High Resistant Sand Injected Marl and Low Resistant Damaged Marl to Locate and Characterize the Th,nia Fault Zone in Boumerdes City (North-Central Algeria)

摘要

The purpose of this study was to locate and characterize the Th,nia Fault Zone (TFZ) in the urban area of Boumerdes city; geological and electrical resistivity tomography surveys have targeted the Plaisancian marl and its Quaternary cover. As a whole, data indicate a complex near-vertical fault zone with an asymmetric and zoned internal structure of at least 150 m wide and with a straight N120A degrees overall trending. The fault zone is traversed with two elongated parallel fault branches (FB1 and FB2), generally, 70 m distant from each other. These fault branches locate two intense damage zones (IDZs) of 10-15 m thick each, situated at the margin of two damage zones each having a thickness of several tens of meters. Downward sand injections into IDZs during Pleistocene epoch, possible pulverization of Plaisancian marl rocks, systematic deflection of actual stream channels, and vertical displacement of at least 30 m affecting Quaternary alluvial deposits show that the area would have undergone active tectonic driven by the TFZ.