Geology of North Africa and Arabia
Information, Exchange and Research

North Africa Geology Links

Bibliographic Databases:

• Bibliography of references on North African geology (Cornell University,1st January 1996).

• Collected references on the geology / geophysics of the Middle East and North Africa (Cornell University).

• Bibliography of references on the geology of Algeria.

Geoscience journals covering routinely North African papers

• Journal of African Earth Sciences
• Africa Geoscience Review
• Sedimentology of Egypt
• GeoArabia
• Arab Oil & Gas Magazine

Books and Reports on North African Geology

• Geology of Egypt (1990)
• Petroleum Geology of Libya (2002)
• Geology of Egypt and Libya (2001)
• USGS Open-File Reports on Africa
• Nordost-Afrika: Strukturen und Strukturen, by E. Klitzsch & U. Thorweihe (1999) (in german)

Reference lists on North Africa geology

• Geological bibliography of Algeria (by M. C. Chabou)
• Geological reference list North Africa and Arabia at Cornell University
• Bibliography Holocene palaeoecological atlas (Univ. Wuerzburg)
• Seismology references Egypt
  

Other useful links about North African geoscience literature

Academic Geoscience Studies North Africa:

• North Africa Research Group

• Research on  tectonics of the Atlas Mountains.

• Geology page of the North Africa lithospheric database, maintained by the University of Texas: Geological structure of North Africa.

• Regional Committee on  Mediterranean Neogene Stratigraphy.

• Basin Analysis Study of North Africa, being conducted by GETECH at Leeds University.

• Quaternary climate of the Sahara; study by the Museum of the Rockies.

• Global paleomagnetic database (including data for Morocco, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt).

• Land and Marine gravity data (by NGDC)

• Centre International de Recherches géologiques en Afrique (CIRGA, Belgium).

• Geology of Africa.

• Significance of reef limestones as oil and gas reservoirs in the Middle East and North Africa (H. Stewart Edgell). This page is currently hosted by the GMEOP site. The paper was published previously only as an abstract and was presented by the author at the 10th Edgeworth David Symposium, held at the University of Sydney, September 4-5, 1997. Note: this page takes some time to load.

• Study reveals that African dust leads to large toxic algae blooms in the Gulf of Mexico (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: Scientific Visualization Studio).

• Generalised tectonic map of the Middle East and North Africa.

• Middle East and North Africa: regional geologic summary, country and region output summary assessments and assessed geological provinces (USGS report).

• New model for the evolution of the south Atlas front (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia) based on numerical modelling and field work (E. Mercier, Université de Nantes).

• Quantitative modelling of Mediterranean global expansion tectonics from Early Jurassic to Present (James Maxlow, Terrella Consultants).This website is a summary document introducing Global Expansion Tectonics as a revitalized thesis of Earth expansion.

• Energy and Geoscience Institute at the University of Utah College of Engineering: list of staff reports, including regional North African and country specific (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia) reports.

• USGS minerals information for North Africa and the Middle East: chapters from the Minerals Yearbook (Volume III. -- Area Reports: International) downloadable in pdf format. Regional and country-specific reviews. These annual reviews are designed to provide timely statistical data on mineral commodities in various countries. Each report includes sections on government policies and programs, environmental issues, trade and production data, industry structure and ownership, commodity sector developments, infrastructure, and a summary outlook.

• Saharan meteorites from Mars: webpage listing the SRC-meteorites, which are assumed to originate from Mars. A number of these are located within North Africa (Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Algeria).

 

Commercial Geoscience Studies North Africa:

• Corex: evaluation of exploration opportunities in North Africa.

• Petroleum geology studies of North Africa by Masera.

• Gravity and magnetic data available for North Africa from GETECH.

• Current status of completed and scheduled global seep studies by Infoterra Exploration Services Division (includes information on North African countries).

• Ghadames Basin: a comprehensive, up-to-date study of the geology, hydrocarbon habitat and future exploration potential of the Ghadames Basin of western Libya, eastern Algeria and southern Tunisia. A report by ECL in conjunction with Adil Jawzi and Associates. Study outline and report contents available to download.

