This work reports an analysis of the relationships existing between the structural lineaments and the Cenozoic volcanism of the Tibesti area (northern Chad). Shield volcanoes, cinder cones, structural lineaments, intersection points of lineaments and faults are mapped using the combination of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Landsat satellite images of the Tibesti Volcanic Province. The interpretation of the distribution of these structural and morphological features allows constraining the structural/tectonic setting of the Tibesti. We show that the relationships between the lineaments and the volcanic centres of the Tibesti province can locally be explained as the result of the combination of two Riedel dextral tectonic systems, respectively oriented at N120°E and N30-35°E. Taking into account the geological features of the area, a geodynamical model is proposed: the emplacement of the Tibesti Volcanic Province results from the reactivation of inherited structures of the Saharan metacraton, characterized by relict rigid cratonic nuclei and metacratonic areas reworked during the Pan-African orogeny, among which is located the Tibesti. The contrasted behaviour of these rheologically different zones can explain the location and the evolution of the Tibesti swell and volcanism. The new data presented in this paper and their interpretation in terms of the emplacement of the Tibesti volcanic province in the Saharan metacraton bring a new and major information about the behaviour of the African plate within its collisional context with Europe.