Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Precambrian Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/precamres

The Pan-African West Congo belt in the Republic of Congo (Congo

Brazzaville): Stratigraphy of the Mayombe and West Congo
Supergroups studied by detrital zircon geochronology
Pascal Affaton a , Feiko Kalsbeek b,∗ , Florent Boudzoumou c , Roland Trompette d ,
Kristine Thrane b , Robert Frei e,f
a
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, CEREGE, UM34, 13545 Aix en Provence, France
b
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
c
Université Marien Ngouabi, Département de Géologie, BP 69 Brazzaville, Republic of Congo
d
35, Rue Pascal, 75013 Paris, France
e
Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, Geology Section, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K,
Denmark
f
Nordic Center for Earth Evolution (NordCEE), Denmark

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The African part of the Neoproterozoic Araçuai-West Congo orogen forms a more than 1400 km long belt,
Received 5 May 2015 running from Gabon in the north to Angola in the south, parallel to the South Atlantic coast. It consists of
Received in revised form the West Congo fold belt in the west and a largely undeformed sedimentary foreland basin in the east. In
27 September 2015
the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville) these are known as, respectively, the ‘Mayombe fold belt’ and
Accepted 27 October 2015
the ‘Niari basin’. The Mayombe fold belt is largely made up of strongly deformed metasedimentary rocks
Available online 10 November 2015
of the Mayombe Supergroup and its reworked granitoid basement complex. The Niari basin comprises
the sedimentary strata of the West Congo Supergroup, which contain a unit of diamictite and associated
Keywords:
Congo Brazzaville
cap-carbonate, related to the Marinoan (ca. 635 Ma) glaciation. In this paper detrital zircon U–Pb data
Mayombe Supergroup are employed to investigate the relationships between the Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups in
West Congo Supergroup Congo Brazzaville, as well as the relationships with similar stratigraphic units in the Democratic Republic
Geochronology of Congo (DR Congo). Unfortunately, major differences in stratigraphical nomenclature exist between
Detrital zircons Congo Brazzaville and DR Congo which, together with geological differences, complicate comparisons.
The terminology used in this paper follows the Congo Brazzaville tradition.
U–Pb data have been obtained by LA-ICP-MS on 1674 zircon grains from samples of the Mayombe and
West Congo Supergroups (seven and eight samples, respectively). Two of the samples have Palaeopro-
terozoic ages. The other samples are of Neoproterozoic age. Zircons from the latter fall into four main age
groups: Group 1, 500–800 Ma, forming 8% of the total population; Group 2, 900–1200 Ma (29%); Group 3,
1800–2300 Ma (19%); and Group 4, 2500–3100 Ma (31%). Only ca. 13% of the zircons fall outside of these
groups.
Most zircons of Group 1 (600–800 Ma) are interpreted to have been derived from late Neoproterozoic
magmatic arc rocks and syn- to post-collisional granites of the Araçuai orogen in Brazil, since rocks
of these ages are rare in the Congo craton to the east. Most of Group 2 zircons have probably been
derived from early Neoproterozoic (1000–900 Ma) rhyolitic and granitic rocks exposed in DR Congo. The
Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean zircons of Groups 3 and 4 may have been derived both from eastern and
western source regions.
None of the stratigraphical units beneath the Marinoan diamictite contain the 500–800 Ma zircons of
Group 1. This is interpreted to indicate deposition of these units during the earlier Neoproterozoic rift
and drift phases in the history of the Araçuai-West Congo orogen, while the strata that do contain Group
1 zircons were deposited during the collisional phases and post-collisional uplift. A significant hiatus is
likely to be present beneath the Marinoan diamictite. Based on these results, a revision of the stratigraphy
of the Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups is recommended.

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +45 38879075; fax: +45 38142050.

E-mail address: fkalsbeek@gmail.com (F. Kalsbeek).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2015.10.020
0301-9268/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
186 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Three granitoid rocks and two metasedimentary samples from the reworked basement complex have also
been investigated, yielding Palaeoproterozoic ages, 2050–2100 Ma for the granites, and Palaeoproterozoic
and Archaean detrital zircon ages for the metasedimentary rocks.
Sm–Nd isotope data have been obtained on a number of (meta-)argilitic and siltstone samples. All samples
yielded Palaeoproterozoic model ages, indicating mixing of sediments of different ages, as also observed
in the zircon age distributions.
1. Introduction
The Neoproterozoic Araçuai-West Congo orogen is one of the
important pieces in the jig-saw puzzle that makes up western
Gondwana. The history of this orogen started ca. 1000 Ma ago
by the break-up of Rodinia, which resulted in the opening of an
oceanic basin between the São Francisco and Congo cratons, and
ended by closure of this basin, some 400 Ma later, during the Pan-
African orogenic cycle (for an overview see Pedrosa-Soares et al.,
2008). During the Mesozoic the orogen was split into two parts,
one in South America and one in western Africa, by the open-
ing of the South Atlantic Ocean. The South American part of the
orogen in Brazil is known as the Araçuai fold belt and includes
a suture zone, a magmatic arc, as well as syn- to post-collisional
granites. This part has been studied in detail (e.g., Alkmim et al.,
2001, 2006; Pedrosa-Soares et al., 2001, 2008; Pedrosa-Soares and
Alkmim, 2011; Paula-Santos et al., 2015; Kuchenbecker et al., 2015).
In contrast, for the African part of the orogen (Fig. 1) many impor-
tant issues are still unresolved, and recent overviews (Tait et al.,
2013; Delpomdor and Préat, 2015) emphasize the need for new
geochronological data.
The African part of the Araçuai-West Congo orogen runs paral-
lel to the west coast of central Africa, from Gabon in the north to
Angola in the south, an area of more than 1400 km in length and
150–300 km in width. It consists of three main units (Fig. 1), sepa-
rated by thrust contacts: (1) To the north-east an up to 250 km wide
sedimentary basin, in the Republic of Congo (henceforth ‘Congo
Brazzaville’) referred to as the ‘Niari basin’, which consists of the
largely undeformed strata of the West Congo Supergroup (ter-
minolgy after Dadet, 1969; Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988,
and Trompette, 1994). This sedimentary succession unconformably
overlies the Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic rocks of the Chaillu
Massif that belongs to the Congo craton. To the west, the sedi-
mentary rocks of the West Congo Supergroup become increasingly
deformed on entering the West Congo fold belt, in Congo Brazza-
ville termed ‘Mayombe fold belt’ (Hossié and Caby, 1979; Hossié,
1980). Here they are tectonically overlain by, and interfolded with,
units of (2) the Mayombe Supergroup (Hossié, 1980), a succession
of strongly deformed metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks,
which form the core of the West Congo fold belt. (3) Still further
west, the Mayombe Supergroup is tectonically overlain by a com-
plex of Palaeoproterozoic granitoid and metasedimentary rocks
(Hossié and Caby, 1979; Hossié, 1980; Boudzoumou, 1986; Djama,
1988; Djama et al., 1992), reactivated during Pan-African orogenic
events. These rocks are interpreted to represent the basement of
the Mayombe Supergroup, and are in Congo Brazzaville referred to
as the ‘Reworked Guéna basement’.
While rocks of the Mayombe Supergroup only occur in the fold
belt, units of the West Congo Supergroup occur both in the fold
belt and in the Niari basin. Because of tectonic contacts, the for-
mations of the Supergroup cannot be followed directly from the
basin into the fold belt, and correlation of some of the stratigraph-
ical units in the Mayombe fold belt with those in the Niari basin is
not straightforward (Section 1.1; Fig. 2).
Correlation of units of the West Congo and Mayombe Super-
groups in Congo Brazzaville with similar rocks in the Democratic
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Republic of Congo (henceforth ‘DR Congo’) also presents problems.
For historical reasons there has been little coordination between
the investigations in the two countries (Trompette, 1994, p. 137).
This has led to major differences in stratigraphical terminology
which further complicates the correlation of units described within
the two regions (Section 1.2; Fig. 2). In this paper we report
geochronological data on zircons from (meta)sedimentary rocks
from the Niari basin and the Mayombe fold belt in Congo Braz-
zaville, carried out in an attempt to solve some of these problems.
1.1. Stratigraphy of the West Congo Supergroup in Congo
Brazzaville: Niari basin and Mayombe fold belt. Structure of the
Mayombe Supergroup
In order to describe briefly the stratigraphy of the West Congo
Supergroup of Congo Brazzaville, it is necessary to make a dis-
tinction between the development in the Niari basin, and that
in the Mayombe fold belt. In the Niari basin (Fig. 2) the West
Congo Supergroup consists of four main assemblages (Dadet, 1969;
Boudzoumou, 1986; Alvarez, 1995), from the base upward, (1)
the Bouenzian Formation (thickness not well known, probably
some 350 m), that overlies the rocks of the Congo craton with
a profound unconformity, and consists of sandstones, siltstones,
shales, with carbonate rocks in its upper parts. (2) The Upper
Diamictite Formation, a unit of well preserved diamictites (up to
100 m; Boudzoumou, 1986; Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988;
Trompette, 1994; Mickala et al., 2014), almost certainly related to
the ca. 635 Ma Marinoan glaciation (Frimmel et al., 2006; Mickala
et al., 2014), that unconformably overlies the Bouenzian Forma-
tion. The diamictites are in turn unconformably overlain by an up
to 25 m thick cap-carbonate member (Mickala et al., 2014, 2015,
and references therein), which forms the basis of (3) the thick (ca.
1400 m) Schisto–Calcaire Group that consists of various facies of
limestones, dolostones, siltstones and shales, together with rare
intercalations of sandstones, cherts and evaporites, and (4) the
Mpioka Formation (ca. 700 m) which consists of conglomerates,
sandstones, siltstones, shales and carbonates. Overlying the Mpioka
Formation is the Inkisi Formation which was originally included
into the West Congo Supergroup (Dadet, 1969; Boudzoumou and
Trompette, 1988) but, since it has been shown to be a much younger
stratigraphic unit (Alvarez et al., 1995), it is no longer included
into this Supergroup. In earlier publications (e.g., Boudzoumou and
Trompette, 1988) the now obsolete term ‘Schisto–Greseux Group’
has been used to describe the combined Mpioka and Inkisi Forma-
tions.
The different units described above have been further subdi-
vided into formations and members shown on the geological map
of Dadet (1969) with numbers such as BZ1, BZ2, etc. for parts of the
Bouenzian Formation. A description of this subdivision is outside
the scope of this paper, but it has been used below to indicate more
precisely from which units samples were investigated.
Within the Mayombe fold belt a unit of metadiamictites, known
as the ‘Lower Diamictite Formation’ (Dadet, 1969; Boudzoumou,
1986; Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988, Fig. 2), is regarded to
represent the lowermost lithostratigraphic unit of the West Congo
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202 187

Fig. 1. Main structural units in the African part of the Araçuai-West. Congo orogen after Boudzoumou and Trompette (1988). Stratigraphical terms used here are those
employed in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville), and are different from those used in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Angola and Gabon, see the text.
The reworked basement and the Mayombe Supergroup, together with parts of the West Congo Supergroup, form the West Congo fold belt, in Congo Brazzaville known as
the Mayombe fold belt (inset A–B). The areas described in the present study are outlined, and shown in more detail in Figs. 5 and 8. The inset in the upper right-hand corner
illustrates the location of the Araçuai-West Congo orogen in Africa and South America before the opening of the Atlantic Ocean.

