Tribute by the Algerian Geologists to Professor Michel Durand-Delga (1923-2012). The geological work of Michel Durand-Delga in Algeria

Abstract

Michel Durand-Delga made a success of an outstanding career in geology. His route might be considered as one of a pioneer of a new kind. He set a meticulous rhythm in this discipline of the Earth sciences, particularly in Algeria, the country he loved for its geology, landscapes and population. The first of his fructuous works was published in 1948 on the geology of the ‘Petite Kabylie’ and he continued, for most of his life, to work very closely on this zone which he characterized, in a definitive way, as different from the African continent with at first structural then stratigraphical evidence. He highlighted the Kabylian thrust where the northern domain (internal, also called Kabyle) overlaps a southern domain (external or African). All the geological information that came later, either produced by him or later by his students and opponents, supported this great hypothesis which today has become a reliable paradigm.