Ressources minérales du Tchad: une revue

Abstract

Chad has an area of about 1.2 million km 2, is located in the centreof the African continent and is not well explored. Results of importance to the local economic geology have been acquired recently, mainly during mineral exploration: 1. i) all geological formations within Chad territory were reworked/influenced by the Pan-African Orogeny (by the end of the Proterozoic) terminating the crustal evolution of the area with most of the Chad granitoids being formed during this event; 2. ii) The Precambrian formations are of Proterozoic age and contain volcanosedimentary series with considerable mineral potential (Au,…); 3. iii) the vast Chad Basin (extending into neighbouring countries) has a complex structure and includes several sub-basins and troughs, whose development started during the break-up of Gondwana; they have been filled by up to 10, 000 m of sediments and petroleum and gas occur within these structures; 4. iv) well preserved fossil remnants of an Australopithecus have been recently found in Chad; and 5. v) large reserves of oil and vaste resources of a variety of minerals (Au, ornamental stones, marbles, diatomites, etc.) have been found.