Geoheritage, Geoconservation and aspiring Geoparks in Morocco: the Zenaga inlier

Ezzoura Errami (*), Nasser Ennih (*), Margarete Brocx (**), Vic Semeniuk (***) & Khadija Otmane (*)
(*) Department of Earth Sciences , Chouaïb Doukkali University of El Jadida, BP. 20, 24000 El Jadida, Morocco. E-mail: errami.e@ucd.ac.ma (**) Dept of Environmental Science; Murdoch University, Western Australia, 6150. (***) V & C Semeniuk Research Group; 21 Glenmere Rd., Warwick, Western Australia, 6024.

Morocco presents a varied and globally important geology reflecting its successive continental-scale geological settings through geological time. Central, Southern and Western Morocco exhibits a rich geological history of crustal, magmatic, tectonic, metamorphic, sedimentary, and palaeontological features from Archaean to Quaternary, from large- to small-scale and varying in significance from international to local. The geostrategic position of Morocco renders it a land where many civilizations met through time leaving archaeological evidence of outstanding values - as such, its geodiversity is even more attractive as is related to historical, archaeological, architectural, cultural and traditional frames which vary with its geology. In this context, we focus on the central Anti-Atlas that consists of numerous Precambrian inliers amongst a 'matrix' of Palaeozoic strata, and each inlier has the merit to be transformed into thematic geoparks. Zenaga Inlier is a good example of an ensemble of geological features that have a regionally important geological story and geodiversity that can be transformed into a geopark. In this paper, we present geological information on potential geosites in the Zenaga region of the Central Anti-Atlas which could form the bases for future geoparks.

Geoconservation, geoheritage, geoparks, geosites, Morocco