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Granulite-facies marbles are part of the Archaean crust of the In Ouzzal terrane (Western Hoggar). Besides calcite and dolomite, these marbles are characterized by forsterite, spinel, phlogopite, diopside, amphibole, and magnetite. High-Mn ilmenite (MnO: 19.43 wt%), pyrophanite (MnO: 25.83 wt%), dissakisite-(Ce) (containing 12.2–14.38 Ce2O3 wt% and 8.3–12.3 wt% La2O3), F-rich clinohumite and Ba-rich-phlogopite occur locally. Ilmenite-pyrophanite and Ba-rich phlogopite (BaO: 11.68 wt%) are interpreted to be resulted of the hydrothermal processes during carbonate deposition; whereas, dissakisite-(Ce) is inferred to have resulted from light rare earth element (LREE) enrichment of these marbles by fluids released from the syenite intrusions. Clinohumite with XMg [= Mg/(Mg + Fe)] of 0.89–0.91, generated by hydration of forsterite-bearing dolomitic marbles, has the highest fluorine contents ever reported in the literature (3.25–4.62 wt%), resulting in a F/(F + OH) ratio as high as 0.8. Clinohumite is the only phase incorporating F where phlogopite, amphibole and apatite are absent. Thus, all the F present in the rock would be concentrated in clinohumite, resulting in extreme fluorine enrichment in some grains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The In Allarene mafic-ultramafic complex is located at the southern part of the In Ouzzal terrane and was known as the unique Pan-African mafic-ultramafic intrusion in this terrane. The complex shows a ring-shaped intrusion of about 20 km2 and concentric structures. Petrological observations and mineralogical analyses show that the core of the intrusion is composed of harzburgites and dunites surrounded by lherzolites, whereas the outer part consists of fine- to coarse-grained gabbros that are crosscut by dolerite dykes. The mineralogy and geochemistry of these rocks show that they are mainly cumulates, but some gabbros and dolerites have characteristics indicating that they correspond to magmatic liquids or they have trapped a variable amount of magmatic liquid. They correspond to the least magnesian and the most alkaline-rich gabbros and dolerites. The geochemistry of the gabbros and dolerites is very similar to the mafic-ultramafic complexes linked to arc zones and they exhibit all the features of the subduction zones magmatism as showing in the N-MORB normalization, with LILE enrichment relatively to HFSE, and Nb-Ta and Ti negative anomalies. The chemical compositions of clinopyroxene and spinel support this hypothesis. This is also the case for all geodynamic setting discrimination diagrams, both those using major elements and trace elements. Several of these diagrams also show that the studied rocks can be distinguished from intracontinental plate tholeiites, which can be very close geochemically to continental arc tholeiites. These results support the hypothesis of the existence of an arc-type metasomatized mantle under the In Ouzzal terrane during Pan-African orogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sablettes (Algiers) coastal reclaimed fringe region, located on the hanging wall of the Sahel active fault, is subject to different types of geological hazard such as flood and tsunami, coastal uplift, earthquake, liquefaction, landslide, and site effects. In this present work, we used ambient vibration HVSR for imaging the bedrock. The thickness of the sedimentary column under the backfill layer is unknown, and the coastal reclaimed areas are prone to strong amplification of seismic waves. The determination of the depth of the metamorphic base allowed us to establish a mapping of the bedrock roof surface. The 3D representation of this surface enabled us to present models of tectonic structures in this basement (i.e., fault, fold). This analysis will make it possible to make better evaluation of the amplification after having determined the depth of the metamorphic basement exceeding 240 m, which is supposed to have velocities close to those of the seismological basement, as well as the thicknesses of the different layers surmounting it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The documentation and management of information concerning geological sites are important activities in all the steps of the geoheritage conservation and its day-to-day management. This documentation is mostly available on the web; it includes varied types of data such as pictures, scientific publications, news, and blog articles. In order to ensure the efficient management of the geoheritage resources, scientists and people involved in the promotion of the geoheritage and geotourism should have access to this documentation and kept updated of the most recent and relevant information. In this study, we propose the development of a web information monitoring system that automates the search and the collection of different types of documents related to the Algerian geosites available on the web. It is designed as a tool that continuously browses the web using the most popular search engines and then