Geophysical analysis using high-resolution aeromagnetic data of Jbel Ougnat, the Moroccan eastern Anti-Atlas: insights into geological structures and tectonic events

Jbel Ougnat is the eastern extension of the eastern belt of the Anti-Atlas. This article focuses on a geophysical study using high-resolution aeromagnetic data covering the Jbel Ougnat area. These data were first filtered using several geophysical processing methods: reduction to the pole, horizontal gradient (HG), and Euler deconvolution (ED). They were, then, analysed and interpreted in the light of the geological background. The HG is used to detect magnetic lineaments, whereas the ED is used to estimate the location and depth of magnetic sources. The results obtained were compared with the geological maps and field survey data. The orientations of the lineaments, extracted from the HG map, are mainly trending NE-SW and NNW-SSE to N-S and NW-SE. The fieldwork helped to identify the mineralised features of these lineaments. The combination of these results with the depth values obtained from Euler solutions shows that these orientations are associated with several tectonic events, recorded by the area during its entire geological history.