Supergroup (Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988). It is interfolded
with the metasedimentary rocks of the Mayombe Supergroup,
which themselves overlie the granitoid and other rocks of the
reworked ‘Guéna basement’ (Djama, 1988; Djama et al., 1992).
The Lower Diamictite Formation is overlain by a succession of
schists and quartzitic sandstones, the Louila Formation, which is
considered to represent the tectono-metamorphic equivalent of
the Bouenzian Formation in the Niari basin (Boudzoumou and
Trompette, 1988). Outcrops of carbonates occur locally in the out-
ermost parts of the Mayombe fold belt, mainly in Dolisie area,
where occurrences of the Upper Diamictite Formation have also
been observed (Mickala et al., 2014). These carbonates probably
correlate with the carbonates of the Schisto–Calcaire Group in the
basin.
Rocks similar to the lower diamictites have not been observed
in the Niari basin, and it has been suggested (Lepersonne,
1951; Cahen, 1978; Trompette, 1994) that the Lower Diamictite
Formation is unconformably overlain by the Bouenzian Formation
in the area between the Mayombe fold belt and the Bouenzian
outcrops in the eastern part of the basin (Fig. 2).
The Mayombe Supergroup, that underlies the West Congo
Supergroup, has been subdivided, from the base upward, into the
Bikossi, Loukoula, Mvouti and Mossouva structural units, which
are separated by NE verging thrustplanes (Dadet, 1969; Hossié
and Caby, 1979; Hossié, 1980; Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988;
Maurin et al., 1991; Trompette, 1994). The uppermost thrust units
(the Bikossi and at least parts of the Loukoula) are of Palaeopro-
terozoic age (Djama, 1988; Maurin et al., 1991; Djama et al., 1992).
South-west of the Bikossi unit occur the granitoid gneisses and
associated rocks of the reworked Palaeoproterozoic Guéna base-
ment complex (see Section 4.5). The latter have been intruded by a
suite of alkaline granites, dated at ca. 1000 Ma (Djama et al., 1992;
Vicat and Pouclet, 2000). The overlying Mvouti and Mossouva units
are assumed to be of Meso- or Neoproterozoic age.
188 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202

Fig. 2. Schematic overview of the stratigraphic units that overlie the crystalline basement in Congo Brazzaville and in DR Congo, illustrating the differences in stratigraphical
terminology. In Congo Brazzaville the succession overlying the basement (reworked Palaeoproterozoic Guéna basement in the fold belt, and the Archaean/Palaeoproterozoic
Congo craton in the Niari basin), is subdivided into the Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups (Dadet, 1969; Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988; Maurin et al., 1991, Alvarez
et al., 1995). In DR Congo the term ‘West Congo Supergroup’ is used for the entire succession overlying the crystalline basement, here represented by the Palaeoproterozoic
‘Kimezian Supergroup’ (Tack et al., 2001; Frimmel et al., 2006; Delpomdor and Préat, 2015). The West Congo Supergroup (sensu DR Congo) is subdivided into the Zadinian,
Mayumbian, and West Congolian Groups, of which the latter is broadly equivalent to the West Congo Supergroup in Congo Brazzaville (shaded area). The Zadianian and
Mayumbian Groups in DR Congo consist of metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks, and range in age from ca. 1000–900 Ma (Tack et al., 2001). The Mayombe Supergroup in
Congo Brazzaville has been subdivided into four structural units, of which the Bikossi and at least parts of the Louila units are of Palaeoproterozoic age, while the Mvouti and
Mossouva units are assumed to be Meso- or Neoproterozoic. The similarity of the terms ‘Mayumbian Group’ and ‘Mayombe Supergroup’ does not imply any geochronological
correlation.

1.2. Stratigraphy of the Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups
of Congo Brazzaville compared to similar units in DR Congo
While in Congo Brazzaville the succession of (meta-) sedi-
mentary and volcanic rocks that overlie the Palaeoproterozoic
basement complex has been subdivided into the Mayombe and
West Congo Supergroups, in DR Congo all the strata overlying
the basement (here termed ‘Kimezian Supergroup’) have been col-
lectively assigned to the ‘West Congo Supergroup’ (Cahen, 1954;
Lepersonne, 1971, 1972; Tack et al., 2001; Frimmel et al., 2006;
Straathof, 2011; for an overview see Delpomdor and Préat, 2015).
The West Congo Supergroup (sensu DR Congo) has been subdivided
into three Groups in upward direction the Zadinian, Mayumbian
and West Congolian Groups. The Zadinian and Mayumbian Groups
(Fig. 2) occur within the thrust units of the fold belt and, together,
occupy a similar tectono-stratigraphic position as the (mainly
metasedimentary) upper parts of the Mayombe Supergroup in
Congo Brazzaville. Their mutual relationships, however, are not
clear, and the similarity in the terms ‘Mayombe Supergroup’ (Congo
Brazzaville) and ‘Mayumbian Group’ (DR Congo) does not imply
any stratigraphic relationship. Because of the presence of metarhy-
olites and granitic rocks, it has been possible to constrain the age
of deposition of the Zadinian and Mayumbian Groups in DR Congo
from zircon U–Pb data to between 1000 and 910 Ma (Tack et al.,
2001).
The West Congolian Group of DR Congo is broadly equivalent
to the West Congo Supergroup in Congo Brazzaville (Fig. 2). In DR
Congo rocks comparable to the lower diamictites of Congo Brazza-
ville have been described by Lepersonne (1971, 1972). They form
the ‘Lower Diamictite Formation’ and are part of the sedimentary
basin, not of the West Congo/Mayombe fold belt. The stratigraphy
of the West Congo Supergroup (Fig. 2), from the Mayumbian Group
up to the Upper (Marinoan) Diamictite Formation is as follows
(Tack et al., 2001; Frimmel et al., 2006; Delpomdor and Préat,
2015): (1) the Sansikwa Subgroup, a 1650 m thick succession of
conglomerates, sandstones and shales, traditionally correlated
with the upper parts of the Mayombe Supergroup in Congo
Brazzaville (Cahen, 1978; Trompette, 1994), youngest detrital
zircons ca. 900 Ma (Frimmel et al., 2006; Straathof, 2011); (2) the
Lower Diamictite Formation, 400 m, for which an U–Pb age of
694 ± 4 Ma has been obtained on baddelyite from an intercalation
of basalts and dolerites (Straathof, 2011); (3) the Haut Shiloango
Subgroup, 1050 m thick and composed mainly of sandstones,
shales and calcareous rocks; youngest detrital zircons ca. 600 Ma
(Frimmel et al., 2006). A correlation of this Subgroup with the
Bouenzian and Louila Formations in Congo Brazzaville has been
proposed (Cahen, 1978; Cahen et al., 1984; Trompette, 1994).
The stratigraphy of the strata overlying the Haut Shiloango
Subgroup is the same as in Congo Brazzaville: Upper Diamictite
Formation, Schisto–Calcaire Subgroup and Mpioka Subgroup. The
West Congolian Group is overlain by the Inkisi Subgroup which is
equivalent to the Inkisi Formation in Congo Brazzaville.
Unfortunately, the contact between the West Congo Supergroup
and the rocks of the Congo craton cannot be studied in DR Congo,
since it is covered by younger deposits. This complicates compari-
son with the succession in Congo Brazzaville.
The use of the term ‘West Congo Supergroup’ as used in DR
Congo has also been adopted in Angola and Gabon (e.g. Thiéblemont
et al., 2009) and (rarely) in Congo Brazzaville (Alvarez, 1995). The
overview of Delpomdor and Préat (2015) presents more details on
the geology of the region, together with extensive bibliographic
information.
For the present study geochronological data have been acquired
on zircons from eight samples of the West Congo Supergroup (three
from the Bouenzien Formation, one from the Upper Diamictite For-
mation, one from the Schisto–Calcaire Group, two from the Mpioka
Formation, and one from the Inkisi Formation), and seven samples
of the Mayombe Supergroup (two from the Bikossi and Loukoula
units, one from the Mvouti unit, two from the Mossouva unit, and
two from the Louila Formation). The results give an impression of
the age distributions for the zircons in samples from the different
stratigraphical units, which then were used to obtain insights into
the source regions of the precursor sediments and, indirectly, into
the ages of deposition. With these results an attempt is made to
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202 189

Fig. 3. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of analyzed zircons. For each sample 15–20 of such images were acquired, and 8744-6, for example, is no. 6 out of a series
of 17 images. The images (at A-4 size) were used to choose suitable spots for analysis, and thereafter for documentation of the location of the analyzed spots. The circles
show the sizes of the latter. Crossed circles represent unsuccessful analyses. The numbers refer to the number of the individual analyses in the Electronic Appendix.

