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Provenance analyses of the heavy-mineral beach sands of the Annaba coast, northeast Algeria, and their consequences for the evaluation of fossil placer deposit

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Abstract

The paper presents the first study of heavy-mineral sand beaches from the Mediterranean coast of Annaba/Algeria. The studied beaches run along the basement outcrops of the Edough massif, which are mainly composed by micaschists, tourmaline-rich quartzo-feldspathic veins, gneisses, skarns and marbles. Sand samples were taken from three localities (Ain Achir, Plage-Militaire and El Nasr). The heavy-mineral fraction comprises between 74 and 91 vol%. The garnets of the beaches are almandine rich and tourmalines vary with respect to their location from schorl to dravite. Tourmaline at Ain Achir and the Plage-Militaire is schorlits, while at El Nasr beach dravite is ubiquitous. The World Shale Average normalised REE of the sands and the basement outcrops reveal: (i) Ain Achir beach: REE pattern of sand and the coastal rocks from the studied beaches reflects a multiple sources; (ii) Plage-Militaire: the sand and the coastal outcrops show similar LREE and a strong enrichment in HREE, suggesting the presence HREE-rich phases found as inclusions in staurolite; (iii) El Nasr: two types of sand patterns are found: one with flat REE pattern similar to the proximal rocks and other one enriched in HREE suggesting a mixed source.

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions that improved this paper. Moreover, we thank the Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, the University of Potsdam for their support in analytical facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of LGRN, Badji-Mokhtar/Annaba University, P.O. Box 12, 23000 , Annaba, Algeria

    Asma Chemam & Menana Daif

  2. Laboratory of Soils and Sustainable Development, Badji-Mokhtar/Annaba University, P.O. Box 12, 23000 , Annaba, Algeria

    Soraya Hadjzobir

  3. Institute of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Strasse 24-25, D14476 , Potsdam-Golm, Germany

    Uwe Altenberger & Christina Günter

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  1. Asma Chemam
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  2. Soraya Hadjzobir
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  4. Uwe Altenberger
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  5. Christina Günter
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Correspondence to Asma Chemam.

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Corresponding editor: Partha Pratim Chakraborty

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Chemam, A., Hadjzobir, S., Daif, M. et al. Provenance analyses of the heavy-mineral beach sands of the Annaba coast, northeast Algeria, and their consequences for the evaluation of fossil placer deposit. J Earth Syst Sci 127, 118 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-1019-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-018-1019-z

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