Coupling Field Investigations with the Contribution of Remote Sensing and GIS for the Moroccan Middle Atlas Karst: A Case Study of the El Menzel Causse

Abstract

Little work has been done on the processes that control karstic phenomena in the Causse of El Menzel. This carbonate section of the Moroccan tabular Middle Atlas has undergone significant karstification due to favorable conditions that contribute to good karstification potential. Our field and remote sensing results confirm the tectogenetic nature of a set of expressions found in the Causse. The maps produced show good agreement between the structural, fluvial, and karstic network, given that the large NE-SW oriented faults in the sector played an inhibiting role in the triggering of karstic processes during the different phases of the Alpine cycle and neotectonics: on the one hand by the fact of weakening the liasic carbonate series sensitivity to dissolution at faulted zones and on the other hand by guiding the action of the external phenomena causing incision and fluvial erosion, forming a system of valleys which simultaneously coincides with the genesis of the karstic forms found in the Causse of El Menzel.