Nadia El Kiram , Mohammed Jaffal , Azzouz Kchikach , Driss El Azzab , Mustapha El Ghorfi , Oussama Khadiri , Es-Said Jourani , Ahmed Manar , Mohamed Nahim
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引用次数: 7
Abstract
The Ouled Abdoun sedimentary basin in Morocco contains the largest phosphate reserves in the world. To the Northwest of the basin, the phosphate layers crop out or are at a shallow depth and are exploited in open pit mines. By contrast, towards the central and southwestern parts of the basin, the phosphate layers lay below the Plio-Quaternary sediments of the Tadla Plain. This study aims to characterize the distribution and structure of the phosphatic series at depth under this cover, in particular to guide the future exploration and exploitation of the phosphate deposits. The work is based on gravimetric and seismic data acquired in a previous oil exploration study, calibrated by borehole data. The analysis of the gravity data controlled by boreholes first reveals the existence of large regional faults in the basin, forming pronounced gradients in the gravity data. The faults are also seen in the seismic profiles. In the Southeast of the basin, the phosphatic series exhibit a stairway structure controlled by some of these regional faults.
The drilling data and the isochron maps established from the seismic profiles show that the base of the phosphatic series is more than 500 m deep in the southeastern area of the basin. As the phosphatic layers get buried deeper, they also become thicker. The phosphate reserves thus increase towards the southeast, and our analysis identifies the areas where this reserve is larger. Our results eventually suggest that the mining methods currently adopted in the Khouribga mining district will need to be modified and adapted to the more complex situation of the phosphatic series deeply buried in the basin.
期刊介绍:
Created in 1835 by physicist François Arago, then Permanent Secretary, the journal Comptes Rendus de l''Académie des sciences allows researchers to quickly make their work known to the international scientific community.
It is divided into seven titles covering the range of scientific research fields: Mathematics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Biology, Geoscience, Physics and Palevol. Each series is led by an editor-in-chief assisted by an editorial committee. Submitted articles are reviewed by two scientists with recognized competence in the field concerned. They can be notes, announcing significant new results, as well as review articles, allowing for a fine-tuning, or even proceedings of symposia and other thematic issues, under the direction of invited editors, French or foreign.