disseminates the results to the users through periodic newsletters. This proposed system will also serve to chronologically organize all the pictures of geosites gathered from the web and thus in order to study the evolution of Algerian geosites over time. For this purpose, we use one of the crowdsourcing methods in the field of knowledge management that is games with a purpose (GWAP). The idea here is to involve people in sorting pictures of geosites through a playful interface. The results obtained show that this system is a valuable tool that can assist geoscientists and decision makers in enhancing the geoheritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Ain Turck (Bouira) landslide, in north-center Algeria, is one of the numerous instabilities recorded along the Lakhdaria-Bouira section of the 1200-km-long east-west Algerian highway. The locality of Ain Turck is known for its unstable slopes characterized by a very rough morphology with steep slopes (20 to 25%). This slide threatens the inhabitants of the Ibournanen village, located down the unstable slope, where parts of some houses have fallen into ruin, while others are cracked. It is characterized by an active movement extending over a more or less important slope, of the order of a hundred meters. The land mobilized by this movement corresponds to the layer of shale clays and clays overlaid by a backfill, placed there following the east-west highway works. Geological, geomorphologic, and geotechnical analysis allows determining the soil instability probably related to earthworks during the construction of the highway section a few years earlier, followed by a particularly rainy season in 2012. Acquisitions of ambient seismic noise and H/ V ratio processing, as well as the acquisition of an electrical resistivity profile at the instability site, have reinforced our preliminary interpretations of depth and geometry of the sliding surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to locate and characterize the Thénia Fault Zone (TFZ) in the urban area of Boumerdes city; geological and electrical resistivity tomography surveys have targeted the Plaisancian marl and its Quaternary cover. As a whole, data indicate a complex near-vertical fault zone with an asymmetric and zoned internal structure of at least 150 m wide and with a straight N120° overall trending. The fault zone is traversed with two elongated parallel fault branches (FB1 and FB2), generally, 70 m distant from each other. These fault branches locate two intense damage zones (IDZs) of 10-15 m thick each, situated at the margin of two damage zones each having a thickness of several tens of meters. Downward sand injections into IDZs during Pleistocene epoch, possible pulverization of Plaisancian marl rocks, systematic deflection of actual stream channels, and vertical displacement of at least 30 m affecting Quaternary alluvial deposits show that the area would have undergone active tectonic driven by the TFZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study area is located in the western Hoggar Shield (southern Algeria). It includes the In Ouzzal terrane, which consists of Archaean metamorphic rocks. By contrast to other rocks of the Hoggar Shield, the In Ouzzal terrane represents an exception of being neither deformed nor metamorphosed during the Pan-African event, remaining as a rigid block since 2 Ga. Although, previous geophysical works in the area include an airborne magnetometer and gamma-ray spectrometric survey as well as ground gravity and magnetotelluric survey structurally, the study area has not been very well understood. In this paper, we present the interpretation results of the airborne magnetic data by using the 3D Euler deconvolution and the improved Tilt-angle methods. These results reveal the existing of fault systems (FS) occurring within the center of the study area and along the latitude of 22°; the results also suggested that the deepest fault system is oriented NE-SW and is represented by parallel major faults splitting the In Ouzzal terrane into two different parts: northern and southern. The northern part moved northwards, whereas the southern part moved southwards colliding with the Iforas unit. The interpretation confirms that the In Ouzzal terrane and the surrounding Pan-African structures are bound two by two sub-vertical lithospheric faults with the existence of dextral and sinistral faults in the west and east of the terrane, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gour Oumelalen area exposes Paleoproterozoic (1.9 Ga) marbles and calc-silicate granulites. Some marbles show a specific mineralogy characterized by the presence of a highly aluminous clinopyroxene with AlO content exceeding16 wt%. This clinopyroxene shows a marked zoning with a hedenbergitic core rimmed by fassaite. Phase relations are expressed by spectacular reaction textures in calc-silicate granulites as Opx + Cpx + Pl + HO == > Grt + Qtz ± Am and Cpx + Ilm + Pl ± Mt = > Grt + Qtz + Spn. In olivine-bearing marbles, clinopyroxene and dolomite occur around