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“Neotectonics” in the northern African margin: new paleomagnetic constraints from northwestern Algeria

  • 1st CAJG 2018
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Abstract

Previous paleomagnetic studies performed in the central North-Algeria (Chellif and Mitidja basins) on Neogene formations pointed out tectonic clockwise blocks rotations. This deformation pattern was interpreted as resulting from a bookshelf neotectonics, consequence of the Africa-Eurasia plates convergence. A new paleomagnetic study was conducted on the Neogene volcanic rocks outcropping in the northwestern Algeria (Marset Ben Mhidi, Aïn Temouchent, Tifaraouine area). The obtained stable remanent magnetization is mainly carried by Ti-poor titanomagnetite. The paleomagnetic data show that, since the lava emplacement, the northwestern Algeria underwent a mean moderate clockwise block rotation of 9.3° ± 4.5°. For the Algerian margin, this confirms a context of transpression and blocks rotations in a strike-slip tectonic setting. A decreasing deformation gradient from the E to the W affected the different basins of this margin, from strong rotations within the Mitidja, to the moderate ones in the Chellif and to Marset Ben Mhidi, Aïn Temouchent, Tifaraouine area, where rotation magnitudes are significantly lower.

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Acknowledgements

This project is supported by the collaboration between the Centre de Recherche en Astronomie Astrophysique et Géophysique (CRAAG - Algeria) and the CY Cergy Paris Université (France). We are grateful to Fabio Speranza, an anonymous reviewer and the associate editor for useful constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRAAG, BP 63, 16340 Bouzaréah, Alger, Algeria

    Mohamed El-Messaoud Derder, Saïd Maouche, Mohamed Amenna, Souhila Hassina Boukerbout, Boualem Bayou & Rafik Bestandji

  2. Geosciences Environment Cergy, CY Cergy Paris Université, 5 Mail Gay-Lussac, 95031, cedex, Cergy-Pontoise, France

    Philippe Robion

  3. Université de Paris, Paléomagnétisme, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité and UMR 7154 CNRS, 1 rue Jussieu, 75238 Paris cedex 05, France

    Bernard Henry

  4. GEOPS, CNRS UMR8148, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Rue du Belvédère, Bât. 504, 91405, Orsay, France

    Yves Missenard

  5. Laboratoire “Géodynamique, Géologie de l’Ingénieur et Planétologie”, FSTGAT/USTHB, 32, El-Alia Bab Ezzouar, 16111, Alger, BP, Algeria

    Aziouz Ouabadi

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  1. Mohamed El-Messaoud Derder
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Responsible Editor: Narasimman Sundararajan

This paper was selected from the 1st Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences (CAJG), Tunisia 2018

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Derder, M.EM., Maouche, S., Robion, P. et al. “Neotectonics” in the northern African margin: new paleomagnetic constraints from northwestern Algeria. Arab J Geosci 14, 1248 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07550-0

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