Time and space distribution of Palaeozoic oolitic ironstones in the Tindouf Basin, Algerian Sahara

Abstract

Summary The Tindouf Basin is located, mainly in Algeria, in the SW part of the Saharan Platform. It comprises Cambro-Ordovician to Carboniferous marine formations overlain by the continental Cretaceous and Pliocene Hamada cover. On the southern limb of the Tindouf Basin several oolitic ironstone deposits occur within Silurian and Devonian sediments. They occupy an area of 500 × 40 km and have an east — west trend. These oolitic ironstone deposits are part of the major North African oolitic ironstone belt, extending more than 3000 km, from Zemmour to Libya. These occurrences are of the LOID type (Local Ironstone Deposition), and contain more than 10000 million tonnes of ironstone reserves (1500 million tonnes in the Silurian and 9200 million tonnes in the Devonian). The various ironstones were formed in shallow marine environments such as barriers and deltas. The major features of these deposits are: (i) a palaeogeographical control of the sediment which was mainly formed on the flanks of uplifts; (ii) the occurrence of the ironstones at the top of coarsening-upward sequences, mostly located towards the end of major regressive cycles, particularly in the Pragian and Famennian; (iii) ooids developed in quiet environments such as lagoons or embayments, within an iron-rich mud; (iv) a southern, relatively close, iron source area and; (v) a palaeolatitudinal distribution giving successively cold and temperate climates. The Palaeozoic history of the basin involved pericratonic sedimentation on the borders of a large epicontinental sea.