The Cambro-Ordovician Gondwana Superfan in Central Africa: insights from the Paleozoic sandstones of Inkisi Group, Congo.
Discipline
Earth and related Environmental sciences
Subject
Geodynamics and mineral resources
Audience
Scientific
Date
2023Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
The Paleozoic arkoses of the Inkisi Group in both the Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been investigated in order to examine whether they can represent an alluvial fan originating from the Gondwana supermountains in Northern and East Africa. This study focuses on outcrops description, lithofacies, bounding surfaces, architectural and sequential or ganization of sedimentary bodies and paleocurrents. The aim is to determine the nature of the Inkisi sandstones, the provenance of its sediments and the depositional setting, in order to test whether the East African orogen was also the sediments source for the formation of sedimentary fan in the western part of Central Africa. The study shows that the Inkisi Group consists of various sandstone lithofacies, amalgamated by conglom erates. The sediments are immature composed of quartz and feldspars associate with lithic fragments and micas. The sediments originated from the erosion of the West-Congolian belt and the Congo Craton, and were trans ported by braided fluvial system under mainly upper flow regime and secondarily lower flow regime. Sediments were deposited in the Inkisi basin, which was extensional and affected by burial. The Inkisi sediments setting up in a proximal to medial distributary zone of an alluvial megafan. The flows were directed southward, as opposed to paleofans originating from the Gondwana supermountain in Northern and East Africa. Thus, the Inkisi sandstone constitutes a new alluvial megafan distinguished from the Gondwana superfan derived from the Gondwana supermountain. It originated from the Pan-African belt of Mayombe and the Congo Craton. We name this megafan the Cambro-Ordovician alluvial megafan of Central Africa .
Citation
Miyouna, P.; Boudzoumou, F.; Nklodia, H.; Delvaux, D. (2023). The Cambro-Ordovician Gondwana Superfan in Central Africa: insights from the Paleozoic sandstones of Inkisi Group, Congo.. , Journal of African Earth Sciences 209, Vol. 209, 105109,Identifiers
Type
Article
Peer-Review
Yes
Language
eng