Electrical and well log study of the Plio-Quaternary deposits of the southern part of the Rharb Basin, northern Morocco

• We propose new model allows characterizing the geometry of Plio-Quaternary deposits.
• Used approach based on the interpretation of multisource geophysical data.
• Show combined effects of sea-level changes and tectonics of the southern Rif front.
• A new map depth of the Top the Marlly Mio-Pliocene substratum.
• Geo-electrical characterization of Plio-Quaternary deposits in the SW of the Rharb.

The Rharb Basin is located in the NW of Morocco. It is the onshore extension of a lager offshore basin between Kenitra and Moulay Bousselham. The Rharb plain (properly called) extends over an area of 4200 Km2 between two very different structural entities: the unstable Rif domain in the NE and the East and the ''relatively stable'' Meseta domain in the south. The distribution of Pliocene-Quaternary deposits under this plain is complex and was controlled by both tectonics and climatic factors. The main objective of the present work is to define the spatiotemporal evolution of these deposits in the onshore part of the basin and to make a comparison with a sequence analysis defined, for equivalent deposits in the offshore basin, by a previous work. The proposed model allows thus to characterize the geometry of these deposits in the extension of continental shelf under the present day onshore basin, and to explain there is genesis in terms of interactions between eustatic sea level fluctuations, tectonics and sedimentary rates at the mouths of paleo-rivers that had drained the Rharb plain during Pliocene to Quaternary Times.