The Vembo Shales (Republic of the Congo): new insights on the transition from lacustrine to marine settings in the South Atlantic
Abstract
The Vembo Shales, originally defined in Gabon, are also recorded in Congo where they are recognized as the “terme argilo-carbonaté”[1]. This member of the Chéla Formation (Aptian), deposited just below the evaporites of the Loémé Formation, was recently identified in outcrops located 70 km to the NE of Pointe-Noire (Fig. 1) along the National Road 1 (RN1). These outcrops were not stratigraphically well-constrained due to the lack of fauna and were previously attributed [2] to undifferentiated Cretaceous (Fig.1) based on facies characteristics that are similar to succession exposed in outcrops in Gabon.