Deblond A. Updated Geological Framework of Central Africa

Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren – Belgium. 2013. 117 p.In the last few decades, the understanding of the regional geology of the DemocraticRepublic of the Congo has progressed in a dramatically variable way from place to place as a result of political and economic constraints. Some areas have been the subjects of recent investigations with the help of modern techniques, while other areas have remained virtually untouched. On the other hand, neighbouring Burundi and Rwanda have been the subject of systematic geological mapping programmes completed respectively in 1990 and 1991. These programmes initiated a renewal of interest for both countries, which led to detailed geological studies.An updated synthesis of the regional geology of the whole of Central Africa with a similar accuracy for all areas is therefore impossible.Nevertheless, an effort for an original approach of the geology of Central Africa, and in particular of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), is presented based on subdivisions (from younger to older) linked to the previously introduced geodynamic processes controlling the evolution of this part of the African plate: breakup of Pangea, Atlantic Ocean opening and development of continental rifting within the African plate; assembly of Pangea; breakup of Gondwana and Karoo; assembly of Gondwana and Pan African orogeny; breakup of Rodinia; assembly of Rodinia and Kibaran orogeny; Pre-Rodinia evolution.