Comptes Rendus Géoscience

Ayoub Aabi

Lahssen Baidder

Younes Hejja

Abdellah Nait Bba

Mohammed El Azmi

Comptes Rendus
Géoscience
Sciences de la Planète
Ayoub Aabi, Lahssen Baidder, Younes Hejja, Abdellah Nait Bba
and Mohammed El Azmi
Reply to comment by El Ouardi et al. on The Cu–Pb–Zn-bearing veins of
the Bou Skour deposit (Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco): structural control
and tectonic evolution
Volume 354 (2022), p. 125-130
<https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.117>
© Académie des sciences, Paris and the authors, 2022.
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Comptes Rendus
Géoscience — Sciences de la Planète
2022, 354, p. 125-130
https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.117
Comment & Reply — Tectonics, Tectonophysics
Reply to comment by El Ouardi et al. on
The Cu–Pb–Zn-bearing veins of the Bou Skour deposit
(Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco): structural control and
tectonic evolution
Ayoub Aabi ∗, a, Lahssen Baiddera, Younes Hejjab, Abdellah Nait Bbac
andMohammed El Azmib
a Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock, Hassan II University,
Casablanca, Morocco
b Managem, Twin Center, Tour A, angle Bd Zerktouni-Abdelkarim Khattabi,
Casablanca, Morocco
c Mohammed I University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geology, 60000 Oujda,
Morocco
E-mails: aabi.ayoub@gmail.com (A. Aabi), lbaidder@gmail.com (L. Baidder),
youneshejja@gmail.com (Y. Hejja), abdellahnaitbba@gmail.com (A. Nait Bba),
m.elazmi@managemgroup.com (M. El Azmi)
Abstract. This note is a reply to the “Comment on The Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing veins of the Bou Sk-
our deposit (Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco): structural control and tectonic evolution” by Hmidou
El Ouardi et al., published in Comptes Rendus Géoscience in Volume 354, 2022, pages 119–123
(https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.115). It concerns the article “The Cu-Pb-Zn-bearing veins of the Bou
Skour deposit (Eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco): structural control and tectonic evolution” by Aabi et al.,
published online on May 04, 2021, in Comptes Rendus Geoscience in Volume 353, 2021, pages 81–99
(https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.54).
Keywords. structural model, Copper bearing mineralization, Bouskour, Anti Atlas, Morocco.
Manuscript received 1st February 2022, accepted 2nd February 2022.
1. Introduction
We thank El Ouardi et al. [2022] for the attention
they paid to our work on the Bou Skour mineral-
ization and for the discussion they initiated through
∗Corresponding author.
their comment. Our valuable colleagues have been
alarmed by the alleged equivalence between the
model we presented for the Bou Skour polymetallic
deposit [Aabi et al., 2021] and the model they had
previously presented for part of the Bou Skour de-
posit, namely the Patte d’Oie district [El Ouardi et al.,
2016].
ISSN (electronic) : 1778-7025 https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/geoscience/
126 Ayoub Aabi et al.
In the following, we try to answer point-by-point
to the comments by El Ouardi et al. [2022], arguing for
the validity of our findings and data, and providing
opportunities to clarify some controversial ideas.
2. Structural model of the Bou Skour vein-type
deposit
El Ouardi et al. [2022] claim that their proposed struc-
tural model of the Bou Skour veins emplacement was
omitted [El Ouardi et al., 2016] or appears to have
been misunderstood and not cited enough. In addi-
tion, they argue that the dextral reactivation of the
main vein (Filon Principal: FP) should not disrupt
their structural model since the reactivation was doc-
umented outside the southern “Patte d’Oie” district
of the Bou Skour deposit.
The structural model proposed by El Ouardi et al.
[2016] (p. 50) indicates only one kinematics for the
Bou Skour shear fault, i.e., a sinistral movement dis-
