Tindouf Basin

West Africa: Tindouf Basin to the north of the West African craton

The Tindouf Basin is a major sedimentary basin in West Africa, to the south of the little Atlas region, Morocco. It stretches from west to east about 700 kilometres (430 mi) and covers about 100,000 square kilometres (39,000 sq mi), mostly in Algeria but with a western extension into Morocco and Western Sahara.

## Description

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In the Ordovician period (490 Ma to 445 Ma) the area was an embayment sloping down from the West African craton into the Tethys Ocean. It became a closed basin in the Late Carboniferous (320 Ma to 300 Ma). The basin has a steep northern edge against the Anti Atlas and more gently sloping southern edge. The basin is filled with up to 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) of sediment from the Cambrian and Carboniferous ageas.[1] These marine formations are overlain by a continental Cretaceous and Pliocene Hamada cover.[2]

## Petroleum geology

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The basin may have potential for oil and/or gas production, but has been largely unexplored (about 15 billions of barrel and 3000 km3 of gas) most of these reserves in algeria.[3]

## References

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1. ^ Richard C. Selley (1997). African basins. Elsevier. p. 17\. ISBN 0-444-82571-1.
2. ^ S. Guerrak (1989). "Time and space distribution of Palaeozoic oolitic ironstones in the Tindouf Basin, Algerian Sahara". Geological Society, London, Special Publications. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
3. ^ M.S.Malla, Dr.D.Takherist (2000). "A GEOCHEMICAL POTENTIAL REVIEW OF THE TINDOUF BASIN , ALGERIAN SAHARA". World Petroleum Congress. Retrieved 2010-12-26.

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Major African geological formations

Plates|

* Major plates: African Plate
* Minor plates: Somali Plate
* Microplates: Lwandle Plate
* Madagascar Plate
* Rovuma Plate
* Seychelles Plate
* Victoria Microplate

Cratons and shields|

* Arabian-Nubian Shield
* Congo Craton
* Kaapvaal Craton
* Kalahari Craton
* Saharan Metacraton
* Tanzania Craton
* Tuareg Shield
* West African Craton
* Zimbabwe Craton

Shear zones|

* Aswa Dislocation
* Broodkop Shear Zone
* Central African Shear Zone
* Chuan Shear Zones
* Foumban Shear Zone
* Kandi Fault Zone
* Mwembeshi Shear Zone
* Todi Shear Zone
* Western Meseta Shear Zone

Orogens|

* Alpine Orogen
* Cape Fold Belt
* Damara Orogen
* East African Orogen
* Eburnean Orogen
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* Kibaran Orogen
* Kuunga Orogen
* Mauritanide Belt
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Rifts|

* Afar Triangle
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* Benue Trough
* Blue Nile rift
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* Gulf of Suez Rift
* Lamu Embayment
* Melut Basin
* Muglad Basin
* Red Sea Rift
* Sangha Aulacogen
* Atbara rift
* Urema Valley
* West and Central African Rift System
* White Nile rift

Sedimentary basins|

* Angola Basin
* Aoukar
* Blue Nile Basin
* Chad Basin
* Congo Basin
* Douala Basin
* El Djouf
* Karoo Basin
* Gabon Basin
* Iullemmeden Basin
* Kufra Basin
* Murzuq Basin
* Niger Delta Basin
* Ogaden Basin
* Orange River Basin
* Ouled Abdoun Basin
* Owambo Basin
* Reggane Basin
* Rio del Rey Basin
* Sirte Basin
* Somali Coastal Basin
* Taoudeni Basin
* Tanzania Coastal Basin
* Tindouf Basin
* Turkana Basin

Mountain ranges|

* Aïr Mountains
* Atlas Mountains
* Aurès Mountains
* Bambouk Mountains
* Blue Mountains
* Cameroon line
* Central Pangean Mountains
* Chaillu Mountains
* Drakensberg
* Eastern Arc Mountains
* Eastern Rift mountains
* Ethiopian Highlands
* Great Escarpment
* Great Karas Mountains
* Guinea Highlands
* Hoggar Mountains
* Imatong Mountains
* Jebel Uweinat
* Loma Mountains
* Mandara Mountains
* Marrah Mountains
* Mitumba Mountains
* Nuba Mountains
* Rif Mountains
* Rwenzori Mountains
* Sankwala Mountains
* Serra da Leba
* Serra da Chela
* Teffedest Mountains
* Tibesti Mountains

Inselbergs (aka koppie)|

* Anti-Atlas
* Mount Gorongosa
* Jugurtha Tableland
* Mount Mabu
* Mulanje Massif
* Mont Niénokoué
* Wase Rock
* Zuma Rock
* List of inselbergs

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