Other:

• Geological Society of Africa.

• Geology of the Middle East Oil Province: The 'equivalent' of the North Africa GeoNet for the Middle East, with valuable information and links.

• Middle East Seismological Forum (MESF): a cyber forum set up to serve as an information conduit for scientific activities related to research, data acquisition and publications on the Middle Eastern seismicity and related Earth Science disciplines. The MESF intends to provide better integration between seismologists working in the region of the Middle East and other international seismological communities.

Research Links

• BUGS: Bremen University Geosciences: Stratigraphy and Sedimentology.

• Cornell University: current projects on North Africa and Arabia.

• University of Texas: North Africa lithospheric database.

• Southern Illinois University: Ground penetrating radar study in North Africa.

• GETECH at Leeds University: Basin Analysis Study of North Africa.

Geoscience Maps for North Africa

• Paleomap Project (C.R. Sotese): Maps about plate tectonics and climatic belts, including North Africa.

• Plate reconstructions, Carboniferous-Quaternary (IGCP 369).

• Paleogeographic maps of North Africa (by IGCP 369).

• Geodynamic evolution of NE Africa and NW Arabia (Guiraud & Bosworth).

• Atlas of the Holocene landscape and vegetation history of northern and western Africa (University of Wuerzburg).

• Maps showing geology, oil and gas fields and geological provinces of Africa (USGS Open-File Report 97-470A).

• Online topographic maps North Africa (excellent!).

• Free blank outline maps from the geography.about.com site.

• East View Cartographic: a variety of maps and atlases of Africa available to buy (including geological maps of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt).

• LibyaMaps.com: sell digital maps for use in illustrating reports, presentations, articles, newsletters and websites. At present two publications are available on CD or for download:
  1) a general maps, images and resource disk.
  2)a disk of petroleum maps, images, and informational resources which is primarily composed of USGS maps and reports.

 

Petroleum Industry News and Information

North African News:

• Oil Voice (North Africa): Featuring continually updated oil company profiles, Oil Voice is a one-stop, worldwide at a glance overview of oil company international E&P activity. Information includes: (1) areas of international activity; (2) key company comparison data; (3) latest production and reserve figures; (4) overview of exploration / operational highlights; (5) financial news; (6) mergers and acquisitions; (7) continually updated upstream news - split into core regions for easy reference. North Africa is featured as one of the core oil and gas regions. For subscription costa and a free 10 day trial visit the website.

• AFROIL: North Africa Oil & Gas Monitor. NewsBase Ltd announces AFROIL, a weekly market intelligence report on the Oil and Gas industries of Northern Africa and the Mediterranean Rim. AFROIL, which will distribute weekly by email from 8 September 2003, delivers timely, detailed and accurate analysis and intelligence on upstream and midstream news from bureaux in Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Cyprus.

• African hydrocarbon exploration news by Africa Intelligence (in French, title and first sentence are free of charge).

• EEA: Energy Euro Africa. A comprehensive net based daily gathering and weekly analysis of all the pertinent news related to the oil and gas industry in North Africa, West Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. A key tool to keep current and monitor developments in one of the most dynamic and volatile energy provinces in the world.

• MENA Report (Oil and Energy): a new Middle Eastern and North African Business Site that aims to help businesses identify opportunities and increase their trade in the Middle East and North Africa region. This page focuses on the petroleum industry.

• TGS-NOPEC is a leading global provider of non-exclusive seismic data and associated products to the oil and gas industry. Find information on the TGS-NOPEC surveys and the latest news for a particular region (including North Africa).

• IHS: technical studies in Saharan Africa.

General News:

• The Institute of Petroleum  (News & stats search engine).

• Crude oil and natural gas prices. Organisation provides news about the oil, gas and energy in general. Access links on exploration and production and find contact details.

• Alexander's gas and oil connections. A high quality news-site about the international gas, oil and power industry.

• News about petroleum activities in North Africa is provided by the IHS Energy Group (accessible to subscribers only).

 

North African Information:

• MBendi: Information on oil & gas exploration and mining in Africa on a country-by-country basis. Also includes industry-specific news.

