Paleozoic oolitic ironstones of the Algerian Sahara: a review

Abstract

The Paleozoic sediments are present over the greatest part of the SaharanPlatform, from the border of Morocco, Rio de Oro and Mauritania in the W, to the Libyan frontier in the E. They outcrop in the Ougarta chains, the Gourara and the Touat, the Northern border of the Reguibat Shield and constitute a sedimentary girdle around the Touareg Shield, namely the Azzel Matti, the Ahnet, the Mouydir, the Ajjers Tassilis, the Tafassasset Tassilis and the Ouan Ahaggar Tassilis.

In all these formations, numerous oolitic ironstones occur, particularly in Ordovician, Devonian and Lower Carboniferous rocks. We can distinguish essentially two types of oolitic ironstones (OIS): OIS with constant thin beds and horizontal extension: they will be named EXID type (Extensive Iron Deposition), and OIS of local extension and irregular thickness: they will be named LOID type (Local Iron Deposition).

The EXID type is located in the Ordovician, the Middle Devonian and in the very Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian) sedimentary rocks. The LOID type occurs in the Lower and Upper Devonian rocks and appears as the economically interesting type.

From the Zemmour to the Fezzan, a real Paleozoic oolitic iron belt appears 3000 km long, determining a N Gondwanian oolitic iron province, formed during cold to temperate climates.