Cenozoic Landscape Evolution in and Around the Congo Basin: Constraints from Sediments and Planation Surfaces - Geology and Resource Potential of the Congo Basin - page 263

10°0'0"E 15°0'0"E 20°0'0"E 25°0'0"E 30°0'0"E

10°0'0"N 10°0'0"N

CAMEROON
HIGHLANDS

5°0'0"N 5°0'0"N

South Cameroon
North Gabon
Plateaus

CENTRAL

0°0'0" 0°0'0"

«CUVETTE»

EAST
AFRICAN
DOME

Batéké
Plateaus

5°0'0"S 5°0'0"S

KWANGO-LUNDE-KASAI
PLATEAU

Kwango
Pediments

Katanga
Plateaus and Plains

10°0'0"S 10°0'0"S

Bangweulu
Swamps

ANGOLA
PLATEAU

10°0'0"E 15°0'0"E 20°0'0"E 25°0'0"E 30°0'0"E

Fig. 14.1 Main geomorphological domains of the CB and surrounding highs

Central Basin from a flat domain close to sea level and
substantial uplift of the regions surrounding the CB.
Our aim is to provide and integrate geomorphological and
stratigraphical analyses of the CB and its flanking highlands
to determine the timing of the Cenozoic evolution of the
landscapes and associated vertical movements that have led
to the present-day geomorphology of this central African
region. Our analysis includes the topography of Cameroon
and CAR, in the north, of northern Angola in the south, and
of the Atlantic Ocean in the west.

This work is presented in two parts, (1) a stratigraphical
and sedimentological analysis of the Central CB based on
both outcrops and wells data and (2) a geomorphologic
analyses focussed on the planation surfaces, the most char-
acteristic landforms of the CB and surrounding regions, as
already documented by the first geologists working on these
landscapes (Veatch 1935 ; Jessen 1936 ; Cahen and
Lepersonne 1948 ; Cahen 1954 ). Morphological analysis of
the present-day river network is not included, for which the
interested reader is referred to Flugel et al. (Chap. 15 , this
Topic).