Abstract
This chapter aims to describe the hypogene caves of North Africa. A few hypogene caves are known in Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. Algeria hosts most of hypogene caves known in this region. This includes hydrothermal cave springs (Aïn Ouarka, Hassi Dermam, Aïdour), mazes related to CO2 degassing (Kef el Kaous), iron-ore related caves (Rouïna) and sulfuric acid speleogenesis (SAS) caves especially in the Azerou massif. This last area displays numerous caves recording the geomorphic evolution that follows the gradual exhumation of the thermal aquifer. Preliminary analytical data (geomorphology, mineralogy, isotopes, and U/Th dating) are presented.
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Acknowledgements
Part of this work was carried out in the frame of the French–Algerian bilateral project PHC Tassili no. 13MDU884. Djamel Boubaya (Univ. of Tebessa) collected the water samples at Hammam el Biban. Mohammed Belaoud and Said Ramdam are thanked for their collaboration during cave survey. The Benouerkhou family is acknowledged for its nice welcoming in the village during our field work. Thanks are due to Bernard Collignon for scientific discussions and for providing determinant information for the logistic and for the access to the area. Alfredo Buzio provided documentation about Kef Aziza Cave. Hai Cheng (Xi’an Jiaotong University‚ China) is warmly thanked for U/Th dating of the calcite samples of Azerou massif. Fernando Gazquez (Univ. of Cambridge, UK) provided isotopic analyses of Azerou massif and Kef Aziza.
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Audra, P. (2017). Hypogene Caves in North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt). In: Klimchouk, A., N. Palmer, A., De Waele, J., S. Auler, A., Audra, P. (eds) Hypogene Karst Regions and Caves of the World. Cave and Karst Systems of the World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53348-3_58
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53348-3_58
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