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The Mazafran river (western Sahel of Algiers): superimposition or antecedence?

  • ArabGU2016
  • Published:
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Abstract

At the western Sahel of Algiers, the watercourse of the Mazafran river is perpendicular to the Sahel fold, forming a gorge that has developed in a tectono-eustatic context characteristic of the Sahel region. This gorge has formed in a regime of superimposition which involves the evolution of antecedence in relation to the Sahel uplift. This deduction is the result of multiple analyses that are based on a stratigraphic study which characterizes the succession of continental and marine deposits and the analyses of lineament map of tectonic evolution during the Quaternary which is marked by the Sahel folding. In order to correlate the chronology between the fluvial and marine sedimentary dynamics, a geomorphological study of the Mazafran alluvial terraces associated with the paleoshorelines was realized. The obtained results reveal that the development of the Mazafran river gorge is complex.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the director of Geomorphology and Georisks laboratory (Faculty of Earth Sciences, USTHB, Algeria) for providing the necessary laboratory facilities and other logistic support and discussion for the study and we would like to thank Professor S. Maouche (CRAAG, Algeria) for his help and precious pieces of advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geography Department, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Sciences and Technology, Houari Boumediene, Algiers, Algeria

    Djamal Akziz, Mostefa Guendouz & Mohamed Said Guettouche

  2. Geology Department, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Sciences and Technology, Houari Boumediene, Algiers, Algeria

    Tahar Khelil

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  1. Djamal Akziz
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  2. Mostefa Guendouz
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  3. Mohamed Said Guettouche
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  4. Tahar Khelil
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Correspondence to Djamal Akziz.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Current Advances in Geology of North Africa

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Akziz, D., Guendouz, M., Guettouche, M.S. et al. The Mazafran river (western Sahel of Algiers): superimposition or antecedence?. Arab J Geosci 11, 121 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-018-3469-7

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