solve some of the problems in the correlation of the Neoproterozoic
stratigraphy in Congo Brazzaville and DR Congo, described above.
Further, we present new data on three samples of granitoid rocks
from the reworked basement complex for comparison with earlier
data from Congo Brazzaville and DR Congo, as well as Sm–Nd iso-
tope data for a number of shale, schist and siltstone samples from
the Niari basin and the Mayombe fold belt.
2. Analytical procedures
Zircons for U–Pb geochronology were separated using standard
techniques: crushing and sieving to <300 ␮m, washing on a
Holman–Wilfley shaking table, followed by hand picking. Hand-
picked zircon grains were set in 1-inch epoxy mounts, sectioned
and polished to approximately half their thickness. Back-scatter
images of the zircons were obtained by Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM) at the Geological Survey of Denmark and
Greenland (GEUS), and analytical spots (diameter 25 ␮m) were
selected with the help of the SEM images (Fig. 3). Isotopic analysis
was performed by laser ablation-single collector magnetic sector
field-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS)
at GEUS, using a Thermo-Fisher Element II sector field ICP-MS
coupled to a NewWave NWR213 Nd-YAG laser ablation unit. The
methods applied essentially follow those of Gerdes and Zeh (2006),
Frei et al. (2006), Kalsbeek et al. (2008) and Frei and Gerdes (2009).
The GJ-1 zircon (609 Ma; Jackson et al., 2004) was used as pri-
mary standard and, after each group of 50 analyses, the Plešovice
reference zircon (Sláma et al., 2008) was analyzed as an unknown.
Samples were analyzed in sequences with six standards analyzed
initially, followed by ten unknowns, again three standards, fol-
lowed by ten unknowns, etc. Raw data were processed in two
manners using (1) the in-house developed ‘Zirchron’ programme
(unpublished), and (2) using the software package ‘Iolite’ includ-
ing ‘VisualAge’ (Hellstrom et al., 2008; Paton et al., 2011; Petrus
and Kamber, 2012). The two methods yielded closely comparable
207 Pb/206 Pbages (Appendix, Zirchron vs. Iolite), but the error esti-
mates calculated by Zirchron are much larger than those obtained
from Iolite (Appendix, Zirchron vs. Iolite). In the following diagrams
the more conservative Zirchron error estimates have been used in
order to minimize the possibility of overinterpreting the data. A
number of analyses yielded erratic signals for 206 Pb and 238 U (prob-
ably caused by the poor quality of the zircons) and did not provide
a reliable age. These were rejected. No ages were rejected because
of large errors or high degrees of discordance.
Analytical errors (Zirchron) on the 207 Pb/206 Pb ages depend
on the age of the zircons. For sample 9116 (Section 4.2.3), for
example, the median error (2) is ±94 Ma for zircons with ages
<700 Ma (N = 30), ±85 Ma for zircons of 900–1200 Ma (N = 50),
±80 Ma for zircons of 1800–2300 Ma (N = 13), and ±56 Ma for zir-
cons of 2500–3000 Ma. Errors for the 207 Pb/206 Pb ages of zircons
in other samples are of similar magnitude (Appendix, Zirchron vs.
Iolite).
All analytical data (both calculated by Zirchron and by Iolite),
inclusive those on the GJ-1 standard, are listed in the electronic
appendix, which also presents statistical data (Iolite) for GJ-1
(Appendix, Iolite GJ-1.doc). During this study the Plešovice zir-
con was analyzed 113 times, and the resulting mean ages were
335 ± 3 Ma and 338 ± 2 Ma (2 errors), respectively, from Zirchron
and Iolite (vs. the accepted age of 337 Ma; Sláma et al., 2008).
The chronological data are presented as 207 Pb/206 Pb age prob-
ability diagrams, prepared with the help of the Age Display
programme of Sircombe (2004). In these diagrams analyses that
are 90–110% concordant are shown with a dark grey colour, while
the light grey areas (in part hidden behind the field of concordant
zircons) show all analyses, including the discordant ones. In most
cases there is a good agreement between concordant and discord-
ant 207 Pb/206 Pb ages, which indicates that the latter also provide
useful information. Histograms illustrating the ages of concordant
zircons are also shown. The Isoplot programme of Ludvig (2003)
was used for further data presentation and calculation of ages.
190 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Unless otherwise stated, the term ‘age’ in this paper refers to the
207 Pb/206 Pb age of the zircons (see Section 3.1); errors are quoted
at the 2 sigma level of confidence.
Sm–Nd isotope data were acquired at the Department of Geo-
sciences and Natural Resource Management, Geology Section,
University of Copenhagen, using the methods described in Kalsbeek
and Frei (2006).
Geographical co-ordinates given below for the analyzed samples
refer to the datum WGS84. The precise stratigraphic position (such
as BZ2 for a member of the Bouenzian Formation) is based on the
geological map of Dadet (1969).
3. General observations on the geochronological data
3.1. Discordant data and common Pb correction
In a number of samples, many zircons yielded highly discord-
ant data. Plotted in conventional concordia diagrams, the analyses
scatter in quasi-linear arrays towards zero, demonstrating massive
loss of radiogenic Pb from the zircons during weathering of the
rocks in sub-recent times. This is illustrated for three samples from
the Bouenzian Formation (Section 4) in Fig. 4. In the field, weath-
ering is not obvious in the sandstones, but siltstones and shales are
commonly totally altered. U-rich zircons have been most affected
(Fig. 4B), in some cases resulting in unrealistic 206 Pb/238 U ages as
low as 100–400 Ma. It is because of these problems that only the
207 Pb/206 Pb ages of zircons have been used in the following.
For many of the analyzed zircons, especially for those with high
U concentrations and low 206 Pb/238 U ages, a correction had to be
made for the presence of common Pb (using the model Pb com-
position of Stacey and Kramers, 1975, at the time given by the
207 Pb/206 Pb age of the zircon). In reality the composition of the
common Pb is poorly constrained and this affects the accuracy of
the data. For sample 9153 the 204 Pb corrected data systematically
appear to plot at lower 207 Pb/235 U ratios than non-corrected data,
suggesting a degree of over-correction for the presence of 204 Pb.
Because of this it is not always easy to judge the reliability of young
ages obtained after large common Pb corrections.
3.2. Statistical testing the absence of zircons of specific age groups
For the present study it proved to be important correctly to
assess the presence or absence of zircons of specific age groups. Not
finding zircons of a specific age class does not necessarily imply that
such zircons are absent. They may accidentally have been missed.
However, the probability of missing zircons of an age group can
be tested with the help of the equation p = (1 − f)k , where p is the
probability not to find at least one zircon of an age group that is
present as a fraction f, when k grains have been analyzed (Dodson
et al., 1988). For example, if a specific age group of zircons makes up
5% of the total population, and 100 grains have been analyzed, the
probability not to find one of the 5% group is p = (1 − 0.05)100 = 0.01.
Thus, there would be a 99% probability to find at least one zircon of
the specified group.
4. Sampling and results
4.1. Rocks and samples of the Niari basin
The Niari basin (Fig. 5) forms a major asymmetric synformal
structure south-west of the Congo craton. As described earlier
(Section 1.1), it consists, from the bottom to the top, of the
Bouenzian Formation, the Marinoan Diamictite Formation, the
Schisto–Calcaire Group, and the Mpioka Formation.
Detrital zircons have been studied from eight samples of the
Niari basin. Fig. 5 shows the sample localities, and Fig. 6 illustrates
the appearance of the rocks in the field. Samples 9065, 9079 and
9153 are from the Bouenzian Formation. Sample 9065 (12◦ 41.14 E,
3◦ 5.09 S; lower part of BZ2 ) is a relatively coarse grained feldspathic
sandstone, collected close to the crystalline basement of the Congo
craton. Sample 9079 (13◦ 46.03 E, 3◦ 54.20 S; upper part of BZ2 ), a
coarse-grained feldspathic sandstone, was collected at the Bouenza
river dam, where the river has cut a deep canyon in the Bouenzian
sandstones, and sample 9153 (12◦ 41.41 E, 3◦ 17.62 S; BZ4 , Fig. 6A),
a relatively fine-grained feldspathic sandstone, was taken from a
little waterfall in the forest.
Sample 8744 (12◦ 39.21 E, 3◦ 25.54 S) is from the Marinoan
Diamictite Formation at Matalila (Fig. 6B and C); it is a coarse-
grained feldspathic sandstone from a conglomeratic sandstone bed
within the diamictite. Sample 9162 (13◦ 53.10 E, 4◦ 18.79 S; SCII)
was collected from a locality where fine-grained calcareous sand-
stones and siltstones are interlayered with the limestones of the
Schisto–Calcaire Group (Fig. 6D). The sandstones are flat-lying and
show ripple marks.
Samples 9086 and 9074 belong to the Mpioka Formation. Sam-
ple 9086 (13◦ 42 E, 4◦ 20 S; Po) is a calc-arenite from the lenticular
and unconformable basal part of the Mpioka Formation, collected in
the Pic Albert area (Fig. 5), and represents the so-called ‘Brèche du
Niari’ (Fig. 6E). Sample 9074 (12◦ 28.03 E, 3◦ 43.76 S; PIa) is from a
higher, unconformable member of the formation, ca. 30 m above
the unconformity with the Schisto–Calcaire Group. The outcrop
consists of medium-grained cross-bedded feldspathic sandstones
with local ripple marks. At this locality the rocks have been affected
by Mayombian deformation and dip ca. 20◦ to the SW (Fig. 6F).
Finally, sample 9116 (15◦ 12.58 E, 4◦ 18.97 S), was studied from the
Inkisi Formation. This sample, a rather coarse-grained immature
arkose, was collected in a quarry close to Brazzaville (Fig. 1), far
outside the area covered by Fig. 5, where arkosic sandstones and
conglomerates occur side by side with shale and siltstone interca-
lations.
4.2. Results for samples from the Niari basin
4.2.1. Bouenzian Formation
9065: Zircons from sample 9065 are relatively large, mostly
90–170 ␮m in length; a few grains are up to 290 ␮m long. Besides
irregularly rounded grains, more or less euhedral zircons are also
present. Many grains are fractured, and suitable spots for analy-
sis are not abundant. In all 144 spots were analyzed, 103 yielded
acceptable chronological information, but only 41 of these gave
90–110% concordant ages. The age distribution curve (Fig. 7A)
shows major peaks at 900–1200 Ma and 2800–3100 Ma, together
with a minority of grains of Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchaean
ages. No certain late Neoproterozoic zircons were encountered,
although a number of grains have 206 Pb/238 U ages from 800 Ma
down to 100 Ma (Fig. 4A). None of these, however are concordant.
9079: Most zircons from sample 9079 are 80–150 ␮m long;
a few up to 230 ␮m. Although a number of grains have cracks,
it was not difficult to find suitable spots for analysis. In total
152 grains were analyzed; 134 spots yielded acceptable data, and
93 of the results were 90–110% concordant. The age distribution
(Fig. 7B) reveals two major peaks, one at 900–1100 Ma and one at
1900–2200 Ma. Additionally, a few Archaean grains are present. The
striking difference between samples 9065 and 9079 in the relative
proportions of Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic zircons (Fig. 7A and
B) may be related to the large distance (ca. 150 km) between the
sample localities. No late Neoproterozoic zircons were found.
9153: Most zircons from sample 9153 are rather small,
60–120 ␮m long, but grains up to 170 ␮m are also present. Besides
rounded grains more euhedral grains are also present. As for
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202 191

Fig. 4. (A,C,D). Concordia diagrams for zircons from sandstones of the Bouenzian Group, illustrating the wide scatter in U–Pb isotope relationships. The scatter towards low
206
Pb/238 U ages is interpreted to be mainly due to loss of radiogenic Pb from the zircons during recent alteration. (B) Covariation of 206 Pb/238 U ages with U concentrations
of zircons from sample 9065. Zircons corrected for common Pb are shown as red filled circles. For zircons from sample 9153 the corrected analyses plot at lower 207 Pb/235 U
ratios than the uncorrected data, suggesting a degree of over-correction.

Fig. 5. Geological sketch map of part of the Niari basin, based on the map compilation of Dadet (1969), with the localities of the investigated samples. The triangles show
the localities of the Marinoan diamictite and cap-carbonate studied by Mickala et al. (2014); the presence of the Marinoan diamictite at c. 13◦ E, 4◦ 25 S illustrates the view
that the Schisto–Calcaire Group represents an asymmetric synformal structure. The geology of the Mayombe fold belt is shown in Fig. 8.

sample 9065 many of these zircons are not ideal for analysis
because of cracks and other irregularities. Out of 114 analyzed spots
84 yielded acceptable data, but only 29 of these were 90–110% con-
cordant. The age distribution shows a major peak at 2500–3000 Ma,
a lesser peak at 900–1100 Ma, and a small number of ages scattered
between 1800 and 2500 Ma (Fig. 7C). Besides these older zircons,
two grains were found with near-concordant ages of 665 ± 105 and
663 ± 83 Ma. These ages were, however, obtained after major cor-
rections for common Pb (non-corrected ages 1265 and 1326 Ma),
and therefore of questionable value.
4.2.2. Upper Diamictite Formation and Schisto–Calcaire Group
8744: Zircons from sample 8744 (Fig. 3) are rather large, mostly
90–170 ␮m in length, but grains of 200–270 ␮m are also present.
192 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202

In all, 152 spots were analyzed; 137 of these yielded acceptable
data, and 90 gave 90–110% concordant results. The age distribu-
tion displays a major peak at 2500–3000 Ma, which comprises
more than 50% of the dates, with smaller peaks at 1900–2200 Ma,
900–1100 Ma, and 600–800 Ma (Fig. 7D). The latter data (N = 9) did
not need common Pb corrections, and five of them were 90–110%
concordant. From the SEM images it appears that the late Neopro-
terozoic (600–800 Ma) zircon grains do not differ in size or shape
from the older zircons.
9162: Zircons from this sample are small, mainly 60–100 ␮m,
with only a few slightly larger than 100 ␮m. In total 134 grains
were analyzed, of which 106 gave useful data and 40 were 90–110%
concordant. The age distribution (Fig. 7E) has one major peak
at 2600–3000 Ma, with a few Palaeoproterozoic zircons and one
zircon at ca. 1200 Ma. Since the sandstone in question has been
deposited after the Marinoan (ca. 635 Ma) glaciation, the absence
of late Neoproterozoic zircons is surprising. A concordia diagram
for he zircons from sample 9162 (Fig. 7F) illustrates the strong
disturbance of the U–Pb isotope data during sub-recent alteration.
4.2.3. Mpioka and Inkisi Formations
9086, Mpioka Formation. Mineral separation on sample 9086
yielded only a few small zircons, none longer than ca. 100 ␮m. Anal-
ysis was carried out on 20 grains, all yielded acceptable ages and 13
were 90–110% concordant. The age distribution diagram (Fig. 7G)
shows the presence of early and late Neoproterozoic, Mesoprotero-
zoic, Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean zircons.
9074, Mpioka Formation. Zircons from this sample are rel-
atively large, mostly 100–170 ␮m in length, but grains up to
200 ␮m are not uncommon. Out of 176 analyzed spots, 129
yielded acceptable results, 74 of which were 90–110% concordant.
The age distribution diagram (Fig. 7H) has two major peaks, at
500–800 Ma and 900–1200 Ma, with minor peaks at 1800–2200 Ma
and 2500–2800 Ma.
9116, Inkisi Formation: Most zircons from sample 9116 (Fig. 3)
are 60–170 ␮m long, with a few grains up to 240 ␮m. Most grains
are rounded but euhedral and subhedral grains are also present.
Out of 152 analyzed spots 144 yielded acceptable data, but only 56
of these were 90–110% concordant. The age distribution (Fig. 7I)

