Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Elsevier
Résumé : International audience
The In-Ezzane volcanic district (EZD), located at the triple junction of Algeria, Niger and Libya belongs to the Eastern Hoggar, covers 350 km2 and includes 9 volcanic edifices that are probably aligned along NW-SE faults, parallel to the Tafassasset valley. The low volume (0.7 and 1 km3) of emitted lavas, the similar morphology of the monogenic cones and the lack of differentiated rocks indicate that the volcanic activity of the EZD was restricted in time and volume. The new K-Ar age (i.e. 2.86 ± 0.07 Ma) indicates that the EZD is contemporaneous with the last alkali volcanism paroxysm in Hoggar and with the nearby Libyan volcanics. The EZD alkali basalts (mainly basanite) show a remarkable homogeneous compositions both in major elements (44.8 ⩽ SiO2 ⩽ 45.8 wt.%; 5.2 ⩽ (Na2O + K2O) ⩽ 6.2 wt.%), trace elements (4.3 ⩽ Th ⩽ 5.5 ppm; 34.7 ⩽ La ⩽ 44.7 ppm; 16.1 < La/Yb(N) < 21.6) and radiogenic isotopes (0.70285 < 87Sr/86Sr < 0.70303; 0.51298 < 143Nd/144Nd < 0.51301; (19.212 < 206Pb/204Pb < 19.340, 15.589 < 207Pb/204Pb < 15.602 and 38.834 < 208Pb/204Pb < 38.903). Relative to the Hoggar alkaly basalts the EZD basalts appear systematically impoverished in incompatible elements and show a depleted signature both in Sr and Nd isotopes (almost MORB-like). The Pb isotopes are relatively enriched and intermediate between tholeiites and alkali basalts of the Hoggar. This unusual geochemical signature, is uneasy to reconcile with the known characteristics of the Hoggar swell, and would rather fingerprint a circum cratonic mantle lying beneath the west border of the Murzuq craton (Libya).
ISSN: 0899-5362

hal-01054340
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01054340
DOI : 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2013.12.001

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Résumé : International audience
The Ben Zireg anticline NW of Bechar yields the currently most-important Frasnian succession on the northern margin of the Algerian Sahara. It represents 26.5 m of calcilutites which are attributed to the middle–late Frasnian. As the early Frasnian is not represented, the succession rests conformably on undifferentiated, probably late Givetian, substrate. Fine-scaled conodont biostratigraphy reveals a continuous sequence of Montagne Noire Zones 5–13, superseded by the earliest Famennian Lower triangularis Zone. The deposits are organized into 15 sedimentary cycles that are initially condensed and become dilated upwards. Conodont biofacies indicate an overall deepening towards the top of the section with an episode of slight shallowing at the MN11/12 transition marked by an increase of ancyrodellids, which is also seen in the Marhouma section of the Ougarta region (SW Algeria). Homogeneous calcareous microfacies with only a few shaly intercalations determine a predominantly oxygenated depositional environment on an outer platform, submarine rise or ramp setting. This is also indicated by relatively low sedimentation rates which are similar in selected sections from the Tafilalt platform, and contrast with those from the Marhouma trough and the Maider basin. Unlike other Frasnian successions south of the Atlas Fault, but similar to the Moroccan Meseta, the Upper Kellwasser horizon is clearly discriminated at Ben Zireg by an outstanding occurrence of black shales on top of the oxygenated latest Frasnian deposits.
ISSN: 0016-7568

hal-01217151
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01217151
DOI : 10.1017/S0016756814000715