placing the rhyolitic dykes, and affirms that the em-
placement of the mineralized veins postdates that of
the dyke swarm. However, based on our field map-
ping data, there is no evidence confirming this inter-
pretation at the scale of the Bou Skour deposit. On
the contrary, we confirmed [Aabi et al., 2021] the oc-
currence of (at least) a twofold kinematic event (Fig-
ure 1A). The first event is a sinistral movement [Fig-
ure 1B; cf. Figures 5A–F and 11, Aabi et al., 2021],
which is responsible for the vein system formation
[574.9 ± 2.4 Ma; Bouabdellah et al., 2016] predating
the Ediacaran dyke occurrence [564 ± 7 Ma; Walsh
et al., 2008a] and interpreted to be contemporane-
ous to or immediately postdating the emplacement
of the host 570 ± 5 Ma Bou Skour granite [Clavel and
Tixeront, 1971, Bouabdellah et al., 2016, Aabi et al.,
2021]. The second event reactivates the Bou Skour
kilometric fault in a dextral brittle regime dissecting a
great number of the NNE-trending dyke swarm [Fig-
ure 5G,H; cf. Figure 9A, Aabi et al., 2021].
Contrary to what is suggested by El Ouardi et al.
[2022], this polyphase kinematics was not only ob-
served in the northern part of the deposit, but also
in its southern part where the dykes are also offset
(Figure 1C), which indicates a widespread reactiva-
tion throughout the kilometric Bou Skour shear zone.
Therefore, the structural model of El Ouardi et al.
[2016] was not taken into account and was arguably
criticized by Aabi et al. [2021, p. 92].
Furthermore, El Ouardi et al. [2022] argue that the
Bou Skour mining district appears to be well studied
from a structural, magmatic and geochemical point
of view, contrary to what was reported by Aabi et al.
[2021].
In fact, in the introduction section of our paper
[Aabi et al., 2021, p. 82], we have cited all previous
work, including that of El Ouardi et al. [2016], point-
ing out that their studies have improved the geolog-
ical knowledge of the deposit and guided the explo-
ration activities in this area up to now. However, the
structural analysis remains insufficient as long as El
Ouardi et al.’s [2016] work is limited to the southern
part of the deposit “Patte d’Oie district” without tak-
ing into account the structural framework and tec-
tonic events at the regional scale. Based on our ex-
tensive field survey that integrated the available mi-
crostructural and geological data, we have provided,
for the first time, a new structural map of the entire
deposit, thereby upgrading and revising the struc-
tural knowledge of this mining area [cf. Figure 4, Aabi
et al., 2021].
3. Stratigraphic control and age of the miner-
alized veins
El Ouardi et al. [2022] explain why their structural
study [El Ouardi et al., 2016] was not integrated into
a regional and global geodynamic framework by cit-
ing the lack of isotopic dates of the Bou Skour min-
eralization, at that time. They consider that the only
stratigraphic marker was the rhyolitic dykes dated
at 564 ± 7 Ma [Walsh et al., 2008a]. Instead, crucial
well-dated outcrops occur in the southern flank of
the Bou Skour district that were already available in
the 1:50,000 Bou Skour map [Walsh et al., 2008a].
These outcrops expose conglomerates with interbed-
ded mafic and felsic volcanic formations of the Up-
per Ouarzazate Group [556–548 Ma; Walsh et al.,
2008b] in the hanging wall of the Tagmout normal
fault above the rhyolitic dykes and the mineralized
structures (NTGF; Figures 1A and 2A,B). This limits
the age of mineralization to Ediacaran times and sup-
ports the claim that ore emplacement occurred dur-
ing the latest phase of the Pan-African event [Bouab-
dellah et al., 2016, Aabi et al., 2021], thus excluding
the post-Pan-African, Variscan or Alpine ages pro-
posed by El Ouardi et al. [2016] and by previous au-
C. R. Géoscience — 2022, 354, 125-130
Ayoub Aabi et al. 127
Figure 1. (A) Interpreted oblique “Google Earth” image of the Bou Skour–Tagmout faulted zone showing
