The Sub-Atlas thrust belt and Ouarzazate basin constitutes the best and almost the unique synorogenic
record of the Atlas mountain building. During the Eocene and Oligocene the deformation was concentred
in the distant High Atlas whereas the marginal thrust belt was scarcely deformed. In Late Oligocene to
early Miocene, deformation migrated forelandwards when complex thrust sequences created the Sub-
Atlas foreland fold and thrust belt. Thrusting took place up to Pliocene times entraining the synorogenic
sedimentary rocks, locally-sourced terrigenous and lacustrine deposits