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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1999; v. 162; p. 127-142;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1999.162.01.11
© 1999 Geological Society of London

Africa and the Middle East

Structural and stratigraphic perspectives on the uplift and erosional history of Djebel Cherichira and Oued Grigema, a segment of the Tunisian Atlas thrust front

Alastair W. Baird1 & Andrew J. Russell2

1 School of Geological Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE, UK
2 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Keele, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK

Djebel Cherichira, a segment of the Tunisian Atlas thrust front, was structurally uplifted by at least 1650m and possibly more than 2000m by late Tortonian and post-Messinian thrusting. After late Tortonian structural uplift and erosion, Djebel Cherichira formed a topographic high with Messinian, arid to semi-arid, debris-flow fan deposits mantling the relict topography. Oued Cherichira formed in Serravallian to early Tortonian times, prior to the growth of the thrust front, as a foreland basin fluvial system ahead of the thrust structures within the thrust belt. It maintained its antecedent drainage pattern during rapid tectonic uplift of the thrust front at Djebel Cherichira. Movement on the Kredija Strike-slip Fault records the latest tectonic event in the thrust belt. This probable Early Pliocene deformation did not displace the drainage pattern, implying that much syntectonic erosion and desert pediment formation had already occurred.

Oued Grigema, a tributary of Oued Cherichira, whilst appearing to be antecedent with respect to Djebel Cherichira, is a post-tectonic, consequent stream, where at least some of the fluvial erosion and deposition is of Holocene age. Many of the present-day processes of sedimentation and erosion in Oued Grigema are analogous to those interpreted from the Messinian strata of Djebel Cherichira.