About This Special Issue
Africa and the Middle East are rich in mineral resources and sedimentary basins which contain enormous amounts of oil and gas accumulations. The exploration of hydrocarbons in tight sandstone and shale reservoirs, in particular, have attracted attentions of workers in all over the world as a new scientific and industrial achievement, including non-traditional exploration tools, horizontal and inclined drilling and fracturing. Regional occurrences of black shales are recognized in North Africa in Algeria and Libya (Tanezuft Shale). The tight sandstone reservoirs are not frequently characterized in Africa, so researches on tight reservoirs and black shales are greatly encouraged. A huge amount of new information in North Africa, (e.g Libya includes Kufrah, Murzuq, Cyrenaica and offshore area) has raise and encourage both studies and exploration activities. Multiple new approaches in exploration tools such as sequence stratigraphy, 3D seismic, geochemistry, chemostratigraphy, nano-technology, petrophysics, and structural geology have transformed the way we think about the sedimentary succession, and many new exploration concepts have emerged. However, during the last decades hundreds of publications were issued to outline and characterized these deposits, so only outstanding high quality publications are expected. New discoveries on mineral deposits and sedimentary basins in Africa and the Middle East will get priority.
Aims and Scope:
- Tight reservoirs and black shales
- Mineral deposits and sedimentary basins
- The exploration of hydrocarbons
- Stratigraphy and sedimentology
- geochemistry and chemostratigraphy
- Nano-technology and material sciences