PRECAMBRIAN OF WEST AFRICA

Abstract

A key topic in the forthcoming seminar co-sponsored by IUGS, IGCP and the Geological Society of Africa (“Precambrian of Africa and its Mineral Resources”, January 19-21, 1981 in Accra, Ghana) will be the geological evolution of the various cratonic regions in Africa. In this article, Dr. Black reviews the evolution of the West African craton, which appears to have been stabilized by the Eburnean orogeny 2150 Ma ago. Emphasis is on problems of internal correlation and the nature of possible greenstone belts, as well as the Himalayan-type collision between the complex Pan African Taureg and Benin-Nigeria shields and the passive West African craton.