Fig. 6. Rocks of the Niari basin. (A) Sandstones of the Bouenzian Formation; person to the right for scale. Sample 9153 was collected here. (B and C) Marinoan diamictite and
cap-carbonate near the village of Matalila. Sample 8744 is from a conglomratic sandstone bed within this diamictite. (D) Sandstone beds, intercalated with limestones of the
Schisto–Calcaire Group. Sample 9162 comes from here. (E and F) Sandstones and conglomerates of the Mpioka Formation. The rock shown in E is from the lowermost part
of the Formation, and is represented by sample 9086. Sample 9074 was collected from the sandstones depicted in F, higher up in the Formation. The hammer used for scale
is 35 cm long. Localities are shown in Fig. 5.
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202 193

Fig. 7. Age distribution diagrams (Sircombe, 2004) for samples from the Niari basin. Analyses that are 90–110% concordant are shown with a dark grey colour, while the
light grey areas (in part hidden behind the field of concordant zircons) show all analyses, including the discordant ones. The histograms illustrate the age distribution of the
concordant zircons. For details and descriptions see the text. For sample 9162 the U–Pb concordia diagram is also shown (F).

shows distinct peaks at 500–800 Ma and 900–1100 Ma together
with a number of older grains with ages up to 3000 Ma.
4.3. Rocks and samples of the Mayombe fold belt
Broadly speaking, the Mayombe fold belt in Congo Brazzaville
consists of the Mayombe Supergroup and portions of its Palaeopro-
terozoic basement complex. The rocks are well exposed along the
new road between Pointe Noire and Dolisie (Figs. 8 and 9). A major
part of the section consists of metasedimentary rocks (quartzites,
sandstones and schists) but metavolcanic rocks are also present
(Vellutini et al., 1983; Boudzoumou and Trompette, 1988; Vicat and
Pouclet, 2000). Unfortunately, most of the rocks are deeply weath-
ered and a distinction between metasedimentary and metavolcanic
rocks is often impossible. All these rocks are strongly deformed and
constitute piles of thrust sheets verging to the NE, with older rocks
stacked upon younger formations. As described above, the May-
ombe Supergroup has been subdivided into the Bikossi, Loucoula,
Mvouti and Mossouva units, of which the Bicossi and (at least parts
of) the Loucoula units are of Palaeoproterozoic age.
In preparation of the present study the road section was briefly
reinvestigated, and no support was found for the traditional sub-
division of the section into the structural units described above.
Rather, the different units appear to represent tectono-sedimentary
variations within broadly contemporaneous turbiditic sedimentary
successions, with coarser-grained diamictites and turbidites in the
north-east (Lower Diamictite and Louila Formations) and finer-
grained turbidites (Mvouti and Mossouva units) in the south-west.
The impression was gained that the sediments were deposited
into half-grabens, fed from the north-east, during the extensional
phases of the Pan-African/Brasiliano Araçuai-West Congo orogenic
cycle.
Two samples of supracrustal rocks were collected from roadside
outcrops within the Loukoula and Bikossi units (Fig. 8). Sam-
ple 9180 (12◦ 15.06 E, 4◦ 22.88 S) is a fissile muscovite-bearing
quartzite with layers of micaschist in the Bikossi unit. Sample 9183
(12◦ 22.53 E, 4◦ 19.61 S) is from the Loukoula unit. It represents a
rock in the field believed perhaps to be of volcanic orogin. It occurs
as more massive layers within strongly weathered chlorite–sericite
schists.
Five samples were studied from the Mvouti and Mossouva
units and the overlying Louila Formation (Fig. 8). Sample 9174
(12◦ 29.67 E, 4◦ 13.99 S) is a quartzitic sandstone from the Mvouti
unit, collected from a roadside outcrop close to the contact with
the Mossouva unit. Samples 9169 (12◦ 32.95 E, 4◦ 12.69 S) and
9170 (12◦ 30.02 E, 4◦ 13.86 S) are from the Mossouva unit. Both
are quartzitic sandstones from roadside outcrops (Figs. 8 and 9A).
Samples 9165 (12◦ 36.32 E, 4◦ 11.21 S) and 9167 (12◦ 35.12 E,
4◦ 11.09 S) are from the Louila Formation. Sample 9165 is a fresh,
fine-grained quartzite from the Moukondo quarry, and sample
194 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Fig. 8. Geological sketch map of the Mayombe fold belt after Dadet (1969), with sample localities. The units shown with greytones are parts of the Mayombe Supergroup;
the Lower Diamictite and Louila Formations belong to the West Congo Supergroup. Most of the units consist of metasedimentary rocks, schists and quartzites (Boudzoumou
and Trompette, 1988), but crystalline rocks are present in the south-western part of the Bikossi structural unit. The dark grey belts in the Bikossi unit are mafic metavolcanic
rocks, now amphibolites.
9167 is a relatively coarse-grained quartzitic sandstone from a
roadside outcrop. In the following, the zircon data for the samples
are described from the Bikossi Unit, north-eastward to the Louila
Formation.
4.4. Results for samples from the Mayombe fold belt
4.4.1. Metasedimentary rocks of the Bikossi and Loukoula units
9180, Bikossi unit. Sample 9180 has the largest zircons of all the
investigated rocks, most commonly 120–190 ␮m, with a number of
grains up to 250 ␮m. A total of 152 spots were analyzed; all yielded
acceptable data, and 111 were 90–110% concordant. The age distri-
bution diagram (Fig. 10A) shows a major peak at 2000–2200 Ma,
representing almost half of the dates, and a wide peak of early
Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean ages from 2300 to 3000 Ma. These
data confirm the Palaeoproterozoic age for the Bikossi unit sug-
gested by Maurin et al. (1991) and Trompette (1994).
9183, Loukoula unit. Most of the zircons from sample 9183 are
60–110 ␮m in length. Unfortunately, with a few exceptions, they
are badly metamict and unsuitable for analysis. Nevertheless, 52
grains were analyzed, many on slightly less metamict grains, 38 of
these yielded (barely) acceptable results, but only six (on the few
well preserved grains) were 90–110% concordant (Fig. 10B). The
few better analyses suggest that both Archaean and Palaeoprotero-
zoic zircons are present, which would support a metasedimentary
rather than a metavolcanic origin. A concordia plot (Fig. 10C) shows
a wide scatter of discordant and 204 Pb corrected data, down to ca.
600 Ma, suggesting that the discordant (‘youngest’) zircons have
lost significant proportions of radiogenic Pb, mainly during the Pan-
African orogeny but probably also during subrecent alteration. The
present data, although of poor quality, suggest that this sample
belongs to a Palaeoproterozoic section of the Loukoula unit.
4.4.2. Metasedimentary rocks from the Mvouti and Mossouva
units and the Louila Formation
9174, Mvouti unit. Zircons from sample 9174 are most com-
monly 60–120 ␮m in length, but grains larger than 200 ␮m are
also present. Out of 152 analyzed grains 140 yielded acceptable
data, 85 of which were concordant. The age distribution diagram
(Fig. 10D) has a major peak at 900–1200 Ma, another significant
peak at 1900–2200 Ma, and a number of grains of Archaean ages,
up to 3.5 Ga.
9169, Mossouva unit. Most zircons from sample 9169 are small,
60–100 ␮m in length, suggesting that the original sediment was
rather fine-grained. In all, 134 grains were analyzed, yielding 128
acceptable ages of which 82 were concordant. The age distribution
(Fig. 10E) shows a major peak at 900–1100 Ma, comprising 59 (49%)
of the ages. A smaller peak is present for Palaeoproterozoic zircons,
while Archaean zircons scatter widely in age from 2600 to 3500 Ma.
9170, Mossouva unit. Zircons from sample 9170 are also rather
small, mainly 60–110 ␮m, but they range up to 170 ␮m. A total
of 152 grains were analyzed, 142 yielded acceptable results, of
which 83 were 90–110% concordant. The age distribution diagram
(Fig. 10F) has a major peak at 900–1100 Ma, representing 40% of
the data, together with a significant number of Archaean zircons
and some Palaeoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic grains.
9165, Louila Formation. Zircons from sample 9165 (Fig. 3) are
rather small, mostly 50–100 ␮m in length, suggesting that the pre-
cursor of the quartzite was a relatively fine grained sandstone.
Larger zircons, up to 160 ␮m, are also present. In all, 134 grains
were analyzed, 123 yielded acceptable data, of which 77 were
concordant. The age distribution (Fig. 10G) is similar to that of
9174, with main peaks at 900–1100 and 1900–2200 Ma, minor
peaks at 1700–1900 and 2200–2500 Ma, and a number of Archaean
ages from 2500 to 3200 Ma. In a concordia diagram (Fig. 10H) the
900–1100 Ma zircons plot along a discordia with upper and lower
intercepts at 1029 ± 34 and 333 ± 130 Ma (N = 33; MSWD = 1.5).
Most of the older zircons appear to have lost significant proportions
of radiogenic Pb. Since the quartzite in question is exception-
ally well preserved, sub-recent Pb-loss is probably at a minimum.
More likely, most of the disturbance of the U–Pb systems took
place during weathering and deposition of the precursor sediment
of the quartzite and during later metamorphism around 600 Ma
ago.
9167, Louila Formation. Zircons separated from sample 9167 are
rather large, generally 70–170 ␮m, but grains more than 250 ␮m
are also present. Out of 96 analyzed grains 94 yielded acceptable
data; 58 of these were concordant. The age distribution diagram
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202 195

Fig. 9. Rocks of the Mayombe fold belt. (A) Typical outcrop of quartzites and schists of the Mossouva structural unit along the main road from Dolisie to Pointe-Noire. Persons
at the road side for scale. Sample 9169 was collected here. (B) Schist of the Lower Diamictite Formation with large rock fragment. (C) Metasedimentary strata of the Mvouti
unit containing large boulders (olistolites) of meta-igneous rocks. (D) Fresh granodioritic rock, probably from a comparable bolder/olistolite, from which sample 9176 was
taken. (E and F) Granitoid rocks from the reworked Guéna basement. (E) Migmatitic biotite gneiss from the Guéna quarry (Sample 9177). (F) Biotite granite from the Bilinga
quarry (Sample 9179). Hammer is 35 cm long.

(Fig. 10I), is similar to that of 9170 (Fig. 10F). The zircon ages
display a major peak at 900–1100 Ma, representing almost half of
the data while Archaean zircons, 2700–3100 Ma, form a less promi-
nent peak, and the remaining zircons scatter in age from 1200 to
2500 Ma.
4.5. Rocks and samples of the Guéna basement
Three samples were studied from the Palaeoproterozoic rocks
of the reworked Guéna basement. Sample 9177 was collected at
the Guéna quarry (12◦ 14.75 E, 4◦ 30.74 S). At this locality biotite-
rich, locally migmatitic gneisses (Fig. 9E) occur side by side with
more homogeneous granitoid rocks. The sample was taken from
a relatively homogeneous facies of the rock. Sample 9179 is from
the Bilinga quarry (12◦ 14.23 E, 4◦ 29.32 S). The quarry consists of
massive to foliated biotite granite (Fig. 9F) with local enclaves of
biotite gneiss. Sample 9176 represents a large block of fresh gra-
nodioritic rock at the roadside within the Loukoula unit (Fig. 8).
The rock contains enclaves of black schists as well as granitic veins
and local clots of feldspar (Fig. 9D). The location of this block, far
outside the outcrop area of the Guéna basement, is probably related
to tectonic and sedimentary processes. At several localties fine-
grained metasedimentary rocks are found enclosing metre-sized
blocks of meta-igneous rocks (Fig. 9C), and it is likely that sample
9176 represents one of such blocks or olistolites.
4.5.1. Results for the granitic samples from the Guéna basement
Zircon grains separated from sample 9177 are relatively large,
mostly 100–200 ␮m in length; they have elongation ratios of 2–4,
and nearly all have rounded terminations.
Zircon in sample 9179 occurs as small rounded grains, mostly
60–100 ␮m long, a few >150 ␮m, and with elongation ratios of
1.5–3.0. Euhedral and subhedral grains are rare. Most zircons from
sample 9176 (Fig. 3) are subhedral, but there is a variation from
euhedral to well rounded grains. They are mostly 80–150 ␮m in
length, but some grains are up to 200 ␮m long. Most of the zircons
in these samples were suitable for dating, and only a few analyses
had to be rejected.
196 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202

Fig. 10. Age distribution diagrams (Sircombe, 2004) for samples from the Mayombe fold belt. Analyses that are 90–110% concordant are shown with a dark grey colour, while
the light grey areas (in part hidden behind the field of concordant zircons) show all analyses, including the discordant ones. The histograms illustrate the age distribution of
the concordant zircons. See text for discussion. For samples 9165 and 9183 U–Pb concordia diagrams are also shown.

