This volume arises from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) on
'North African Cretaceous rudist and coral formations and their
contributions to carbonate platform development, which was held in
Tunisia, on 13-18 May, 2002. It was convened by M. El Hedi Negra
(Universite 7 Novembre de Carthage, now Universite de Tunis El Manar,
Tunisia) and Eulalia Gili (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain).
The aims of the ARW were: (1) to review and critically assess currently
available data on rudist/coral formations in North African Cretaceous
carbonate platforms, and their correlations, and to integrate these data
with other studies around the Mediterranean; (2) to place the findings
in a global context, noting both similarities with other regions of
platform development as well as local differences, and (3) exploring
possible reasons for these; and to help promote the creation of a
vibrant peri-Mediterranean collaborative research community, embracing
researchers from the entire region, to carry forward this ambitious
research programme. Twenty-two presentations (oral and poster) provided
both topical reviews (covering rudist evolution, and ecology,
mineralogical changes, applications of strontium isotope, and graphic
correlation methods, and platform typology) as well as regional
syntheses (Tunisian reservoirs, Moroccan platform history, Tunisian
platforms and rudist/coral facies, Algerian platforms, and Egyptian
platforms). Fifteen of these presentations are expanded here as papers.
The workshop was attended by 24 academic staff, 4 geologists from the
oil industry, plus several observers and students.
