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  • Modelización magnética del Complejo de Cunene (SW Angola) [Resumo]
    Publication . Mochales, Tania; Merino-Martínez, E.; Rey-Moral, Carmen; Machadinho, Ana; Carvalho, João; Represas, Patricia; García-Lobón, J. L.; Feria, María Carmen; Martín-Banda, Raquel; López-Bahut, T.; Alves, Daniela; Ramalho, Elsa; Manuel, José; Cordeiro, Domingos
    RESUMEN: El Complejo de Cunene (CC) representa un extenso macizo ígneo mesoproterozoico compuesto por rocas anortosíticas, gabroicas y ácidas contemporáneas, que aflora 18.000 km2 en dirección NNE-SSW desde el SW de Angola al NW de Namibia. Se han interpretado y modelizado en 2,5/3D los datos aerogeofísicos obtenidos en el proyecto PLANAGEO para investigar los límites no expuestos del CC, reconstruyendo la estructura de la corteza superficial bajo la cobertera del Kalahari. Gracias a la modelización se descifra una geometría lobular cuya extensión es casi tres veces la superficie aflorante y superior a la estimada mediante gravimetría (45.000 km2; Rey-Moral et al., 2022). Las anomalías magnéticas identificadas definen cuerpos individuales que conforman diversos pulsos magmáticos coalescentes durante el Mesoproterozoico. Las lineaciones magnéticas indican grandes sistemas de cizallamiento desarrollados en varias fases intrusivas en un contexto colisional de arco. Los lineamientos magnéticos al E sugieren un emplazamiento asociado a etapas transtensivas. Al W, con los pulsos más jóvenes, se detectan lineamientos en un régimen contraccional complejo. Estructuras tardías NNW-SSE extensionales, involucran magmas mantélicos y cuencas mesoproterozoicas tardías (<1,33 Ga).
  • Depth estimation of pre-Kalahari basement in Southern Angola using seismic noise measurements and drill-hole data
    Publication . Carvalho, João; Alves, Daniela; Borges, José Fernando; Caldeira, Bento; Cordeiro, Domingos; Machadinho, Ana; Oliveira, Álvaro; Ramalho, Elsa; Rodrigues, José Feliciano; Llorente, J.; Ditutala, M.; Lobón, Jose Luis Garcia; Máximo, J.; Carvalho, Cristina Isabel Paulo; Labaredas, José; Ibarra, P.; Manuel, José
    ABSTRACT: The remote Southern region of Angola is covered by siliciclastic Kalahari Cenozoic formations that host underground aquifers of great importance to local populations affected by water scarcity problems. These aquifers are well developed where Kalahari sands reach appropriate thicknesses. On the other hand, at the eastern end of this area, regional aeromagnetic data recently acquired suggested the possibility of the continuity of the geological structures of the Lufilian Arc, sited in the nearby Zambia and Congo, southwestwards into Angola under the Kalahari formations. Once the Lufilian Arc is associated with the presence of the so-called Central African Copperbelt, this possibility increased the interest in determining the depth to Pan-African rocks under the Kalahari basin. To estimate the thickness of Kalahari formations in this area of difficult access and poor logistics, an expedited and non-invasive geophysical method was needed. Seismic noise and the single-station Nakamura technique were chosen, but due to the large distance of the study area from the ocean, one of the major sources of seismic noise, a test survey was acquired in the Cuvelai region to assess the signal quality, where the data was calibrated using available drill-holes. >170 points of seismic ambient noise were later acquired and the horizontal/vertical (HVSR) amplitude versus frequency curves were 1D inverted for the best velocity/density model for each station. The results were compared with 1D inverted legacy vertical electrical soundings reprocessed and validated in this work, showing similar depth-to-basement, while interpreted velocities/densities of geological formations were sampled and confirmed with measurements. A depth-to-basement map was produced using seismic information, mechanical soundings, and geological information. Despite the relatively reduced geographical area covered, the map presents valuable information for hydrogeology and mineral exploration purposes and agrees with a previously available coarser map of Kalahari thickness and with observations from geological surveys simultaneously conducted at the time of the seismic surveys.
  • Recording the largest gabbro-anorthositic complex worldwide: The Kunene Complex (KC), SW Angola
    Publication . Rey-Moral, Carmen; Mochales, Tania; Martinez, Enrique Merino; Lobón, Jose Luis Garcia; Bahut, María Teresa López; Martín-Banda, Raquel; Feria, María Carmen; Ballesteros, Dianne; Machadinho, Ana; Alves, Daniela
    ABSTRACT: The Kunene Complex (KC) represents a large Mesoproterozoic igneous body, mainly composed of anorthosites and gabbroic rocks that extends from SW Angola to NW Namibia (18000 km2, N-S trend, and ca. 350 km long and 25???50 km wide). Although the KC has been studied from a cartographic and geochemical point of view, little is known about its structure at depth below the sedimentary deposits of the Kalahari basin. Hence, we use available satellite gravity data to estimate its extent and to unravel its morphology at depth. The Bouguer anomaly map depicts a gravity gradient from the coast (+200 mGal) towards eastern Angola (-150 mGal), which is explained by the transition from a young, dense and thin basaltic oceanic crust, formed during the Mesozoic Atlantic rifting, to an old, light and thick Archaean to Proterozoic continental crust (Congo Craton), to the east. The outcropping KC interrupts the gravity trend, showing at the western, southwestern and northeastern sides, several positive and isolated gravity anomalies linked to gabbroic intrusions associated to KC (ca. 50 km wavelength and -90 mGal). In contrast, the anomalies found at the central part of the massif (50 km wavelength and < -110 mGal) correspond to the dominant anorthositic members, according to the spatial correlation of the mapping. Five 2.5D gravity profiles have been modelled to investigate the unexposed eastern boundary, reconstructing the surface crustal structure (between 0 and 15 km depth) overlaid by the thin sedimentary cover of the Kalahari basin. The gravity modelling helps us to show that the KC was emplaced in the Upper Crust and extends in depth up to ca. 6 km, showing a lobular geometry and following a large NE-SW to NNE-SSW linear trend, presumably inherited from older Palaeoproterozoic structures. The lateral continuation of the KC to the east (between 50 and 125 km) beneath the Kalahari sediments suggests an overall size of at least twice the outcropping dimension (about 42500 km2). This statement clearly influences in the economic potential of this massif, related to the prospecting of raw materials and certain types of economic mineralization (Fe-Ti oxides, metallic sulphides or platinum group minerals).