This study combines several provenance tools, analysis of published structural and geodynamic data, integrated with Low-Temperature Thermochronology (LTT) and time-Temperature Modelling (tTM) to reconstruct the evolution of source-to-sink systems feeding the Essaouira-Agadir Basin (EAB) during the Jurassic (Toarcian, Bathonian, and Kimmeridgian) and Lower Cretaceous (Hauterivian and Barremian). LTT and tTM define timing and rate of subsidence and exhumation of the hinterland and allows modelling of the predicted age and lithology of eroding rock units from the most-likely source locations through time. Extrapolation of predicted surface geology allows recognition of the lithology of sedimentary overburden in the hinterland, much of which has been subsequently eroded and is not preserved in the modern surfical geological record. Heavy mineral, petrography and detrital zircon data analysis was carried out on fluvial and shallow marine sandstones sampled from Jurassic and Cretaceous sections across in the EAB. The results document changing sediment source terrains through time. In the Early and Middle Jurassic, the heavy mineral and detrital zircon signature correlates with a Palaeozoic source, suggesting provenance was dominantly from erosion of Cambrian and Ordovician sandstone in the Central and Western Anti-Atlas. From the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, the heavy mineral and zircon signatures have a strong affinity with Triassic sediments. This indicates a provenance switch to the exhuming West Moroccan Arch (MAM and Western Meseta), interpreted to have been largely covered by Triassic continental red beds at the time. The results help in predicting sediment delivery offshore, into the deep-water basin, where sandstones are a target for hydrocarbon exploration. Defining timing of input, location and composition helps to de-risk exploration. All the intervals examined contained discrete fluvial systems entering in the EAB, suggesting multiple periods of clastic delivery. Results suggest the Middle Jurassic and Hauterivian and Barremian intervals offer the optimum time for delivery of coarse clastics to the shelf margin, and potentially into the deep basin. The source to sink maps developed in this study further characterize these systems, their provenance and timing.

Evaporite mobilisation in evaporite-cored anticlines leads to topographic growth that can alter sedimentary routing in shallow marine environments. This paper analyses two evaporite-cored anticlines perpendicular to the NW Africa coast to understand how their tectonic evolution influenced sediment pathways during the Early to Middle Jurassic and Early Cretaceous exhumation of the Mesozoic margin hinterland. The Essaouira-Agadir Basin in Morocco underwent evaporite deposition during the Atlasic and Atlantic rifting. Subsequent loading and tectonics resulted in re-mobilisation and generation of a variety of evaporite structures. Structural data obtained from analysis of Google Earth images processed using Move 2D allowed derivation of the thickness of sedimentary units on both flanks of the structures. Integrated with sedimentary logs from nine locations around evaporite-cored structures and two onshore wells, this data constrains the depositional record and allow an assessment of siliciclastic flux in the Essaouira-Agadir Basin. The results show the importance of syn-sedimentary evaporite tectonics on basin morphology, which influences the distribution of clastics delivered by fluvial systems and deepwater processes into the basin. This paper constrains the evolution of the Amsittène and Imouzzer anticlines in the Early to Middle Jurassic and support that their growth is associated with halokinesis. Mesozoic syn-sedimentary fold growth would have provided an important control on sediment discharge pathways and on the location of sediment entry points on the shelf margin, that ultimately fed deep water fan systems. This knowledge is key to predict the reservoir presence on the eastern margin of the Central Atlantic Ocean and to some extent, its conjugate margin in Nova Scotia.