Abstract

Abstract The Precambrian Mayombian belt is actually considered to be the result of the closure of an oceanic basin located between a western Eburnean craton and an eastern Archaean craton. The cratonic collision, which took place about 1000 Ma ago, induced the tectonic emplacement of ophiolites along the axis of the belt. This collision favoured the formation of the Nyanga's and Niari's epicontinental basins, deformed later during the Panafrican episode. Geochemial studies of the metabasites of the suture confirm their oceanic origin: they are olivine tholeiites similar to abyssal tholeiites. Different from the tholeiites intruded in a lithospheric stretching model, they are almost identical to the tholeiites of the Red Sea. This evolution model for the Mayombian belt: Kibarian narrow ocean floor basins, which closure leads to the Precambrian superior epicontinental basins, is similar to the Burundian of Burundi and to the Kibarian of Zaire. It seems to be general for the post-Eburnean belts in Central Africa.

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