The Kalahari Karoo Basin of Botswana is an intracratonic basin developed in south-central Gondwana and is filled with Upper Carboniferous–Lower Jurassic Karoo Supergroup volcano-sedimentary units. The Karoo Supergroup units are unconformably covered by the Cretaceous to recent Kalahari Group. The Upper Karoo Supergroup in the Central Kalahari Karoo Sub-Basin of Botswana consists of the lacustrine sediments

The Takelsa phreatic aquifer currently shows stress signs and the contamination risk of groundwater by different chemical elements and pesticides is a likely concern. Here we assessed the aquifer vulnerability using the Susceptibility Index (SI) method, considered as a specific vulnerability method that takes into consideration the impact of land uses chemical fertilizers, anthropogenic activities

The Oued Gueniche plain is located in the northeastern Tunisia. It is a part of the Bizerte Neogene molassic basin, developed at the front of the Alpine chain (The Maghrebides). The subsurface structure of this area is not enough explored and was subject of controversial interpretations. Gravimetric and seismic data acquired in the northeast of Tunisia were used to study and update the structural scheme

This work investigates a 3400m thick Tertiary succession from the prolific Gabo hydrocarbon field in the Niger Delta and presents a well-scale geomechanical model to address the pore pressure, borehole stability and fault slip potential attributes. The Tertiray stratigraphy is dominated by cyclic clastic sedimentation and it produces hydrocarbon from the Eocene Agbada Formation. An average vertical

The Albian-Santonian sedimentary sequence in the Ndeaboh-Nenwe area of Enugu, Southern Benue Trough, were analysed for foraminifera and integrated with ostracod and palynofacies analyses to comprehensively appraise the age and depositional environment of the sediments. This is paramount since the studied formations have intermittent series of non-marine sedimentary influences throughout the basin.

Despite the vast extent of the Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS) and its growth during the renowned Neoproterzoic dramatic climatic changes (Snowball Earth Events), only few records of snowball events are identified among its rocks. Here we present geological and geochemical evidence that the northern part of the Arabian Nubian Shield (Um Zariq Formation (UZF), southeast Sinai, Egypt) witnessed global snowball

Calcareous nannofossils are a valuable proxy commonly used in biostratigraphic and paleoenvironmental studies. A high-resolution biostratigraphic analysis of the Pabdeh Formation and transitional interval was undertaken in one of the oilfields, located in the Strait of Hormuz in Iran. The stratigraphic interval studied includes marl, argillaceous limestones and interlayers of limestone and shale. In

Improving exploration and development techniques of fossil fuels are essential for continuous reserves development. Although there are many oil discoveries in the Razzak Area (North Western Desert, Egypt), there are also many dry wells. Therefore, the tectonic setting and reservoirs characterization of the study area has to be fully understood. Twenty 2D highly filtered stack zero-phase seismic sections

The Middle Eocene sedimentary succession in Abat Basin contains a thick mixed siliciclastic and carbonate sequence belonging to the upper member of the Musawa Formation. Over 300 m thick deltaic sediments of the Bartonian to Priabonian upper member of the Musawa Formation show two main facies successions over ten km distance, grading from a proximal delta-plain to a distal delta-front succession. Four

The Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt (EPOB) as a well-preserved ancient magmatic arc situated in the eastern part of the Sakarya Zone and has key importance to allow for proper reconstruction of the geodynamic evolution of the region. The region accepted as important part of Alpine–Himalayan Belt comprises of many granitoids of the Late Cretaceous age. This paper presents new mineral chemistry, bulk-rock

The geodynamic significance of Adamawa Yade Domain in Cameroon is still highly debated. This paper presents mineralogical, geochemical, zircon U–Pb age and Hf isotopic data for NNE-trending garnet-bearing pyroxeno-amphibolite (GPAm) and amphibolite (Am) bodies exposed in the Ititin area located at the Northwestern border of the Adamawa-Yadé domain in Cameroon. The GPAm and Am were dated by SIMS U–Pb

The investigation of lipid biomarkers in sediments deposited during the Holocene in the Lagoon of Tunis, located at the southern edge of the Mediterranean Sea, revealed two important hopanoid biomarkers: 2-methylhopaneand 22,29,30 trisnorhop-17(21)-ene. These compounds are considered of special interest because they reveal information about climate conditions during the Late Holocene sediment deposition

