A new 200 Ma paleomagnetic pole for Africa, and paleo-secular variation scatter from Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP) intrusives in Morocco (Ighrem and Foum Zguid dykes)

Abstract

Available apparent polar wander (APW) paths for the 200 Ma configuration of Pangea, just prior to the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean, differ as much as 10o in arc length. Here, we add new data from northwest Africa for this time, obtained from the northeasttrending Foum-Zguid and Ighrem dykes (ca. 200 Ma). These dykes form part of the northern domain of the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP), and crosscut the Anti-Atlas Ranges in Morocco, and compositionally correspond to quartz-normative tholeiites intruded in continental lithosphere shortly before the opening of the Central Atlantic Ocean. The Foum-Zguid dyke has been intensively studied, whereas the Ighrem dyke has received less scientific focus. We sampled both dykes for paleomagnetic investigation along 100 km of each dyke (12 sites for Foum-Zguid and 11 for Ighrem, 188 samples included in the final analyses). Rock magnetic experiments indicate a mixture of multidomain and single-domain magnetite and/or low-Ti titanomagnetite particles as the principal remanence carriers. In both dykes, the primary nature of the characteristic remanent magnetization is supported by positive contact tests, related to Fe-metasomatism or baked overprints of the corresponding sedimentary country rocks. The directions of the characteristic magnetization exhibit exclusively normal polarity. Site-mean virtual geomagnetic poles are differently grouped in each dyke, suggesting distinct geomagnetic secular variation records. The Foum-Zguid paleomagnetic pole (N = 12, PLat = 67.9◦N, PLon = 247.9◦E, κ = 125, A95 = 3.9◦) plots close to that of Ighrem (N = 11, PLat = 78.4◦N, PLon = 238.2◦E, κ = 47, A95 = 6.7◦), confirming those mineralogical and geochemical evidences supporting that they represent dissimilar magmatic stages. Virtual geomagnetic poles dispersion from both dykes (S = 10.5◦13.0◦ 8.1◦ ) is in line with those obtained from recent studies of a CAMP-related dyke in Iberia and results from CAMP lavas in the Argana basin. These three new estimates of paleosecular variation at low latitudes around the Triassic–Jurassic boundary are concordant with a recently proposed dispersion curve for the Jurassic but suggest a slightly lower geomagnetic scatter than considered so far. After combining results from both dykes, the resulting paleomagnetic pole (PLat = 73.0◦N, PLon = 244.7◦E, N = 23, κ = 55, A95 = 4.1◦) is statistically compared with existing and coeval African paleopoles, and with global synthetic 200 Ma running mean poles in northwest Africa coordinates.