Stratigraphy and geodynamics of the Mombasa Basin (Kenya) in relation to the genesis of the proto-Indian Ocean

Abstract

New data obtained from the study of the Kenyan and Tanzanian coastal basins establish a rifting period at the end of the Karoo sedimentation (Upper Triassic/Lower Jurassic), in the northeastern margin of Gondwanaland. The rifting period was followed by an erosive phase and then transgression of a Tethyan sea during the Middle Jurassic. This leads to a modification of the stratigraphic succession of the region and gives new datas about the nature of separation and drifting of Gondwanaland, the genesis of the proto-Indian ocean and the paleoposition of Madagascar.

Integrated heavy mineral study of Jurassic to Paleogene sandstones in the Mandawa Basin, Tanzania: Sediment provenance and source-to-sink relations

“…This created an epeiric sea between the conjugate East African -Western Madagascan margins (EA-MAD, Figure 5b). By the Bajocian, fully marine conditions were established in SE Kenya (Rais-Assa, 1988) and E Tanzania , and in the Middle Jurassic in NE Mozambique as well (Salaman and Abdula, 1995). The Bajocian -Bathonian is recognised as a period of deposition of marine carbonates in East Africa and Madagascar (Coffin and Rabinowitz, 1988;Mbede and Dualeh, 1997).…”

The raised coral reef complex of the Kenyan coast: Tridacna gigas U-series dates and geological implications

“…The setting of this sedimentary cycle is particularly clear in the stretch of coast just north of Mombasa. In the broad area occupied by the Bambury cement factory and quarries, the contact between the reef limestones with T. gigas and the sequence of dark grey, stratified marls of certain pre-Miocene age (Raiss-Assa, 1988;Nyagah, 1995) can be observed (Fig. 5).…”

Geomorphological evolution of the southern coastal zone of Kenya

“…The Palaeozoic-Mesozoic outcrops, stratigraphy and plate tectonic processes of coastal Kenya have been described by Cannon et al (1981) and Rais-Assa (1988). Rifting occurred along the northeastern part of Gondwanaland at the inception of the proto Indian Ocean during Upper Carboniferous period.…”