Characterization of Taoura’s multilayers system by the geochemical tracers of carbonates and the evaporites (oriental extreme Algeria)

Abstract

In the North-East Algeria, in the zone of diapirs, the previous hydrogeologic study of the region of Souk-Ahras Taoura had identified the multilayer aquifer system of Miocene sandstones and carbonates of lower and upper Cretaceous. The formations are generally dominated by carbonate intercalated with marl, highly fractured and folded (NE-SW), in parallel to the direction of the structures outcrops the Triassic diapiric. The thermal carbonated aquifer updates of the Neogene-quaternary of highly mineralized springs with low discharge (Hammam Tassa, Ain El Damssa); the fissural aquifer and the maastrichtian and campanian aquifers, widely exploited for the drinking water and the irrigation, contain an important potential in water. For a better understanding of the functioning of the aquifer system, it seemed necessary to characterize him by geochemical tracers of carbonates and evaporates. The geochemical data of waters of sources and main drillings showed, on one hand that thermal waters circulated rather profoundly by washing the Triassic evaporitic, and on the other hand which the fracturing in distension allowed waters to drain simultaneously aquifers. Thus, waters appearing to springs would be a mixture, in variable proportions, between the different types of water flowing in this hydrothermal karst system.