Faouziya Haissen

The development of hybrid renewable energy systems is increasingly recognized as a viable solution for improving energy access and system reliability in resource‐diverse but infrastructure‐limited regions. However, in Northeastern Morocco, the combined renewable energy potential of geothermal, solar, and wind resources has not been assessed from a spatial and integrative perspective. This paper presents a geographic information system (GIS)‐based review and comparative analysis of geothermal, solar, and wind energy resources in Northeastern Morocco, with particular emphasis on the Guercif‐Guilliz and Beni Snassen regions. By compiling and analyzing existing geospatial, geological, and environmental datasets, the study evaluates geothermal gradients and hydrothermal manifestations alongside solar irradiance and wind field characteristics. The analysis highlights the complementarity of these renewable resources and reviews the feasibility of hybrid geothermal‐solar and geothermal‐wind systems as sustainable energy solutions for off‐grid and underserved areas. Furthermore, the paper discusses the conditions under which three‐source hybrid configurations (geothermal‐solar‐wind) may become technically and economically viable. By synthesizing dispersed data into a coherent spatial framework, this review provides a structured basis for future planning and investment, supporting Morocco's strategic objectives for renewable energy expansion and long‐term energy security.

The Aghbar deposit, located in the central part of the Bou Azzer–El Graâra inlier (Anti-Atlas, Morocco), is a cobalt-arsenic-rich mineralization system hosted mainly in Cryogenian serpentinites and their contact with overlying Ediacaran volcanic and volcano-sedimentary formations. This study...

Vitrinite reflectance and a micro-Raman spectroscopy parameters data set have been acquired on dispersed organic matter of the Maghrebian flysch basin and the Tangiers unit across a NE-SW section in the north-western Rif belt (North Morocco). Thermal maturity shows increasing values from the hinterland to the external unit (from NE to SW). Paleo-thermal indicators show that the internal flysch basin (i.e., the Mauretanian unit) is less mature than the external one, (i.e., the Massylian unit), with R_o% and R_o eq. Raman values ranging from 0.64% to 1.02% (from early mature to late mature stages of hydrocarbon generation). 1D thermal modeling estimates the overburden now totally eroded ranging from 3.1 km to 6.0 km, and has been used as constraint to reconstruct the complete thrust wedge geometry in Miocene times. The reconstructed geometry accounts for high shortening (about 63%) due to the development of an antiformal stack in the frontal part of the wedge made up by the flysch succession. This stacking is interpreted as a consequence of the western translation of the Alboran Domain in the core of the Betic-Rif orogenic system.

The Variscan Orogen in Iberia and the Anti-Atlas Mountains in Morocco contains a set of ophiolites formed between Neoproterozoic and Devonian times, during the complex evolution of the NW African–Iberian margin of Gondwana. During this time interval, the margin evolved from an active margin ( c. 750–500 Ma: the Reguibat–Avalonian–Cadomian arc) to the final collision with Laurussia in Devonian times to form Pangaea. In this context, one of the oldest recognized ophiolites is the Bou Azzer Ophiolite from the Anti-Atlas Mountains, dated at c. 697 Ma and containing two types of mafic rocks, the youngest of which has a boninitic composition. To the north, in the SW Iberian Massif, the Calzadilla Ophiolite contains mafic rocks also of boninitic composition dated at c. 598 Ma. Farther north, in the NW Iberian Massif, the Vila de Cruces Ophiolite is formed by a thick sequence of mafic rocks with an arc tholeiitic composition and minor alternations of tonalitic orthogneisses dated at c. 497 Ma. In the same region, the Bazar Ophiolite has a similar age of c. 495 Ma. Also in NW Iberia, there is a group of ophiolites with varied lithologies and dominant mafic rocks with arc tholeiitic composition (Careón, Purrido and Moeche ophiolites) dated at c. 395 Ma. The composition of all these peri-Gondwanan ophiolites is of supra-subduction zone type, showing no evidence of preserved mid-ocean ridge basalt type oceanic lithosphere. Consequently, these ophiolites were generated in the peri-Gondwanan realm during the opening of forearc or back-arc basins. Forearc oceanic lithosphere was promptly obducted or accreted to the volcanic arc, but the oceanic or transitional lithosphere generated in back-arc settings was preserved until the assembly of Pangaea. Based on the ages of the described ophiolites, the peri-Gondwanan realm has been a domain where the generation of oceanic or transitional lithosphere seems to have occurred at intervals of c. 100 myr. These regularly spaced time intervals may indicate cyclic events of mantle upwelling in the peri-Gondwanan mid-ocean ridges, with associated higher subduction rates at the peri-Gondwanan trenches and concomitant higher rates of partial melting in the mantle wedges involved. The origin of the apparent cyclicity for mantle upwelling in the peri-Gondwanan ocean ridges is unclear, but it could have possibly been related to episodic deep mantle convection. Cycles of more active deep mantle convection can explain episodic mantle upwelling, the transition from low- to fast-spreading type mid-ocean ridges and, finally, the dynamic context for the episodic generation of new supra-subduction zone type oceanic peri-Gondwanan lithosphere.

Key Points: Opening of the Maghrebian Tethys during a major Middle Jurassic rifting phase Late Triassic to Early Jurassic CAMP‐related magmatism Non‐oceanic nature of the Mesorif Gabbroic Complex and absence of an overlaying oceanic sequence