This paper documents the detailed sedimentology and stratigraphic evolution of the Sandy members of the Pindiga Formation. Good understanding of this succession is relevant to resource exploration and exploitation in the frontier Gongola Sub-basin of the Northern Benue Trough and similar Cretaceous strata in general. Detailed facies analysis based on examination of twelve well exposed outcrops revealed

Submarine fan deposits which constitute the remnants of Neo-Tethys are widely observed throughout the Bitlis–Zagros Suture Belt. Most of these deposits are located in the Arabian-Eurasian collision zone and have been intensively deformed due to ongoing tectonic activity. In this study, the depositional characteristics and preservation processes of the undeformed, Lower Miocene Görendağı Submarine Fan

Phosphate minerals derive from marine sedimentary rocks and can be used as soil and water remediation agents. Phosphate deposits are abundant in Morocco. These rocks have important surface properties allowing a good retention of heavy metals (Pb2+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cr3+, Cr6+) and organic micropollutants (phenol, pyridine, dyes and drugs), which has been well described herein. A retention mechanism

Resulting from lithological conditions and anthropogenic activities as fertilizers use and wastewater discharge, high concentrations of chloride ions were revealed in both surface water and groundwater in Lower Soummam valley, situated in the North-Eastern of Algeria. Using geological, hydrogeological and geochemical data, a conceptual model was designed in order to improve understanding of chloride

The south-central Moroccan Jebilet Massif comprises several occurrences of late Paleozoic continental red-beds. These deposits have been interpreted to be of Pennsylvanian-Permian age based on lithofacies. Any other reliable age constraint for these rocks was hitherto lacking. Recent fieldwork in late Paleozoic red-beds of the Koudiat El Hamra - Haiane Basin, near the center of the Jebilet Massif,

We present detailed rock magnetic and paleomagnetic results for a late Neoproterozoic mafic-ultramafic layered intrusion of Gebel Dahanib, South Eastern Desert, Egypt. Gebel Dahanib intrusion (GDI) is an elliptical body with saucer or funnel shape, and was intruded into deformed country rocks at ∼710 Ma. It consists of two main undeformed and unmetamorphosed sequences: I) a lower ultramafic sequence

Electrical resistivity and self-potential are effective geophysical tools for monitoring the soil and groundwater pollution because they are accurate, rapid, costless and non-distractive techniques. Direct or indirect burying of the corpses into the soil is one of the main factors which pollute the soil and the groundwater after decomposition of the tissues and bones. Therefore, the main objective

Eastern Margin of Tunisia and the Pelagic Sea were affected by four magmatic events during the Cretaceous. During these events, the products are mainly interbedded basalts, numerous mafic sills and dykes, volcanic breccias and pyroclastic products. Petrography, mineralogy and geochemistry studies prove two lineages of basalts: basalts with tholeiitic affinity and alkali basalts. Electronic microprobe

The late Cretaceous Bida Basin lithostratigraphy was carried out in order to establish a correlation between the northern (Bida area) and the southern part (Lokoja area) of the basin. The detailed fieldwork carried out over four years involved field description and mapping of outcrops in the entire basin. The study showed that the basin is underlain by mainly continental sedimentary rocks with minor

Synchrotron-based X-ray analytical techniques are gaining in prominence as a crucial yet highly specialized tool for advancing knowledge within the broad field of the Earth Sciences. In terms of global scientific competitiveness, African scientists are somewhat disadvantaged by not having access to their own synchrotron on the African continent. However, there currently exists a strong drive towards

This paper concerns the sedimentary successions deposited in the Mandawa Basin after the separation of East and West Gondwana during the subsequent southwards drift of Madagascar in the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous times. The aim of this study was to provide more specific details on the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous sedimentation and to report mineralogical and petrographical characteristics

Mai-Kuhli lateritic iron deposit is located near Shiraro town in Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. The deposit is developed at the interface between the Neoproterozic low-grade metamorphic rocks and Paleo-Mesozoic sedimentary succession. This paper characterizes the deposit based on geological, mineralogical and geochemical data. The mineralogical data was generated using X-ray diffraction (XRD)

In order to optimize conservation policies for endangered plant species in North Africa and minimize the investment of the public resources we explore the capacity of a mountain plant species to persist locally in restricted natural areas. Palaeoecological studies have shown that plant species survived major global climate changes within refugia which offered suitable condition for their long term

