscan s.s. paleotectonic phase. Southward, the basin transitioned into an oceanic branch of the western Paleotethys. In this context, the Paleo-Saharian-Atlas band constituted the distal passive margin before being deformed by the subsequent Paleotethyan phase that deformed the basin.

Synthetic column of the Paleozoic succession in the Kabylides.

cite as: Criniti, S., Talmat, S., Martín-Martín, M. and Critelli, S. (2026): Tracing the detrital Carboniferous Culm signature: correlation of the Algerian Kabylian and the Betic-Rif Belt to constrain the Gondwana tectonics. Journal of African Earth Sciences, Volume 241, 106194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2026.106194

Detrital signatures of the Ghomaride Culm cycle in Northern Morocco

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The Carboniferous detrital suites of the Ghomaride Subdomain (Rif Cordillera, N Morocco) has been undertaken in order to obtain paleogeographic and paleotectonic constraints. Microconglomerate and sandstone samples from eight sections belonging to four sectors were petrographically studied. This northern Gondwana domain was part of the Paleo-Mesomediterranean Plate, located between the Iberian-French Plates and the African Paleo-Atlas-Saharian Domain, which outlines a gap of knowledge since these domains are now part of the Alpine peri-Mediterranean chains. Part of this data-lacking is related to the sandstone detrital modes that have never studied in this area, allowing to obtain information about provenance derived from growing orogens, as well as orogenic processes, and tectonic, climatic and/or erosional events. The study has revealed that the sandstones are litharenites to feldsphatic litharenites, evolving upward to lithic arkoses, and has evidenced a quartzolithic petrofacies with a transitional recycled orogen provenance. The metamorphic clastic detritus displays a low to middle-upper metamorphic rank upwardly referred to a subducted terrane. Serpentinite-like detritus indicates a metamorphosed oceanic crust being dismantled. A supply from the Rheic Ocean seems improbable since it was very far and beyond the Iberian Plate. Therefore, closer oceanic sutures should be proposed, probably separating the Paleo-Mesomediterranean Plate from the Iberian-French Plate and from the Paleo-Atlas-Saharian Domain. The syn-sedimentary volcanic activity (felsic to mafic) reinforces the idea of subductions. A correlation with other Culm successions of the western Paleotethys has allowed the performing of a paleogeographic-paleotectonic model during the Paleotethysian tectonic phase, in which the studied sandstones were deposited in a foredeep connected northward with limestone platforms and with a crystalline emerged domain (hinterland-orogenic front: Iberia-French Plate and part of the Paleo-Mesomediterranean Plate) and transitioning southward to an oceanic branch of the western Paleotethys, and finally with the Paleo-Atlas-Saharian band acting as passive margin in the foreland.


A) Paleogeographic sketch of the western Mediterranean area during the late Cretaceous (after Guerrera and Martín-Martín, 2014) with the location of the Mesomediterranean Microplate (in brown color) and the Ghomaride subdomain (in yellow color) as well as the Malaguide, Kabylide, Calabria-Peloritani and Tuscany domains; B) sketch map with the location of the Internal Zones of the Western Perimediterranean Alpine chains (in brown color) derived from the Mesomediterranean Microplate in the left figure. The outcroppings of the Ghomaride subdomains in the Rif Cordillera (in yellow color) are also positioned.

Cite as: Criniti, S., Martín-Martín, M., Hlila, R., Maaté, A., Maaté, S. (2024): Detrital Signatures of the Ghomaride Culm Cycle (Rif Cordillera, N Morocco): New Constraints for the Northern Gondwana Plate Tectonics. Mar. Pet. Geol., 165, 106861, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2024.106861.