olivine and calcite. According to thermodynamic modeling in the NaO-CaO-FeO-MgO-AlO-SiO-HO-TiO-FeO (NCFMASHTO) system, the first stage of metamorphism is located at 800 °C and 6-7 kbar, which is followed by an increase in pressure at 9-10 kbar and 800 °C and an isobaric cooling at 680 °C. The deduced anticlockwise P-T path is consistent with a granulitic metamorphism occurring in an active continental margin context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peridotite xenoliths exhumed by Quaternary alkaline magmatism in the Tahalgha district, southern Hoggar, represent fragments of the subcontinental lithospheric mantle beneath the boundary between the two major structural domains of the Tuareg Shield: the ‘Polycyclic Central Hoggar’ to the east and the ‘Western Hoggar’, or ‘Pharusian Belt’, to the west. Samples were collected from volcanic centres located on both sides of a major lithospheric shear zone at 4°35' separating these two domains. Although showing substantial variations in their deformation microstructures, equilibrium temperatures and modal and chemical compositions, the studied samples do not display any systematic changes of these features across the 4°35' fault. The observed variations rather record small-scale heterogeneities distributed throughout the study area and reflecting the widespread occurrence of vein conduits and metasomatized wall-rocks related to trans-lithospheric melt circulation during the Cenozoic. These features include partial annealing of pre-existing deformation microstructures, post-deformation metasomatic reactions, and trace-element enrichment, coupled with heating from 750–900°C (low-temperature lherzolites) to 900–1150°C (intermediate-T lherzolites and high-T harzburgites and wehrlites). Trace-element modelling confirms that the range of rare earth element (REE) variations observed in the Tahalgha clinopyroxenes may be accounted for by reactive porous flow involving a single stage of basaltic melt infiltration into a light REE (LREE)-depleted protolith. Whole-rock compositions record the final entrapment of disequilibrium metasomatic melts upon thermal relaxation of the veins–wall-rock system. The striking correlations between equilibrium temperatures and trace-element enrichment favor a scenario in which the high-temperature peridotites record advective heat transport along melt conduits, whereas the intermediate- and low-temperature lherzolites reflect conductive heating of the host Mechanical Boundary Layer. This indicates that the lithosphere did not reach thermal equilibrium, suggesting that the inferred heating event was transient and was rapidly erased by thermal relaxation down to the relatively low-temperature present-day geotherm. The low-T (<900°C) deformed lherzolites (porphyroclastic to equigranular) are characterized by only incipient annealing and LREE-depleted clinopyroxene compositions. They were only weakly affected by the Cenozoic events and could represent relatively well-preserved samples from rejuvenated Pan-African lithosphere. Extensive lithospheric rejuvenation occurred either regionally during the Pan-African orogeny, as a result of lithospheric delamination or thermomechanical erosion after thickening, or more locally along the meridional shear zones. The low-T Tahalgha lherzolites are comparable with lherzolites from Etang de Lherz, southern France, interpreted as lithospheric mantle rejuvenated by melt-induced refertilization during a late stage of the Variscan orogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the garnet pyroxenites and amphibolite-facies rock equivalents represented by the retrogressed garnet pyroxenites from Tamanrasset in Hoggar, Algeria. Regional geology; Petrography; Textures and mineral reactions in garnet pyroxenites; Chemical composition of metabasites; Fluid inclusions in the granulites.

Algeria does not count any classified geoparks despite its wealthy geological heritage, particularly in Tamanrasset province (southern Algeria). The economic activities in this province require promotion and diversification apart from the oil and gas industry. While tourism can be a crucial driver of its local development, tourist arrivals and infrastructures, especially in villages, indicate how underdeveloped this sector is. The present paper aims to evaluate, for the first time, both natural and cultural potential, targeting a possible geopark classification proposal in this province to boost its tourism and local development. The present study's results highlighted a concentration of geological and non-geological features (archaeology, architecture, intangible cultural heritage, biodiversity) in two (2) regions of Tamanrasset (Hoggar and Tidikelt). Both areas host the largest number of villages, favoring local inhabitants' involvement in local development and tourism activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original version of this paper was published with incomplete affiliation. Given in this article are the complete affiliations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]