Early Exhumation of the Beni Bousera Peridotite-Granulite Unit (Internal Rif, Morocco) Inferred from Its Metasedimentary Cap; A New View on Some Marbles and Regional Implications

The exhumation of the Beni Bousera peridotites of the Internal Rif is currently ascribed to the Neogene tectonics of the Alboran Domain. Here we report on marbles included in a fault zone surrounding the Beni Bousera peridotite-granulite unit and overlain by the Filali gneiss and schists. They should derive from a sedimentary cap overlying unconformably the Beni Bousera unit. Their metamorphic evolution would have occurred beneath the Filali thrust burial. We examined the possible correlations with the Beni Malek serpentinites (External Rif) and the Ronda peridotites massifs (Betic Cordilleras), and infer a post-Permian, pre-Neogene exhumation of the Beni Bousera unit.