The geodynamic setting of the Phanerozoic basins of Africa

The Pan-African event assembled the supercontinent of Gondwana during the Late Proterozoic, and is manifest within the African plate by an anastomosing pattern of tectonic sutures and mobile belts. The development of African basins during the Phanerozoic can be thought of as relating to the polyphase break-up of Gondwana, which was accomplished, in general, by reactivation along the Pan-African sutures. The present African plate occupied a relatively central position in Gondwana, with only the north-westernmost (Rif-Tell/Atlas) and southernmost (Cape Fold Belt) tips of the plate (present-day orientation) exposed directly to convergent plate margin activity. Although the African plate can be generally considered to have undergone extension throughout the Phanerozoic, compressive tectonism associated with the closure of the Paleotethys (Hercynian Rif-Tell) and the Neotethys Oceans (Alpine Atlas) and subduction of the Paleopacific plate (Hercynian Cape Fold Belt) are exceptions. Rifting associated with the break-up of Gondwana was dominant from the Late Carboniferous onwards, and basins developed as a result of this extension both at the margins and within the continental African plate. Rifting began in earnest during the Early-Middle Jurassic, when East and West Gondwana separated, and the central Atlantic Ocean began to open. From the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, the South Atlantic opened progressively northwards, and intraplate extension led to the development of the West, Central and East African rift basins. The final episode of rifting took place between the Late Eocene and Early Miocene, and opened the Dead Sea-Red Sea-Gulf of Aden basins, with rifting in the East African Rift continuing to the present day. During the Phanerozoic, Africa (and Gondwana) migrated across the South Pole northwards to its present latitude, and the fill of preserved basins reflects a concomitant change in paleoclimate. Rises in sea level, in part related to the demise of Gondwanan glaciers during the Paleozoic, locally flooded the African plate. The rich fossil record of life on the African plate during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic can also be coupled with a more benevolent climate at lower latitudes as Gondwana passed away from south polar regions. The presence of plumes beneath the African plate during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic (the Karoo and Afar plumes, respectively), coupled with an absence of slab pull at the margins of the young post-Gondwana oceanic crust, has rendered Africa in a relatively stationary position since the Mesozoic, with only a slow rotation of the plate as the Central and South Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Red Sea have opened. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.