Ground-water samples were collected from 10 wells in Wadi El-Natrun, Western Desert, Egypt, over four consecutive years. The combination of isotopic composition and hydrochemical analyses was used to identify the origin of the groundwater and determine recharging sources as well as to discuss the mechanism controlling hydrochemical variation among wells. Two water sources, a relatively recent/shallow

The volcanic Rooiberg Group represents the extrusive phase of the Bushveld Magmatic Province in South Africa, forming the roof as well as the floor of the mafic-ultramafic 2057 Ma Rustenburg Layered Suite. Typically, the volcanic rocks of the Rooiberg Group vary from mafic compositions in the oldest unit (the Dullstroom Formation) to felsic compositions in the younger overlying units (the Damwal, Kwaggasnek

This study reports the fractionation of trace metals such as As, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Tl and Zn in soils collected from Struibult gold mine dump, Gauteng, South Africa using a modified three-step BCR sequential extraction procedure. The extractable fractions such as exchangeable, easily reducible and oxidizable fractions were used assessed to the mobility and potential bioavailability

The structure and evolution of the continental crust in the southern part of the Saharan Metacraton (central Africa) is poorly known due to extensive laterite and sediment cover as well as geographic isolation. We report on a series of five crystalline inliers newly discovered near Lake Iro (south-eastern Chad) that offered the opportunity to unravel the nature of the local basement in this area. Two

The N–S elongated Pan-African Numba granitic pluton (NGP), hosted in banded biotite hornblende gneiss and amphibolite country-rocks, belongs to the Western Domain of the Pan-African Belt of Central African in Cameroon. It consists of biotite hornblende granite and fine-grained biotite granite crosscut by gabbroic dykes. The western border of the granite is mylonitized. Structures and microstructures

Investigations were carried out on the Tertiary sedimentary sequences from west Cameroon, namely the Mamiwater well (from 268 to 828 m), the Pungo well (from 731 to 1338 m) and the Yatou well (from 700 to 1402 m). These intervals correspond to the Souellaba Formation (SFm) of the Douala sub-basin according to the well final report produced by the National Hydrocarbons Corporation of Cameroon (NHC)

The Biga Peninsula (northwest Anatolia) hosts several Pb–Zn occurrences, and the Dursunbey Pb–Zn deposit is one such important Pb–Zn province of Turkey. The basement rocks in the study area comprise metamorphic rocks of the Menderes Massif (Simav Metamorphites, Sarıcasu Formation, and Budağan Limestone) and ophiolitic units of the İzmir-Ankara Suture Zone, known as the Dağardı Mélange. These units

The Wajid Sandstone is one of the most prolific aquifer sequences in southwestern Saudi Arabia. The petrophysical properties of the Wajid Sandstone in Gebel Al-Habala, including bulk and grain densities (ρb, ρg), water and helium porosities (∅w, ∅He), gas permeability (k), true formation resistivity factor (FRT), and the Archie's parameters (a, m) were measured. The aquifer quality parameters were

Carnivoraformes is a clade comprised of members of the Carnivora, as well as the paraphyletic assemblage of stem taxa previously united under the “Miacidae”. Here we describe the earliest known African occurrence of a carnivoraform from the early Oligocene Zallah Incision locality in the Sirt Basin of central Libya. The new taxon is represented by three teeth (m1, P4, and dP3), all of which are carnassial

Water quality globally suffers from overuse and pollution, but desert areas with high evaporation rates and groundwater as the only water source have additional challenges. Namakwaland in the Northern Cape is an arid region with a sparse human population dependent largely upon stock farming, with minor mining and tourism. The complex Proterozoic metamorphic geology is overlain by Cenozoic deposits

Subsurface study of the Palaeozoic deposits in the Chotts basin, part of the southern Tunisian Atlassic foreland, revealed an incomplete Pre-Hercynian deformed sequence. The remaining truncated Cambro-Ordovician siliciclastic deposits appear to be unconformably overlain by transgressive Late Silurian – Early Devonian shales. Early Ordovician El Atchane sandstones and Hamra quartzite constitute currently

The Biga Peninsula (NW Turkey) is an area where magmatic and tectonic events are observed together, and post-collisional plutons are extensively seen. Two plutons in this peninsula were studied; the Göloba Pluton is composed of quartz monzonite, granite and granodiorite, and the Şaroluk Pluton is composed of quartz monzonite, monzonite and granodiorite. U–Pb zircon dating yielded 20.87 ± 0.31 Ma for