Zircon U–Pb data for these samples are illustrated in the con-
cordia diagrams of Fig. 11. In each case the data scatter about a
discordia line with lower intercept between 0 and 600 Ma. Most
probably this is due to a combination of loss of radiogenic Pb dur-
ing Pan-African orogenic events and more recent disturbance of
the U–Pb isotope systems. Upper intercept ages were calculated
in two manners: (1) using the line of best fit through all the data
points (excluding obvious outliers, such as Archaean grains), and
(2) by anchoring the discordia at 600 ± 0 Ma. The latter calcula-
tion yields slightly higher ages, which we interpret to represent
the crystallization of the original granitoid rock. Samples 9177 and
9179 yield the same ages within the error margins, 2049 ± 29 Ma
and 2060 ± 18 Ma, while sample 9176 appears to be somewhat
older, 2101 ± 18 Ma. The relatively large errors of these age deter-
minations is, at least partly, due to the scatter of concordant ages
in all three samples. For sample 9176, for example, concordant
ages range from 1952 ± 77 Ma (concordance 100%) to 2129 ± 68 Ma
(concordance 98%). This might be due to a complex history of these
rocks during Palaeoproterozoic events. All three samples contain
a few older zircons, not included in the age calculations (six in
9176, four in 9177, and five in 9179). These older grains were prob-
ably inherited from inclusions such as those observed in the Bilinga
quarry, where sample 9179 was collected, and in the granodiorite
represented by sample 9176 (Fig. 9D).
These new data confirm the Eburnean ages (2014 ± 56 Ma;
2000 ± 80 Ma and 1920 ± 10 Ma) obtained for these rocks by Djama
(1988), Djama et al. (1992) and Maurin et al. (1991), respectively.
Similar Eburnean ages are known from the West Congo fold belt in
DR Congo (Delhal and Ledent, 1976, 1978; Cahen et al., 1978) and
Angola (Cahen et al., 1979).
4.6. Sm–Nd isotope data
Sm–Nd isotope data were obtained on 14 samples of shales,
siltstones and fine-grained schists from the Niari basin and the
Mayombe fold belt. In Table 1 the data are arranged in stratigraphi-
cal order, from older to younger in upward direction. The data show
surprisingly little scatter in terms of TDM model ages, from 2.18 Ga
for sample 9173 from the Louila unit to 1.68 Ga for sample 9156
from the Bouenzian Formation. There is no relationship between
the TDM values and the stratigraphical position of the samples. Sim-
ilar results have been reported for samples from the Sansikwa,
Lower Diamictite, Mpioka and Inkisi units in DR Congo, which
yield TDM values around 1.9 Ga. irrespective of stratigraphical posi-
tion (Frimmel et al., 2006). This is interpreted by these authors as
evidence for a major Palaeoprotrozoic crust-forming event in the
region. The zircon data (Figs. 7 and 10) described above do not
support this view: the sediments were derived from a variety of
sources of different ages, not from a predominantly Palaeoprotero-
zoic crustal domain. It would appear more likely that the Sm–Nd
isotope relationships are due to mixing of sediments from different
sources. In fact, the mean age of the zircons in most of the samples
fall in the range of 1.73–2.40 Ga, in good agreement with the Sm–Nd
data.
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202 197

Table 1
Sm–Nd isotope data for shales and siltstones from the Niari basin and the Mayombe fold belt in Congo Brazzaville.
147
Sample no. Location Stratigraphy Sm (ppm) Nd (ppm) Sm/144 Nd 143
Nd/144 Nd TDM (Ga) TChur (Ga) eps (0)
◦  ◦ 
9160 3 43.76 S, 12 28.03 E Mp. Fm. 22.74 110.76 0.1242 0.512004 ± 5 1.96 1.33 −12.37

9161 4◦ 18.79 S, 13◦ 53.10 E Sch-Calc. 5.00 25.52 0.1186 0.511833 ± 5 2.12 1.57 −15.69
9159 3◦ 26.39 S, 12◦ 37.63 E Group 6.26 31.54 0.1201 0.511920 ± 6 2.01 1.43 −14.00
9151 3◦ 26.18 S, 12◦ 38.58 E ,, 3.88 18.35 0.1279 0.511977 ± 6 2.09 1.46 −12.90
9152 3◦ 25.82 S, 12◦ 39.36 E ,, 3.04 15.17 0.1213 0.511929 ± 6 2.02 1.43 −13.84

9164 4◦ 09.43 S, 12◦ 40.05 E U.diamictite 5.31 27.89 0.1152 0.512007 ± 6 1.77 1.18 −12.31

9154 3◦ 21.55 S, 12◦ 38.63 E Bouenzian 5.02 24.06 0.1263 0.512012 ± 3 1.99 1.35 −12.21
9155 3◦ 17.81 S, 12◦ 40.22 E Formation 21.87 104.94 0.1261 0.512043 ± 9 1.93 1.28 −11.60
9155B 3◦ 17.81 S, 12◦ 40.22 E ,, 21.81 104.87 0.1259 0.512057 ± 5 1.90 1.25 −11.33
9156 3◦ 17.25 S, 12◦ 40.77 E ,, 4.92 30.82 0.0966 0.511866 ± 7 1.68 1.17 −15.05
9157 3◦ 06.35 S, 12◦ 39.62 E ,, 14.75 76.28 0.1170 0.511920 ± 5 1.95 1.37 −14.00
9157B 3◦ 06.35 S, 12◦ 39.62 E ,, 14.79 75.88 0.1180 0.511880 ± 5 2.03 1.46 −14.78
9158 3◦ 05.09 S, 12◦ 41.14 E ,, 6.32 35.83 0.1067 0.511703 ± 6 2.07 1.58 −18.25
9173 4◦ 11.11 S, 12◦ 36.34 E Louila unit 3.52 17.42 0.1223 0.511847 ± 6 2.18 1.62 −15.42

9171 4◦ 13.86 S, 12◦ 30.02 E Mossouva 4.84 25.13 0.1167 0.511829 ± 5 2.08 1.54 −15.77
9175 4◦ 13.99 S, 12◦ 29.67 E unit 13.73 73.65 0.1128 0.511815 ± 6 2.02 1.49 −16.06

Samples are arranged in stratigraphical order, upward from older to younger. Note that most samples are strongly altered. Mp. Fm: Mpioka Formation. Sch-Calc. Group,
Schisto–Calcaire Group; U. diamictite, Upper diamictite; TDM is the age calculated by the depleted mantle model of DePaolo (1981). For a description of the analytical methods
see Kalsbeek and Frei (2006).

Table 2
Overview of detrital zircon ages for (meta-)sedimentary rocks from Congo Brazzaville.

Sample no. N dated 0.5–0.8 Ga 0.9–1.2 Ga 1.8–2.3 Ga 2.5–3.1 Ga Outside Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
grains (Group 1) (Group 2) (Group 3) (Group 4) groups 0.9–1.2 Ga (%) 1.8–2.3 Ga (%) 2.5–3.1 Ga (%)

9065 103 0 35 7 51 10 38 8 55
9079 134 0 40 80 8 6 31 63 5
9153 84 2? (2%) 12 10 53 7 16 13 71
8744 137 9 (7%) 13 15 87 13 11 13 76
9162 106 0 1 7 93 5 1 7 92
9074 129 51 (40%) 40 13 12 13 62 20 18
9086 20 5 (25%) 5 0 2 8 71 0 29
9116 144 48 (33%) 50 13 14 19 65 17 18

9165 123 0 33 45 22 23 33 45 22
9167 94 0 43 16 24 11 52 19 29
9169 128 0 59 28 20 21 55 26 19
9170 142 0 57 10 41 34 53 9 38
9174 140 0 43 43 28 26 38 38 25

9183 38 0 3? 14 9 12 12? 54 35
9180 152 0 0 70 63 19 0 53 47

HFWC 44 20 0 15 1 2 2 83 6 11
HFWC 58 21 4 (19%) 6 4 4 3 43 29 29
HFWC 196 20 11 (55%) 4 3 2 0 44 33 22

N is the number of dated zircons. Samples 9065–9116 are from the Niari basin; 9165–9180 are from the Mayombe fold belt. Samples HFWC 44–196 are from the West Congo
Supergroup in DR Congo. HFWC 44 is from the upper Sansikwa Subgroup (Fig. 2), HFWC 58 from the Haut Shiloango Subgroup, and HFWC 196 from the lower Inkisi Subgroup.
The latter data were acquired by SHRIMP (Frimmel et al., 2006). For bold numbers (samples 9153 and 9183) see the text.

