M’Goun UNESCO Global Geopark


This geopark is located around the M'Goun mountain, also rendered as Ighil Mgoun, Ighil M’Goun, Irhil M’Goun, Ighil n’Oumsoud, Jebel Mgoun, Jebel Ighil M’Goun and Jebel Aït M’goun. The mountain is 4,071 m asl high and is the third highest peak of the Atlas Mountains after Toubkal and Ouenkrim. The park covers an area of 5,730 km² around the mountain of the central High Atlas. There are numerous high mountains and two climate zones, one with high rainfall (600 to 900 mm/a) and one with lower rainfall (400 to 700 mm/a). At altitudes above 1,500 m snowfall is common from November to May. The rocks are mostly from the Triassic period, 250 million years ago, and the main topic is the orogeny of the Atlas as a result of the collision of the African and European plates.

Best you start your visit at the M'Goun Geopark Museum in the city Azilal. It is dedicated to earth sciences, and has 13 thematic exhibitions. The origins of the universe, earth, and the origin of life and its evolution. The central High Atlas range with the different stages of its formation, the Hercynian orogeny, the mass extinction of the Permo-Triassic, formation of the Atlas Trench during the Lower Jurassic, and the orogeny of the Atlas during the Middle to Upper Jurassic, and finally the folding and uplift of the central Atlas during the Tertiary. Another topic is the Cretaceous transgression, the K/T boundary and the mass extinction. Limestones in the mountain range are karstified, there are caves, aquifers, and numerous karst springs. And finally, the water and mineral resources of the Geopark. The territory contains numerous minerals: copper, zinc, barite, iron, basalt, limestone and dolomitic Triassic red clays. A basement has a room reserved for temporary exhibitions.

Among the main geosites of the park are several spots with dinosaur footprints. A skeleton of the Atlasaurus imelakei, named after the mountain ridge, is on display in the museum. It is one of the largest known dinosaurs. The bones were discovered in 1979 by the Swiss geologist Michel Monbaron from the University of Fribourg. Monbaron was hired by Morocco’s Geological Office to map a portion of the Atlas Mountains.

However, there is a big drawback: despite being a UNESCO Global Geopark since 2014, the documentation is unfortunately primarily in French. And their website has not been updated in the last decade, the pictures of the museum are computer generated by the architect, real pictures are of extremely poor quality. The museum on the other hand is quite spectacular, some call it the best museum of the country. And with the emphasis on dinosaurs, it's definitely popular with children.

This is the only UNESCO Global Geopark in Morocco, but as there are actually only two in the whole continent Africa, this is something special. Nevertheless, people and governments are the same all over the world, and funding of the GeoPark is sparse, so they actually have only a single person working for the GeoPark who does all the work alone. Also, it seems that the politicians did not understand the concept. They think the Museum is the GeoPark, and so they funded the museum, which is definitely a good thing, but unfortunately all the other stuff, especially the geosites, were ignored. Also, they added archaeological sites, nature protection, and architecture to the GeoPark, which makes no sense. The idea of GeoParks is funding for geologic topics, as architecture, archaeology, fauna and flora all have other means of funding. Including those topics in the GeoPark redirects the little funding for geology back to traditional topics which already have their own funding. In other words, reading about this park was a little painful.


Azilal Museum, Av. Hassan 2, Azilal, Marokko, Tel: +212-5234-58680.