Late Mesozoic sedimentary rocks of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands: Implications for West African continental margin evolution

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Abstract
The basal complex of Fuerteventura, inner Canary Islands, includes a thick sequence (c. 1.5 km) of early Cretaceous terrigenous and calcareous clastic sediments and black shales. Previously interpreted as shallow-water deposits, these rocks are reinterpreted as part of a deep-sea fan on the rifted West African continental margin. Sediments were derived from ancient crystalline massifs inland, and from a probable collapsed carbonate platform located offshore. Stable passive margin conditions ended in the Albian with onset of calcareous pelagic sedimentation coupled with major localised uplift. After a hiatus, alkalic submarine volcanic rocks were extruded, followed by folding, then a substantial sheeted-dyke complex was intruded from late Eocene to mid-Miocene. After renewed uplift and peneplanation of the Basal Complex, Neogene plateau lavas were extruded. Structural analysis of Fuerteventura rocks and regional comparisons, including IPOD data, show that from early Cretaceous to mid-Tertiary the island experienced successive phases of crustal uplift, compression and extension, possibly related to orogenic events in the High Atlas.