5. Discussion
5.1. Statistics
During the present study zircon age spectra have been obtained
for 15 samples of sandstones and quartzites from the Niari basin
and the Mayombe fold belt in Congo Brazzaville. A total of 1674
zircons were dated. Samples 9180 and 9183 from the Bikossi
and Loukoula units lack concordant zircons younger than ca.
2000 Ma, and are probably of Palaeoproterozoic age. The follow-
ing statistical description refers to the remaining 13 samples,
which appear to be of Neoproterozoic origin. For these, accept-
able dates were obtained on 1484 zircon grains (Table 2). Ages
vary from ca. 500 Ma to ca. 3500 Ma. Four main age groups stand
out: Group 1, 500–800 Ma, representing 8% of the total zircon
population, Group 2, 900–1200 Ma: 29%, Group 3, 1800–2300 Ma:
19%, and Group 4, 2500–3100 Ma: 31%. Zircons with ages not
included into these four groups form 13% of the total population.
Young zircons, 500–800 Ma (Group 1), occur in abundance in only
three samples (9074, 9086, and 9116). If these young zircons are
excluded from the statistics above, the percentages become Group
2, 900–1200 Ma: 28%, Group 3, 1800–2300 Ma: 22%, and Group 4,
2500–3100 Ma: 36%.
Table 2 shows the distributions of zircons of these three age
groups in the individual samples. It illustrates the wide variation
in the age patterns. Interestingly, samples 9074, 9086 and 9116
with large proportions of late Neoproterozoic zircons, also have
high proportions of zircons in the 900–1200 Ma age group 2.
5.2. Source regions
In order to assess the source regions of the various groups of
zircons, the large-scale setting of the area under investigation,
1000–600 Ma ago, has to be considered. To the north-east is the
vast area of the Congo craton which mainly consists of Archaean
and Palaeoproterozoic rocks, largely covered by phanerozoic to
recent deposits. In the easternmost parts of the Congo craton
Mesoproterozoic and Neoproterozoic belts are present, and late
Neoproterozoic to Cambrian intrusions also occur (for an overview
see De Waele et al., 2008). To the south-west is the Araçuai
198 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Fig. 11. Concordia diagrams for three granitoid samples from the Guéna basement.
For clarity the individual analyses are shown as crosses instead of overlapping
ellipses. The ellipses illustrate typical 2 errors of the data, which are dependent
on the 207 Pb/235 U and 206 Pb/238 U ratios of the zircons. Analyses marked × were not
used in the age calculations.
orogen with its early and late Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks
(Paula-Santos et al., 2015; Kuchenbecker et al., 2015) and late Neo-
proterozoic and Palaeozoic granitic rocks (Pedrosa-Soares et al.,
2011). Although zircons may have been derived from very remote
sources (e.g. Rainbird et al., 1997), it is plausible that most of the
zircons that form a major proportion of the population in some of
the samples (e.g., the 2 Ga zircons in sample 9079) were derived
from relatively near-by sources.
Group 1: Significant proportions of zircons of Group 1,
500–800 Ma, are only present in samples from the Mpioka and
Inkisi Formations. Almost certainly most of these zircons were
derived from late Neoproterozoic granitic rocks in the Brazilian part
of the Araçuai-West Congo orogen (Pedrosa-Soares et al., 2011),
during or after Pan-African thrusting and uplift in that region. It
follows that sediment transport must have been from the south-
west (in present-day co-ordinates). The few older zircons in this
group (>700 Ma) may, for example, have been derived from the
South Bahia alkaline province (Rosa et al., 2007) or the Rio Negro
Magmatic arc (Tupinambá et al., 2012) in Brazil.
For the sediments of the Inkisi Formation a source within
the Congo craton has been proposed by Boudzoumou (1986) and
Alvarez et al. (1995) on the basis of cross-bedding orientations and
palaeogeographic constraints. Since the abundance of 500–800 Ma
zircons in sample 9116 indicates an origin in the Brasiliano Araçuai
orogen, it is suggested that sedimentary rocks similar to those of the
Mpioka and Inkisi Formations may once have covered parts of the
Congo craton, and from there were redeposited into their present
position.
Group 2: Zircons of Group 2, 900–1200 Ma, form very sig-
nificant proportions of nearly all of the samples, particularly in
samples 9165–9174 from the Mayombe fold belt, suggesting a rel-
atively near-by source. Two such sources are available: (1) the
900–1000 Ma metavolcanic rocks of the Zadinian and Mayumbian
Groups and the granitic intrusive rocks therein that are presently
exposed in DR Congo (Fig. 2), and (2) the ca. 1000 Ma alkaline gran-
ites (Noqui-type granites) that cut the basement complex in the
Mayombe fold belt both in DR Congo and Congo Brazzaville (Djama
et al., 1992; Vicat and Pouclet, 2000; Tack et al., 2001). Granites
and metasedimentary rocks with 900–1200 Ma old zircons are also
present in the Araçuai belt of eastern Brazil (Pedrosa-Soares et al.,
2008; Kuchenbecker et al., 2015) and, despite longer distances,
may have contributed to the zircon populations in the investigated
samples.
As shown in Table 2, the highest proportions of 900–1200 Ma
zircons are found in the three samples from the Mpioka and Inkisi
Formations where zircons of Groups 1 and 2 are present in subequal
numbers. It was argued above that sediment transport for these for-
mations was from the south-west. The association of 500–800 and
900–1200 zircons could therefore indicate that the latter zircons
were also derived from that direction, suggesting the presence of
coeval lateral equivalents of Zadinian and Mayumbian (sensu DR
Congo) sources west of the Mayombe Supergroup (Congo Brazza-
ville) at the time of deposition.
The suggestion that the Mayombe Supergroup represents a
half-graben filled from north-eastern sources (Section 4.3) would
require that metavolcanic and sedimentary rocks, similar to those
of the Zadinian and Mayumbian Groups of DR Congo once cov-
ered parts of the Congo craton, and from there were redeposited
into the basin that is now represented by parts of the Mayombe
and West Congo Supergroups in Congo Brazzaville. However, no
independent evidence exists to support the former presence of
Zadinian and Mayumbian type deposits on the craton, and the lack
of 900–1100 Ma zircons in sample 9162 from the Schisto–Calcaire
Group argues against this proposal. In the following derivation of
most of Group 2 zircons from the south-west is assumed.
Group 3: Zircons of Group 3 (1800–2300 Ma) are present in
highly variable proportions in all the investigated samples. Palaeo-
proterozoic rocks that could have provided zircons of Group 3
are present both in the thrust sheets of the Mayombe fold belt
(the reworked Guéna basement) as well as in the Congo and São
Francisco cratons (De Waele et al., 2008; Alkmim et al., 2001). It is
therefore not possible in general to judge from where these zircons
were derived. However, for sample 9079 of the Bouenzian Forma-
tion, the prominent peak at 2100 Ma (Fig. 7) suggests a near-by
source in the Congo craton, while a similar peak for sample 9180
of the Bikossi unit (Fig. 10F) would suggest a source in the Guéna
basement.
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Fig. 12. Overview of the stratigraphic units in the Mayombe and West-Congo Supergroups in Congo Brazzaville and DR Congo (cf. Fig. 2). Neoproterozoic units that contain
late Neoproterozoic zircons (500–800 Ma) are shown with light grey shading, while units that only have zircons from 900–1100 Ma and older are shown in a darker grey
colour. The Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups of Congo Brazzaville are here shown in the way suggested in the text.
Group 4: Archaean zircons (Group 4, 2500–3100 Ma) occur in
all samples. They form major peaks in several samples of the Niari
basin (Fig. 7), but are less prominent in the samples from the May-
ombe fold belt. Probable sources for these zircons are the granitoid
rocks of the Congo and Sao Francisco cratons. For the samples of
the Bouenzian and Schisto–Calcaire Groups, that have large propor-
tions of Archaean zircons, the nearby Congo craton would appear a
plausible source. The Archaean zircons in the samples of the Mpioka
and Inkisi Formations, for which a western source has been advo-
cated above, could have been derived from the San Francisco craton.
The same might also be the case for most Archaean zircons in sam-
ples from the Mayombe fold belt.
5.3. Ages of deposition
In many Pan-African orogenic areas early and late Neopro-
terozoic sedimentary rocks occur side by side, and detrital zircon
geochronology has been used to make a distinction where that is
not possible by other means (Kalsbeek et al., 2013). It was argued
in that paper that sedimentary rocks in which Neoproterozoic zir-
cons are absent in most cases are of early Neoproterozoic origin.
Obviously, great care has to be exercised in using detrital zircon
data in this way. The ages of detrital zircons only define the earliest
possible time the sediment was deposited – a sediment in which
the youngest zircons are 900 Ma old can have been deposited at
any time later than 900 Ma. This is exemplified by sample 9162
from the Schiso–Calcaire Group (Fig. 7E). Although deposition of
the sandstone in question took place after the Marinoan glaciation
(ca. 635 Ma), the youngest zircon is ca. 1250 Ma, and 88% of the
zircons are of Archaean age (Fig. 7E). Absence of zircons of a spe-
cific age (e.g., 600 Ma) in a sample can be due to two causes: (1)
the sediment may be older than 600 Ma, when 600 Ma zircons did
not yet exist, or (2) 600 Ma zircons did exist, but they did not reach
the sample area, for example because of intervening seaways or
unfavourable transport directions. This is apparently the case for
the sandstone represented by sample 9162 referred to above.
In the case of the present study, the U–Pb baddelyite age of
694 ± 4 Ma for a dolerite associated with basalts intercalated with
the Lower Diamictite Formation (Straathof, 2011) indicates that the
overlying units, up to the (Marinoan) Upper Diamictite Formation,
must have been deposited in the time interval of ca. 700–635 Ma.
In the following the zircon data are used to differentiate sedimen-
tary strata deposited during the earlier extensional phases of the
199
Araçuai-West Congo orogenic cycle (Pedrosa-Soares and Alkmim,
2011) and those deposited during or after the collisional phase of
this cycle.
5.3.1. Bouenzian Formation
Sample 9065: Zircons from sample 9065 of the Bouenzian For-
mation fall into two distinct age groups, a majority of Archaean
zircons, together with a few Palaeoproterozoic grains, and a
younger group forming a peak around 1000 Ma (Fig. 7A). Group 1
(500–800 Ma) zircons have not been found. If such zircons formed
2% of the total population, with 103 grains dated, there would have
been an 88% probability that at least one of them would have been
found (Section 3.2), and it is therefore likely that they are truly
absent in this sample.
As argued in Section 5.2, most Group 2 zircons have probably
been derived from the south-west. Because Group 2 zircons are
present, the lack of Group 1 zircons cannot be due to unfavourable
transport directions, and deposition of the sediment represented
by sample 9065 would have taken place before Group 1 zircons
were formed at around 600 Ma (see above). It therefore appears
that deposition of the sandstone represented by sample 9065 took
place during the rift and drift stages of the Araçuai-West Congo
orogenic cycle.
Sample 9079: The large number of Palaeoproterozoic zircons
(Fig. 7B) in this sample suggests that in this case sediment trans-
port was mainly from the east or north-east, and the limited scatter
in age of Group 3 zircons may indicate a relatively nearby source.
Group 2 zircons, probably derived from south-western sources,
form a significant proportion (30%) of the population. Group 1 zir-
cons have not been found in sample 9079 although 134 ages were
acquired. If present in a proportion of 2%, there would have been a
93% probability that at least one would have been encountered, and
it is suggested that such zircons are truly absent. As argued above
for sample 9065, this indicates deposition during the extensional
phases of the orogenic cycle.
Sample 9153: Most zircons from sample 9153 are of Archaean
