Mineral Exploration of the Former Province of Kasaï-Occidental through the Analysis of Land and Satellite Gravity Data

Abstract

This paper is based on the application of terrestrial and satellite gravimetry in mining and petroleum research in the former province of Kasai- Occidental in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This former province was split into two new provinces: Kasaï and Kasaï-Central. From a geological point of view, this area is dominated by Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks in its northern part and by Precambrian rocks very rich in minerals in its southern part. Due to the insufficiency of terrestrial gravity data from pre-existing campaigns, we had access to satellite data from the International Gravimetric Bureau platform in order to have better resolution in the mapping of the subsurface of this region. The data processing methodology consisted of background noise attenuation as well as regional-residual separation. The gravity sets detected on the Bouguer anomaly map were grouped into high and low intensity zones. The structural map on which we have traced the faults and fold axes shows a preferential orientation of these structures in the NW-SE direction. The superposition of mineral occurrences and geological structures highlighted allowed us to split this zone into two parts: The southern part whose gravity highs concentrate the majority of diamond and iron occurrences and the gravity depressions which concentrate the indices of Lead, Nickel, Manganese; as well as the northern part located in the center of the Central Cuvette which contains a great thickness of sediments constituting, therefore, a favorable place for the maturation of the source rocks.