the distribution of NE to ENE major faults and their relationship with the NNW-trending Bou Skour
mineralized structures. (B) Hydrothermal tension-gashes within the “Filon1” recording the first sinistral
movement of the Bou Skour shear zone. (C) Ediacaran rhyolitic dyke dissected along the NNW-FP and its
satellite faults showing the right-lateral strike-slip reactivation (southern “Chapeau de Fer” district). See
“A” for location.
thors [Startsyne et al., 1975, Harfin, 1984, Maacha
et al., 2011, El Azmi et al., 2014].
4. Late reactivation of the Bou Skour deposit,
implications and conclusion
The late reactivation of the mineralized structures
and any attempt of integration of the Bou Skour tec-
tonics in the regional framework are considered by
El Ouardi et al. [2022] as “two subsidiary points” that
would not be mentioned to contradict their earlier re-
sults [El Ouardi et al., 2016].
However, unraveling the late tectonic evolution
and its effect on the mineralized veins in the Bou Sk-
our area should not be considered as a secondary
and incidental result, as it makes available a well-
C. R. Géoscience — 2022, 354, 125-130
128 Ayoub Aabi et al.
Figure 2. Caption continued on next page.
C. R. Géoscience — 2022, 354, 125-130
Ayoub Aabi et al. 129
Figure 2 (cont.). (A) Panoramic view of the southern extension of the Bou Skour mineralized structures
as well as the rhyolitic dykes hidden beneath the Upper Ouarzazate Group formations; stereographic
representation of normal and strike-slip major structures (equal-angle, lower hemisphere); CF: Clavel
Fault, NTGF: North Tagmout Graben Fault, FP: Filon Principal, F1: Filon 1, F2: Filon 2. See Figure 1A for
location. (B) Post-mineralization deformation along the NNE-Clavel fault showing a left-lateral strike-slip
movement (C) associated with subhorizontal slickensides (D). See Figures 2A and 2B for location of (B)
and (C, D), respectively.
described example for a better analysis of the whole
Saghro Precambrian domain. As a contribution to
our project on the Saghro Massif [Aabi et al., 2017,
2019a,b, Hejja et al., 2020, Hejja, 2021], our recently
published paper [Aabi et al., 2021] provides new
ideas on the Bou Skour ore emplacement and re-
lated tectonic events and updates the assessment of
its tectono-metallogenic context. The proposed late
Pan-African tectonic control of the Bou Skour struc-
tures and the related structural criteria may have sig-
nificant implications for further mining exploration
in the wide Precambrian outcrops of the Saghro Mas-
sif as well as in the entire Anti-Atlas Pan-African
belt. Describing the remobilization and deforma-
tion of the Precambrian mineralized structures along
the major normal, reverse and strike-slip faults (e.g.,
Clavel fault; Figure 2A–D) offers a better understand-
ing of the process of fault/vein networks during the
superimposed orogenic cycles (Pan-African, Variscan
and Alpine) in this part of the West African Craton.
To conclude, in their comment, El Ouardi et al.
[2022] do not provide additional detailed fieldwork
across the entire deposit than what was presented
in their former paper [El Ouardi et al., 2016]. Like-
wise, they do not take into account the available
stratigraphic control of the age of the mineralization
[Walsh et al., 2008a,b, 2012, Aabi et al., 2021], and
they unduly minimize the interest of unraveling the
late regional deformation phases.
Conflicts of interest
Authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
Acknowledgments
Many thanks to the MANAGEM mining group for
providing logistical support during the field sur-
vey. The authors are very grateful to Professor An-
dré Michard (Université Paris-Sud) for his construc-
tive and accurate criticism which helped to improve
the quality of this comment’s reply. We also thank
the Editors-in-chief, especially Professor François
Chabaux for his valuable comments.
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C. R. Géoscience — 2022, 354, 125-130


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