age (Fig. 7C), indicating derivation mainly from north-eastern
sources. A minor component of zircons from Group 2 from the west
is also present. The presence of two zircons with ages of 665 ± 105
and 663 ± 83 Ma, if reliable (see Section 4.2.1), would demonstrate
that deposition of the sediment took place during the late Neopro-
terozoic. This would have the important implication that both early
and late Neoproterozoic sedimentary rocks are present within the
200 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Bouenzian Formation, suggesting the presence of an important hia-
tus within the Group. However, there is no evidence in the field to
support the existence of such a hiatus, and it appears more likely
that the large common Pb correction for these zircons has led to
incorrect age estimates (Section 4.2.1). As for the samples 9065
and 9079 deposition during the extensional phases of the orogenic
cycle is indicated.
5.3.2. Upper Diamictite Formation and Schisto–Calcaire group
Sample 8744: This sample, collected from the Upper Diamictite
Formation, is dominated by Archaean zircons (Fig. 7D). Together
with a minority of Palaeoproterozoic zircon grains, this indicates
that most of the original sediment was derived from the north-east,
i.e. from the Congo craton. Also present are a minor proportion of
early Neoproterozoic zircons and eight late Neoproterozoic grains
with ages ranging from 649 ± 40 Ma to 769 ± 67 Ma. None of these
needed common Pb correction, and five are 90–110% concordant.
The presence of late Neoproterozoic zircons is in agreement with
the assumed age of deposition of the Upper Diamictite Formation at
around 635 Ma. In fact, the presence of these zircons provides inde-
pendent evidence that the Upper Diamictite Formation is indeed of
Marinoan age.
Sample 9162: The zircon age distribution of sample 9162,
entirely lacking zircons of Groups 1 and 2 (Fig. 7E), indicates that
sediment transport was nearly exclusively from the north-east. As
a consequence, this sample does not give evidence on the time of
depositiom other than that is younger than ca. 1250 Ma, the age of
the youngest zircon encountered.
5.3.3. Mpioka and Inkisi Formations
Samples 9074 and 9086, Mpioka Formation: The high propor-
tions of zircons of Groups 1 and 2, together with small amounts
of zircons from Archaean and Proterozoic sources (Figs. 7G and H)
indicate sediment transport from the south-west. The presence of
young (500–800 Ma) zircons, together with the observation that
the rocks are affected by Pan-African deformation, indicates a late
Neoproterozoic age of deposition.
Sample 9116, Inkisi Formation: The high proportion of Group
1 (500–800 Ma) zircons demonstrates that this formation was
deposited later than ca. 600 Ma. Field observations suggest that
deposition of the formation was related to phases of Palaeozoic
faulting, and thus much later than, and unrelated to Pan-African
orogenic processes (Alvarez et al., 1995).
5.3.4. Mayombe fold belt: Mvouti and Mossouva structural units,
Louila Formation
Samples 9165, 9167, 9169, 9170 and 9174: All these five sam-
ples have large proportions of Group 2 (900–1200 Ma) zircons but
lack Group 1 (500–800 Ma) zircons. This suggests deposition during
the extensional phases of the Araçuai-West Congo orogenic cycle.
The youngest zircons in these samples are about 900 Ma, approxi-
mately the same age as the metavolcanic rocks in the upper part of
the Mayumbian Group of DR Congo (912 ± 7 Ma; Tack et al., 2001).
Thus, the Mvouti and Mossouva units of the Mayombe fold belt
in Congo Brazzaville must be younger than the Mayumbian Group
in DR Congo (cf. Fig. 2). This is consistent with the view that sig-
nificant parts of the Mayombe Supergroup of Congo Brazzaville
were formed by erosion of rocks from the Zadinian and Mayumbian
Group in DR Congo (Section 5.2).
5.4. Stratigraphical considerations
With the help of the zircon data described in earlier sections it
is possible to subdivide the lithostratigraphical units of the May-
ombe and West Congo Supergroups in Congo Brazzaville into three
assemblages: (1) Those that lack concordant zircons younger than
ca. 2000 Ma (samples 9180 and 9183 from the Bikossi and Loukoula
units in the fold belt); (2) Those that contain significant proportions
of 900–1100 Ma zircons, but lack late Neoproterozoic zircon grains
with ages of 500–800 Ma, and (3) Those that do contain zircons
of these late Neoproterozoic ages (Fig. 12). Sedimentary rocks of
the first assemblage were probably deposited during the Palaeo-
proterozoic (but, as described above, parts of the Loukoula Group
may be younger), those of the second assemblage during the ear-
lier Neoproterozoic rift and drift stages of the Araçuai-West Congo
orogenic cycle (but later than 694 ± 4 Ma; Straathof, 2011), while
the strata composing the third assemblage were deposited during
the later stages of collision and uplift.
Interestingly, the Haut Shiloango Subgroup of DR Congo appears
to belong (at least in part) to the third assemblage, because it con-
tains late Neoproterozoic zircons (Frimmel et al., 2006). Correlation
with the Bouenzian Formation, as suggested by Cahen (1978) and
Cahen et al. (1984) is therefore questionable. The unconformity
between the Bouenzien and Upper Diamictite Formations could
account for the apparent lack of equivalents of the Haut Shiloango
Subgroup in Congo Brazzaville.
The results described above lead to the following suggestions:
(1) The Palaeoproterozoic Bikossi unit and parts of the Louk-
oula unit should not be included into the Mayombe Supergroup,
and (2) The Louila and Lower Diamictite Formations of the May-
ombe fold belt as well as the Bouenzian Formation of the basin
should be included into the Mayombe Supergroup, since both are
related to the earlier stages of the development of the Araçuai-
West Congo orogenic cycle. The West Congo Supergroup would
then only consist of units that contain late Neoproterozoic zircons
(Fig. 12).
Correlations with the stratigraphy in DR Congo remain uncer-
tain. Dating of detrital zircons has shown that the Sansikwa
Subgroup (underlying the Lower Diamictite Formation) only con-
tains zircons down to ca. 900 Ma in age, while the Haut Shiloango
Subgroup in addition contains late Neoproterozoic (500–800 Ma)
zircon grains (Frimmel et al., 2006; Straathof, 2011). Following the
discussion above, only the Haut Shiloango Subgroup should then be
attributed to the West Congo Supergroup (sensu Congo Brazzaville)
while the Sansikwa and Lower Diamictite Formations should not.
The Sansikwa Subgroup may be broadly equivalent to (parts of)
the Mayombe Supergroup in Congo Brazzaville as suggested ear-
lier (Cahen, 1978; Trompette, 1994). The Zadinian and Mayumbian
Groups probably underlie the Mayombe Supergroup of Congo Braz-
zaville (Section 5.3.4).
6. Summary and conclusions
The African part of the Araçuai-West Congo orogen in Congo
Brazzaville can be divided into three tectonostratigraphic units (1)
To the north-east the Niari basin which mainly consists of rocks of
the West Congo Supergroup, (2) To the south-west the Mayombe
fold belt, within which metasedimentary rocks of the Mayombe
Supergroup are prominent, and (3) Farther to the south-west the
reworked granitoid rocks of the Guéna basement (Figs. 1, 2, 4, 7).
During the present study 207 Pb/206 Pb ages were acquired by ICP-
MS for detrital zircons from eight samples of sedimentary rocks
from the Niari basin, seven samples of metasedimentary rocks from
the Mayombe fold belt, and three samples of granitoid rocks of
the reworked Guéna basement. In total 2059 zircons were dated.
Results are shown in Figs. 6, 9 and 10. The main conclusions of this
study are:
(1) Apart from two samples of apparent Palaeoproterozoic age,
and one that may be Palaeozoic, all investigated (meta-
)sedimentary samples are of Neoproterozoic age.
 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
(2) For the latter a distinction can be made between two
groups of samples, (1) those that contain late Neoproterozoic
(500–800 Ma) zircons and (2) samples that only have zircons
with ages of ca. 900–1200 Ma and older.
(3) The distinction between (meta)sedimentary rocks with and
without late Neoproterozoic zircons is interpreted to indicate
that the rocks that do not contain these younger zircons were
deposited during the earlier Neoproterozoic rift and drift stages
of the Araçuai-West Congo orogenic cycle, while the sedimen-
tary rocks that do contain these zircons were deposited during
or after the collisional phase of the orogeny. Most of the young
zircons are interpreted to have been derived from granitic rocks
in the Brasiliano Araçuai orogen in Brazil.
(4) Sedimentary rocks, in particular those of the Mayombe Super-
group, that have large proportions of zircons in the age range
of 900–1200 Ma, are suggested to have been mainly derived by
erosion of early Neoproterozoic rocks equivalent to those of the
Zadinian and Mayumbian Groups in DR Congo. They are thus
younger than the Mayumbian Group of DR Congo.
(5) An overview of the stratigraphic units that do and do not con-
tain late Neoproterozoic zircons (Fig. 12) leads to the suggestion
that some units, presently referred to the West Congo Super-
group (Lower Diamictite, Louila and Bouenzian Formations)
perhaps should be included into a redefined Mayombe Super-
group, while other units, that hitherto have been included in
this Supergroup (Bikossi unit and parts of the Loukoula unit),
should be excluded (Fig. 12).
Acknowledgements
This project received financial support from INSU (GLANEC 1 and
2 Projects to Didier Vandamme, SYSTER/ST/INSU/CNRS). Logistic
support from BRGM (particularly Yannick Callec) and partnership
with University Marien Ngouabi of Brazzaville (particularly with
Jean-Maurille Ouamba, Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Technics
of Brazzaville, Republic of Congo) are gratefully acknowledged. We
are indepted to Karen Hanghøj, head of the Department of Petrology
and Mineral Resources (GEUS, Copenhagen) for her permission to
use the analytical facilities at GEUS and for funding F.K.’s field work
in Congo Brazzaville. We thank Mojagan Alaei and Olga Nielsen
for their hard work in the laboratory and Tonny Bernt Thomsen
and Høgni Vesturklett for the data reductions with Iolite. Tonny is
also thanked for many helpful discussions. Laurence Vidal, Didier
Vandamme and Olivia Mickala are thanked for their collaboration
and encouragement. Careful reviews from Allen Nutman, Franck
Delpomdor and Randall Parrish have led to significant improve-
ments of the paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.precamres.2015.
10.020.
References
Alkmim, F.F., Marshak, S., Fonseca, M.A., 2001. Assembling West Gondwana in the
Neoproterozoic: clues from the São Fransisco craton region, Brazil. Geology 29,
319–322.
Alkmim, F.F., Marshak, S., Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., Peres, G.G., Cruz, S.C.P., Whittington,
A., 2006. Kinematic evolution of the Araçuaí-West Congo orogen in Brazil and
Africa: nutcracker tectonics during the Neoproterozoic assembly of Gondwana.
Precambrian Res. 149, 43–64.
Alvarez, Ph., 1995. Evidence for a Neoproterozoic carbonate ramp on the northern
edge of the Central African craton: relations with Late Proterozoic intracratonic
troughs. Geol. Rundsch. 84, 636–648.
Alvarez, P., Maurin, J.-C., Vicat, J.-P., 1995. La formation de l‘Inkisi (Supergroupe
Ouest-congolien) en Afrique centrale (Congo et Bas-Zaïre): un delta d’âge Paléo-
zoïque comblant un bassin en extension. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 20, 119–131.
201
Boudzoumou, F., 1986. La chaîne panafricaine ouest-congolienne et son avant-pays
au Congo (Afrique): Relations avec le Mayombe; Sédimentologie des séquences
d’âge protérozoïque supérieur. Thèse 3eme Cycle, Université d’Aix-Marseille III,
France, pp. 220.
Boudzoumou, F., Trompette, R., 1988. La chaîne panafricaine ouest-congolienne au
Congo (Afrique Equatoriale): un socle polycyclique charrié sur un domaine sub-
autochtone formé par l‘aulacogène du Mayombe et le bassin de l’Ouest-Congo.
Bull. Soc. Géol. France IV 6, 889–896.
Cahen, L., 1954. Géologie du Congo belge. Vaillant-Carmanne, Liège, pp. 577.
Cahen, L., 1978. La stratigraphie et la tectonique du Supergroupe Ouest-Congolien
(Pan-African) au Bas-Zaïre et dans les regions voisines. Annales du Musée Royal
de l‘Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, in 8◦ . Sci. Géol. 83, 150.