• CMS newsletters (oil and gas opportunities in Libya).

• http://www.oilgasnafrica.co.uk/

• Recent political status in Libya regarding foreign investment in it's oil industry.

• P.E.D.R. Algeria Limited (Petroleum Exploration Data Recovery (Algeria) Limited is an Algerian company focusing on providing an appropriate link between old E&P data and today's new interpretation technology. The company remains firmly linked with the African market and provides a number of services, including seismic scanning and reproduction, navigation data integration, well log digitising, tape transcription, and repography.

• Information and reports on countries in North Africa offered by First Exchange.

• KCA Drilling Company.
  
  
  
  

General Information:

• Energy 365 (general industry information).

• http://www.gasandoil.com/

• Swiftdale Geological Consultants. The Swiftlinks page provides a comprehensive, usable listing of Petroleum Resources & Oil Industry Links.

• Oil on line.

• Desco International: an oilfield equipment repairs/supply workshop based in United Arab Emirates servicing the oil & gas sector and drilling contractors in the region and neighboring countries.

• Site2oil: informative site for the worldwide oil and gas industry (including North Africa), providing news, global directory, events, latest technology, oil price (brent,wti), industrial organisations, authorities, industy links etc.
  

 

North Africa, General Information and Links

Background information:

• Miftah Shamalia - North Africa.

• Middle East North Africa Internet Resources Guide, University of Utah, Salt Lake City.

• GeoAfrica: Directory of African earth-science resources.

• Encyclopedia Britannica on North Africa.

• Encyclopedia of the Orient: encyclopedia for North Africa and the Middle East.

 

Travel:

• gosahara.de: An excellent Sahara-travel website (in German). Includes History of travelling in the Sahara, picture galleries, Link collection.

• World Travel Guide (country-specific background and travel information).

• North Africa Expedition Service Klaus Daerr. Useful news and general information for fieldtrips into the remoter parts of North Africa (in German). In case you require expert advise with logistics or planning of your geological fieldtrip to remote parts of the Sahara, contact Klaus Daerr' company which has extensive experience in such trips

• Sahara travel information by Sahara-info.ch and Atlas Travel World (in German), both sites highly recommended!

• Expedition Logistics by 'Expeditors'. Need expert help in preparing your next Sahara fieldtrip? Contact the Expeditors

• Sahara Travel Forum. Bulletin board with some useful information on travelling within North Africa.

 

News:

• AllAfrica.com, North Africa.

• Africa Policy Information Center: North Africa news sources and country-specific links.

• Links to newspapers from North Africa: Kidon.

• PPPP.net: Country-related news links.

• AME Info: Middle East business information covering 14 Middle East countries with business and financial news, directory service, events, specialty columns and more in English and Arabic.

 

Other:

• The North Africa Journal.

• The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin.

• Arabia.com and ArabNet.

• Topographic maps of Africa (incl. North Africa) by the University of Texas and ReliefWeb.

• Currency converter (Oanda).

• French-English-French online dictionary (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia prefer French instead of English).

• MENA Report: a new Middle Eastern and North African Business Site that aims to help businesses identify opportunities and increase their trade in the Middle East and North Africa region. It offers a unique new model of business content, combining the timely update of daily news coverage with the market figures and hard data previously associated only with market research firms.

• North Africa Real Estate: North African property listings (from EscapeArtist.com) - pick your villa!

• Pertec International: Southern Africa's dominant supplier of marine electronics, aviation electronics, GPS navigational equipment and satellite communication systems.

• The Earth Observatory: irrigation in the heart of the Sahara.

• http://www.marekinc.com/EnvirResourceLIB031901.html: a weekly internet magazine for people who want to learn about Africa.
  

 

General Geology Links:

• West's Geology Directory : A directory of internet links on petroleum geology.

• Geo-Guide, geoscience search engine.

• g-o.de Wissen online: Geo- and other natural sciences online magazine (in German).

• Geology Link Page.

• The Pan African Orogeny in Namibia - nothing to do with North Africa, but a fairly incredible website!

• http://www.scirus.com/?c: a free search engine that locates scientific information on the Internet (brings up both journal articles and web pages).