Высокий Атлас: Горный массив Центральной Мороко

Mountain range in central Morocco

The High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas, is a mountain range in central Morocco, North Africa, the highest part of the Atlas Mountains. The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan Algerian border. At the Atlantic and to the southwest the range drops abruptly and makes an impressive transition to the coast and the Anti Atlas range. To the north, in the direction of Marrakech, the range descends less abruptly. The range includes Jbel Toubkal, which at is the highest in the range and lies in Toubkal National Park. The range serves as a weather system barrier in Morocco running east–west and separating the Sahara from the Mediterranean and continental zones to the north and west. In the higher elevations of the massif, snow falls regularly, allowing winter sports. Snow lasts well into late spring in the High Atlas, mostly on the northern faces of the range. On the Western High Atlas, there is Oukaïmeden, one of three main ski stations in Morocco. The High Atlas forms the basins for a multiplicity of river systems. The majority of the year round rivers flow to the north, providing the basis for the settlements there. A number of wadis and seasonal rivers terminate in the deserts to the south and plateaux to the east of the mountains. The High Atlas Mountains are inhabited by Berbers, who live from agriculture and pastoralism in the valleys. In the steppe zone of the High Atlas, where precipitations are low, the locals created a smart technique in managing the low precipitations and the weak soil. They turn the rather semi arid lands into fertile valleys called locally by Agdal (garden in Berber). This technique has intrigued many Western agriculturalists, in which they were impressed by the high efficiency of this agricultural system. Many scientists, particularly French scientists, make yearly expeditions to observe the community and their living system.

In the west lies the oldest portion of the range. Its high point is the Jbel Toubkal, which is visible from the city of Marrakech. Jbel Toubkal lies in the Toubkal national park, which was created in 1942. The massif consists of Jurassic and Cretaceous formations notched by deep erosion carved valleys. This part of the range includes the Ourika Valley, which is the only location in the High Atlas where the endangered primate, the Barbary macaque, Macaca sylvanus, is found; however, this primate is also found in parts of the Middle Atlas and the Rif, as well as parts of Algeria. The Ourika Valley is also a location where a diverse flora was recorded as early as the 19th century.

A solid chalk mass morphologically dominated by tabular zones reaching an altitude of extends from Azilal to Ouarzazate. Here, the contrasting landscapes are similar to Colorado in the United States, with high plateaux, gorges and box canyons, and peaks sometimes splintered by erosion. Several peaks in this area exceed , with Jbel Mgoun at 4068 m being the highest peak in this part of the High Atlas. The area is populated by Berbers.

The eastern part of the High Atlas forms vast plateaux at high altitude which provide the headwaters for the Moulouya River. It extends from the town of Khenifra. This portion of the range includes the solid mass of the Tamlelt whose northern edge is occupied by its higher peaks, such Jbel Ayachi at The altitude falls towards the east where the mountains join the pre Saharan zone. This massif became an internationally famous paleontological site after the discovery of the bones of a dinosaur called 'Atlasaurus', which populated Morocco 180 million years ago. This dinosaur is also named Tazoudasaurus, after the name of the village of Tazouda, where it was discovered. The creature, about long, is postulated to be an ancestor of the Sauropoda found in America. Until 140 million years ago, the African and American continents were connected.

The Atlas Mountains define an ENE WSW trending intracontinental belt, resulting from the tectonic inversion of the Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic rift basin during the Cenozoic convergence between the African and Eurasian Plates. The Moroccan Atlas is formed by the ENE WSW striking High Atlas and the NE SW trending Middle Atlas. The former is divided into three segments named western, central, and eastern High Atlas. Following the Triassic red bed deposition, marine conditions prevailed during the Early and Middle Jurassic resulting in the development of carbonate and mixed depositional systems. The Jurassic Atlas basin was open to the east (western Tethys realm) with Paleozoic provenance areas located toward the west and south. Liassic sedimentary systems evolved from extensive peritidal shallow water carbonate platforms (Hettangian lower Sinemurian) that progressively backstepped toward the basin margins, to more localized platform development flanking the depocenters (Sinemurian). Normal faulting and block tilting increased notably during Pliensbachian times, resulting in north to south compartmentalization of the basin. Pliensbachian carbonate platforms preferentially developed in the margins basin and in synsedimentary structural highs, promoting abrupt transitions in the marine sedimentary record from shallow water to basinal facies. In 2023, a fossil of a hybodontiform Strophodus was collected from the Bajocian deposits of High Atlas. It's the oldest Gondwanan specimen of this genus at the time of discovery. The new species was named Strophodus atlasensis, after the mountain range where its holotype was found. At approximately mid range, the Amesfrane Rock Wall rises some 1650 feet (503 m) from a dry riverbed wadi. The formation is composed of rounded columns patterned with horizontal ridges that occurred as a result of erosion, which caused travellers to nickname it "the Cathedral", for its resemblance to a gothic cathedral. Among the summits at a height of height lies the Kasbah of Telouet on the road to Marrakech. The canyons and ravines of the Dadès and the Todra are also points of interest.