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Other Fuel and Strategic Resources in North Africa: Oil Shale and Rare Earth Elements

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The Geology of North Africa

Part of the book series: Regional Geology Reviews ((RGR))

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Abstract

Oil shale and rare earth elements (REE) are examples of the strategic resources in North Africa. Oil shale is considered as a major oil and/or gas-prone source rock. The Lower Silurian organic-rich shales account for 80–90% of all Paleozoic hydrocarbon sources in North Africa. However, due to Egypt's palaeohigh at the time, the Silurian organic-rich sediments were not deposited there, but Upper Cretaceous-Paleogene oil shale can be found. In the last decades, the interest and mandate for valuable resources and elements (REE) are continually increasing due to their critical role in several fields of activity such as technology and industry. Rare earth elements are generally associated with phosphorite deposits as they contain large quantities of REE. The current chapter covers five North African countries, i.e., Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the editors for their great efforts and particular thanks to Prof. Zakaria Hamimi for the kind invitation and support to present this chapter. We would like also to thank the two anonymous reviewers of the manuscript for their comments which improved the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Rania Abu-Ali & Ahmed El-Kammar

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  1. Rania Abu-Ali
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  2. Ahmed El-Kammar
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Correspondence to Rania Abu-Ali .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Geology Department, Benha University, Benha, Egypt

    Zakaria Hamimi

  2. Earth Science, University Ferhat Abbas, Sétif1, Sétif, Algeria

    Moulley Charaf Chabou

  3. Faculté Polydisciplinaire de Safi, Cadi Ayyad University, Safi, Morocco

    Ezzoura Errami

  4. Geology Department, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

    Abdel-Rahman Fowler

  5. Geosciences Department Manager, National Oil Corporation, Tripoli, Libya

    Nuri Fello

  6. Faculty of Earth Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Amara Masrouhi

  7. Geosciences Environnement Cergy, CY Cergy Paris University, Neuville sur Oise, France

    Rémi Leprêtre

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Abu-Ali, R., El-Kammar, A. (2024). Other Fuel and Strategic Resources in North Africa: Oil Shale and Rare Earth Elements. In: Hamimi, Z., et al. The Geology of North Africa. Regional Geology Reviews. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48299-1_17

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