The West and Central African rift systems: Foreword

Abstract

This chapter discusses about the West and Central African rift systems. The recognition of these intracontinental Cretaceous rift systems were based on the extensive gravity data base which exists for this region and on data made available by the Petroleum industry for many of the rift basins. This permitted delineating the extensional and strike-slip zones through West, Central, and North Africa. This was helped by understanding that the negative gravity anomalies associated with the sedimentary basins, forming part of this rift system, were superimposed on broad positive anomalies, which are up to 450 km wide and have amplitudes of up to 80 mGal. The spatial and temporal link between the West and Central African rift systems and plate tectonic processes within the Atlantic Ocean was recognized to indicate that their is a strong interaction between oceanic and intra-continental tectonics.