Cahen, L., Snelling, N.J., Delhal, J., Vail, J.R., 1984. Geochronology and evolution of
Africa. Clarendon, Oxford, pp. 512.
Cahen, L., Ledent, D., Tack, L., 1978. Données sur la géochronologie du Mayumbien
(Bas-Zaïre). Bull. Soc. Belge Géol. 87, 101–112.
Cahen, L., Kröner, A., Ledent, D., 1979. The age of the Vista Alegre pluton and its
bearing on the reinterpretation of the Precambrian geology of northern Angola.
Ann. Soc. Géol. Belg. 102, 265–275.
Dadet, P., 1969. Notice explicative de la carte géologique de la république du Congo-
Brazzaville au 1/500 000. Mémoires du Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et
Minières, Orléans, France, pp. 103, n◦ 70.
Delhal, J., Ledent, D., 1976. Age et évolution comparée des gneiss migmatitiques pré-
zadiniens des régions de Boma et de Mpozo-Tombagadio (Bas-Zaïre). Ann. Soc.
Géol. Belg. 99, 165–187.
Delhal, J., Ledent, D., 1978. Données géochronologiques dans la région de Matadi
(Zaïre) relatives à la syénite de la Mpozo et aux métarhyolites. Rapport annuel,
Musée Royal de l‘Afrique Central. Département de Géologie et de Mineralogie
(1977), Tervuren (Belg.), pp. 99–110.
Delpomdor, F., Préat, A., 2015. Overview of the Neoproterozoic sedimentary series
exposed along margins of the Congo craton. In: de Wit, M.J., et al. (Eds.), Geology
and resource potential of the Congo basin, Regional Geology reviews. Springer-
Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 41–58.
De Waele, B., Johnson, S.P., Pisarevski, S.A., 2008. Palaeoproterozoic to Neoprotero-
zoic growth and evolution of the eastern Congo Craton: its role in the Rodinia
puzzle. Precambrian Res. 160, 127–141.
DePaolo, D.J., 1981. Neodymium isotopes in the Colorado Front Range and crust-
mantle evolution in the Proterozoic. Nature 291, 193–196.
Djama, L.M., 1988. Le massif granitique de Mfoubou et le socle métamor-
phique de Guéna, (Chaîne du Mayombe–Congo). Thesis, University of Nancy
I, Pétrologie–Géochimie–Géochronologie, pp. 175.
Djama, L.M., Leterrier, J., Michard, A., 1992. Pb, Sr and Nd isotope study of
the basement of the Mayumbian belt (Guena gneisses and Mfoubou granite,
Congo): implications for crustal evolution in Central Africa. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 14,
227–237.
Dodson, M.H., Compston, W., Williams, I.S., Wilson, J.F., 1988. A search for ancient
detrital zircons in Zimbabwean sediments. J. Geol. Soc. (London) 145, 977–983.
Frei, D., Hollis, J.A., Gerdes, A., Harlov, D., Karlsson, D., Vasques, P., Franz, C., Johans-
son, L., Knudsen, C., 2006. Advanced in-situ trace element and geochronological
microanalysis of geomaterials by laser ablation techniques. Geol. Surv. Den.
Greenl. Surv. Bull. 10, 25–28.
Frei, D., Gerdes, A., 2009. Accurate and precise U–Pb zircon dating with high sample
throughput by automated LA-SF-ICP-Ms. Chem. Geol. 261, 261–270.
Frimmel, H.E., Tack, L., Basei, M.S., Nutman, A.P., Boven, A., 2006. Provenance and
chemostratigraphy of the Neoproterozoic West Congolian Group in the Demo-
cratic Republic of Congo. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 46, 221–239.
Gerdes, A., Zeh, A., 2006. Combined U–Pb and Hf isotope LA-(MC)-ICP-MS analyses
of detrital zircons: comparison with SHRIMP and new constrains for the proven-
ance and age of an Armorican metasediment in Central Germany. Earth Planet.
Sci. Lett. 249, 47–61.
Hellstrom, J.C., Paton, C., Woodhead, J.D., Hergt, J.M., 2008. Iolite: Software for spa-
tially resolved LA-(quad and MC) ICP-MS analysis. In: Sylvester, P. (Ed.), Laser
Ablation ICP-MS in the Earth Sciences: current practices and outstanding issues.
Mineralogical Association of Canada, pp. 343–348.
Hossié, G., 1980. Contribution à l’étude structurale de la chaîne ouest-congolienne
(pan-africaine) dans le Mayombe congolais. Thesis, University of Montpellier,
pp. 124.
Hossié, G., Caby, R., 1979. Unicité des déformations et du métamorphism d’age pan-
africain dans la chaîne ouest-congolienne. In: Résumés, 10◦ Colloque de Géologie
Africaine, Montpellier, 25–27 avril, pp. 50–51.
Jackson, S.E., Pearson, N.J., Griffin, W.L., Belousova, E.A., 2004. The application of laser
ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry to in situ U–Pb zircon
geochronology. Chem. Geol. 211, 47–69.
Kalsbeek, F., Frei, R., 2006. The Mesoproterozoic Midsommersø dolerites and asso-
ciated high-silica intrusions, North Greenland: crustal melting, contamination
and hydrothermal alteration. Contrib. Mineral. Petrol. 152, 89–110.
Kalsbeek, F., Frei, D., Affaton, P., 2008. Constraints on provenance, stratigraphic cor-
relation and structural context of the Volta basin, Ghana, from detrital zircon
geochronology: an Amazonian connection? Sediment. Geol. 212, 86–95.
Kalsbeek, F., Ekwueme, B.N., Penaye, J., De Souza, S., Thrane, K., 2013. Recognition of
Early and Late Neoproterozoic supracrustal units in West Africa and North-East
Brazil from detrital zircon geochronology. Precambrian Res. 226, 105–115.
Kuchenbecker, M., Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., Babinski, M., Fanning, M., 2015. Detrital
zircon age patterns and provenance assessment for pre-glacial to post-glacial
successions of the Neoproterozoic Macaúbas Group, Araçuaí orogen, Brazil. Pre-
cambrian Res. 266, 12–26.
202 P. Affaton et al. / Precambrian Research 272 (2016) 185–202
Lepersonne, J., 1951. Données nouvelles sur la stratigraphie des terrains anciens du
Bas-Congo. Bull. Soc. Belge Géol. Paléontol. d’hydrol. 60, 169–189.
Lepersonne, J., 1971. Les formations katangiennes (Lindien) de la region Niangara-
Gwane-Zenuo (Congo septentrional). Rapport Annuel du Musée royal de
l’Afrique centrale. Département de Géologie et Minneralogie (1970), Tervuren,
Belgique, pp. 67–71.
Lepersonne, J., 1972. Structure pissée du Bushimay dans le degré carré Mani (57/25)
(Zaïre) et les regions voisines. Rapport Annuel du Musée royal de l’Afrique cen-
trale. Département de Géologie et Minneralogie (1971), Tervuren, Belgique., pp.
20–29.
Ludvig, K.R., 2003. Isoplot/Ex 3.00, A Geochronological Toolkit for Microsoft Excel.
Geochronological Center, Special Publication 4, Berkeley.
Maurin, J.-C., Boudzoumou, F., Djama, L.-M., Gioan, P., Michard, A., Mpemba-Boni, J.,
Peucat, J.-J., Pin, C., Vicat, J.-P., 1991. La chaîne protérozoïque ouest-congolienne
et son avant-pays au Congo: nouvelles données géochronologiques et struc-
turales, implications en Afrique centrale. C. R. l’Acad. Sci. 312 (Ser. II), 1327–1334.
Mickala, O.-R., Vidal, L., Boudzoumou, F., Affaton, P., Vandamme, D., Borschneck, D.,
Mounguengui, M.M., Fournier, F., Ngangab, D.M.M., Miche, H., 2014. Geochemi-
cal characterization of the Marinoan “Cap Carbonate” of the Niari-Nyanga Basin
(Central Africa). Precambrian Res. 255, 367–380.
Mickala, O.-R., Fournier, F., Affaton, P., Vidal, L., Mounguengui, M.M., Boudzoumou,
F., Nganga, D.M.M., Vandamme, D., Miche, H., Borschneck, D., 2015. Microfacies,
paleoenvironments and development pattern of Neoproterozoic cap carbonates
in the Niari-Nyanga basin (Congo and Gabon Republics, Central Africa). J. Afr.
Earth Sci. 109, 27–36.
Paton, C., Hellstrom, J., Paul, B., Woodhead, J., Hergt, J., 2011. Iolite: Feeware for
the visualisation and processing of mass spectrometric data. J. Anal. Atomic
Spectrom. 26, 2508–2518.
Paula-Santos, G.M., Babibski, M., Kuchenbecker, M., Caetano-Filho, S., Trindade, R.I.,
Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., 2015. New evidence of an Ediacaran age for the Banbuí
Group in southern São Francisco craton (eastern Brazil) from zircon U–Pb data
and isotope chemostratigraphy. Gondwana Res. 28, 702–720.
Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., Alkmim, F.F., 2011. How many rifting events preceded the
development of the Araçuaí-West Congo orogen? Geonomos 19, 244–251.
Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., Noce, C.M., Wiedemann, C.M., Pinto, C.P., 2001. The Araçuaí-
West-Congo Orogen in Brazil: an overview of a confined orogen formed during
Gondwanaland assembly. Precambian Res. 110, 307–323.
Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., Alkmim, F.F., Tack, L., Noce, C.M., Babinski, M., Silva, L.C.,
Martins-Neto, M.A., 2008. Similarities and differences between the Brazilian
and African counterparts of the Neoproterozoic Araçuai-West Congo orogen. In:
Pankhurst, R.J., Trouw, R.J., Brito Neves, B.B., De Wit, M.J. (Eds.), West Gondwana:
Pre-Cenozoic Correlations Across the South Atlantic Region, 294. Geological
Society, London, Special Puiblications, pp. 153–172.
Pedrosa-Soares, A.C., De Campos, C.P., Noce, C., Silva, L.C., Novo, T., Roncato, J.,
Medeiros, S., Castañeda, C., Queiroga, G., Dantas, E., Dussin, I., Alkmim, F.,
2011. Late Neoproterozoic–Cambrian granitic magmatism in the Araçuaí orogen
(Brazil), the Eastern Brazilian Pegmatite Province and related mineral resources.
In: In: Sial, A.N., Bettencourt, J.S., De Campos, C.P., Ferreira, V.P. (Eds.), Granite-
Related Ore deposits, 350. Geological Society, London, Special Publication,
pp. 25–51.
Petrus, J.A., Kamber, B.S., 2012. Vizual age: a novel approach to laser abla-
tion ICP-MS U-Pb geochronology dara reduction. Geostand. Geoanal. Res. 36,
247–270.
Rainbird, R.H., McNicoll, V.J., Thériault, R.J., Heaman, L.M., Abbot, J.G., Long, D.G.F.,
Thorkelson, D.J., 1997. Pan-continental river system draining Grenville Orogen
recorded by U–Pb and Sm–Nd geochrology of Neoproterozoic quartzarenites
and mudrocks, northwestern Canada. J. Geol. 105, 1–17.
Rosa, M.L.S., Conceição, H., Macambira, M.J., Galarza, M.A., Cunha, M.P., Menezes,
R.C.L., Marinho, M.M., Cruz-Filho, B.E., Rios, D.C., 2007. Neoproterozoic
anorogenic magmatism in the Southern Bahia Alkaline Province of NE
Brazil: U–Pb and Pb–Pb ages of the blue sodalite syenites. Lithos 97,
88–97.
Sircombe, K.N., 2004. AgeDisplay: an EXCEL workbook to evaluate and display invari-
ate geochronological data using binned frequency histograms and probability
density distributions. Comput. Geosci. 30, 21–31.
Sláma, J., Košler, J., Condon, D.J., Crowley, J.L., Gerdes, A., Hanchar, J.M., Horstwood,
M.S.A., Morris, G.A., Lutz, N., Norberg, N., Schaltegger, U., Schoene, B., Tubrett,
M.N., Whitehouse, M.J., 2008. Plešovice zircon—a new natural reference material
for U–Pb and Hf isotopic microanalysis. Chem. Geol. 249, 1–35.
Stacey, J.C., Kramers, J.D., 1975. Approximation of terrestrial lead isotope evolution
by a two-stage model. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 26, 207–221.
Straathof, G.B., 2011. Neoproterozoic low latitude glaciations: an African perspec-
tive. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Edinburgh, pp. 285.
Tack, L., Wingate, M.T.D., Liégois, J.-P., Fernandez-Alonso, M., Deblond, A., 2001. Early
Neoproterozoic magmatism (1000–910 Ma) of the Zadinian and Mayumbian
Groups (Bas-Congo): onset of Rodinia rifting at the western edge of the Congo
craton. Precambrian Res. 110, 277–306.
Tait, J., Delpomdor, F., Préat, A., Tack, L., Straathof, G., Nkula, V.K., 2013. Neoprotero-
zoic sequences of the West Congo and Lindi/Ubangi Supergroups in the Congo
Craton, Central Africa. In: Arnoud, E., Halverson, G.P., Shields-Zhou, G. (Eds.),
The Geological Record of Neoproterrozoic Glaciations., 36. Geological Society,
London, Memoir, pp. 185–194.
Thiéblemont, D., Castaing, C., Billa, M., Bouton, A., Préat, A., 2009. Notice explicative
de la carte géologique et des ressources minerals de la République gabonaise
à 1/1000000. Programme Sysmin 8 ACP GA 017, Ministère des Mines, du
Pétrole, des Hydrocarbures. Direction Générale des Mines et de la Géologie,
pp. 384.
Trompette, R., 1994. Geology of western Gondwana (2000-500 Ma), Pan-
African–Brasiliano aggregation of South America and Africa. Balkema,
Rotterdam, pp. 350.
Tupinambá, M., Heilbron, M., Valeriano, C.M., Porto Jr., R., Dios, F.B., Machado, N.,
Almeida, J.C.H., 2012. Juvenile contribution to the Rio Negro Magmatic Arc
(Ribeira Belt, Brazil): implications for Western Gondwana almagamation. Gond-
wana Res. 21, 422–438.
Vellutini, P., Rocci, V., Vicat, J.P., Gioan, P., 1983. Mise en évidence de complexes ophi-
olitiques dans la chaïne du Mayombe (Gabon–Angola) et novelle interpretation
géotectonique. Precambrian Res. 22, 1–21.
Vicat, J.-P., Pouclet, A., 2000. Palaeo- and Neoproterozoic granitoids and rhyolites
from the West Congolian belt (Gabon, Congo, Cabinda, north Angola): chemical
composition and geotectonic implications. J. Afr. Earth Sci. 31, 597–617.