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Comment on `European provenance of the Numidian Flysch in northern Tunisia' by Fildes et al. (2010)
Author(s) -
Thomas M. F. H.,
Bodin S.,
Redfern J.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
terra nova
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.353
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-3121
pISSN - 0954-4879
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3121.2010.00967.x
Subject(s) - technical university , flysch , archaeology , geography , library science , geology , geochemistry , sedimentary rock , computer science
Fildes et al. (2010) provide a valuable contribution and much needed data regarding the problem of Numidian Flysch provenance. However, when viewed in the context of previously published data, we believe the evidence better supports an African than a European provenance as interpreted in their study. The Oligocene–Miocene Numidian Flysch is a suite of deep-marine sandstones with a quartz-rich petrofacies. It crops out within the Alpine thrust belt of North Africa, extending into Spain, Sicily and Italy. It was deposited in a foreland basin bordered to the south by the North African passive margin and to the north by an active margin consisting of European crustal blocks called the AlKaPeCa domain. The addition of new data by Fildes et al. (2010) enables much discussion, and here we focus on the interpretation of their detrital zircon data when integrated with previous studies and viewed in a regional context.