The Gobholo Cave is one of the ten worldʼs largest granite caves (and the longest on the African continent), abound with relatively rich speleothem deposits. For the first time, a set of instrumental techniques (XRD, SEM/EDS, Raman micro-spectroscopy) was used to characterize the speleothems and also waters (ICP-OES) from which these speleothems have been deposited. Several types of speleothems (and

An automatic observation buoy (AOB) was installed at Lake Nyos in March 2014. The temperature and electrical conductivity (EC) of lake water were continuously observed from March 10, 2014 to April 15, 2016. The thermocline and chemocline located deeper than −90 m subsided 15 m in the observation period due to the bottom water removal by the CO2 degassing pipes. The velocity of subsidence was estimated

New interpretation of the aeromagnetic data allowed strong improvement in the knowledge of the Eglab domain, better specifying major deep structures. This domain corresponds to a regional extension of the unfoliated Aftout granitoids. In order to correlate this deep structures with those at the rock scale, AMS analyses were performed on these Aftout granitoids. Samples were collected in spaced sites

Ethiopia is rich in obsidian and prehistoric peoples were utilizing it to make artifacts since at least the Early Stone Age. The unique chemical compositions of obsidian are of considerable interest to archaeologists when obsidian artifacts are recovered at prehistoric sites, both in terms of determining provenance and cultural exchange. Here we present electron microprobe analyses to characterize

In the Central Unit of the South Riffian Ridges, the Toarcian succession is represented by two thick terrigenous detrital formations, Sned and Lmachkha formations, each one is divided into two members. The lower member of the Sned Formation, often rich in belemnite rostra and ammonites of the Tenuicostatum Zone, consists of grey marlstones, with rare marly limestone intercalations. The upper member

Groundwater is the primary source of fresh water for agriculture and other purposes in the Wadi El-Assiuty area; therefore, the preservation of its supply and quality is of great importance. The present study aims to evaluate the groundwater quality in the newly reclaimed parts of Wadi El-Assiuty by integrating hydrochemical data, multivariate statistical analyses, and a water quality index (WQI).

This paper revisits the revised stratigraphy of the Bida Basin by Rahaman et al. (2019). We rebut their errors and misconceptions in proposing the Ahoko Shale as a formation and their assertion that it is younger than the Agbaja Ironstone Formation. Field evidence and palynological and geochemical data are provided in support of the widely accepted stratigraphic framework of the basin. The distinct

The Maâdna structure (Talemzane, Algeria) is located approximately 400 km south of Algiers and is formed within Upper-Cretaceous to Eocene limestones from the Saharan Platform. It is a bowl-shaped crater roughly 1.7 km in diameter. The present-day crater rim is 60 m higher than the bottom of the depression, and is raised slightly compared to the surrounding terrain. So far, several aspects of Maâdna

The present study evaluates a methodological workflow that could identify dinosaur tracks and trackways more comprehensively at outcrop scale. The approach described here is based both on 3D modelling by photogrammetry at different resolutions, and on suitably processed digital elevation models (DEMs). The ichnosite of Anza, Morocco, was chosen to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed pipeline

In this work we present the description and analysis of a palaeoichnological site (7.9TAG) that only contains crocodile tracks. The site contains well preserved and abundant crocodilian manus and pes prints; there are no belly and/or tail traces. The crocodyle tracks have been mapped and the biomorphic and morphometric characters of the tracks and trackways have been studied. Between the digit traces

The El Fahs plain aquifer belongs to Tunisian Northern Atlas and it is particularly important due to its exploitation, well yields and the water's chemical quality. In recent years, the increasing exploitation is becoming unsustainable and this warrants studies and policies to better manage the groundwater resources in the El Fahs plain. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the subsurface structure

Groundwater is one of the water's main sources for domestic, agricultural, and industrial uses in arid and semi-arid regions such as the Egyptian western desert. Extensive extraction of the groundwater may lead to the extraordinary decline of the groundwater level coupled with salinization and quality deterioration. This paper aims to investigate the quality of drinking and irrigation water in 47 pumping

The Upper Triassic Dehsard felsic rocks (DFR), leucocratic to hololeucocratic granitic rocks, are exposed in the southernmost of the Phanerozoic Sanandaj-Sirjan zone in the Zagros orogenic belt of south-Central Iran. They intruded into the Paleozoic Khabr and Rutchun metamorphic complexes that consist of marble, greenschist, calcschist and micaschist rocks. The DFR are cut through by monzonitic and