Early Permian age of granite pebbles from an Eocene or Oligocene conglomerate of the Internal Rif belt (Alboran domain, Morocco): hypothesis on their origin

Granite pebbles from an Eocene or Oligocene conglomerate lying on a Ghomaride nappe of the Internal Zones of the Rif belt (Alboran domain, Morocco) have been dated by U/Pb on zircon at 281 Ma. No granite pluton being known in the Rif belt nor in the neighbouring Betic Cordillera, the origin of these calc-alkaline Kungurian (end of the Early Permian) granites is discussed. A provenance from a nearby unit presently drowned in the Alboran sea is likely. Comparisons with other circum-Mediterranean domains show that this late plutonism characterizes an original domain in the Variscan orogen.

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