Aeromagnetic Data Modeling for Geological and Structural Mappings over the DJADOM-ETA Area, in the Southeastern Cameroon

Abstract

The DJADOM-ETA area is in south-eastern of Cameroon, within the Congo Craton (CC) formations and composed of gneiss and amphibolite, migmatites and intrusive rocks. Few geophysical studies have been carried out over surrounding areas, but no investigation on the study area. The existence of aeromagnetic data covering the study area has motivated the application of a multiscale approach for tectonic features identification. The aim of this work is to interpret Aeromagnetic Data for Geological and Structural Mappings in the southeastern Cameroon. The GIS and GEOSOFT v8.4 softwares are used to treat data of Compagnie Minière du Cameroun getting in February 2012. The Tilt Angle method is used to delineate geological structures and to estimate the depth. The Euler’s Deconvolution method is used to estimate the specific depth of structural contacts. The presence of bifurcations, accompanied by virgations, leading to the occurrence of several faults. Principal lineaments are determined with the main direction being ESE-WNW and E-W for the minor lineaments. The study highlights two major faults: ESE-WNW and ENE-WSW, where the former dominates, what could be called the geological accident of ETA. The Euler’s Correlation and Tilt derivative contact map shows that most of the faults are vertical contacts. The geometrical description of this structure suggests an open synclinal transposed on vertical foliations: the major fault at the DJADOM axis is quasi-parallel to the Northern limit of the CC and parallel to the Sanaga Fault (SF) and the Central Cameroon Shear Zone (CCSZ). The features show a base strongly affected by tectonic which characterizes the transition between the zone from the CC and the belt from folds of the Pan-African. Also, the presence of the network characterizes the subsurface undulation in this study area: the intrusion of sandstone ochre quartz and schist of the Bek complex, the dolerite of the doleritic complex, and the silver micaschiste and ore quartzite in the base complex. On the TMI anomalies map, several places show high susceptibility contrasts, which is an indication of strong magnetization. Geological indicators point to inferred magnetite, dolerite and ochre schist quartzite which have a strong magnetization in this zone. The presence of weakly magnetized anomalies would be due to the migmatites of the base complex series. This study improved the knowledge of the subsurface structure of this area. It highlighted two major and minor faults. TMI anomalies map, in several places shows high susceptibility contrasts, which is an indication of strong magnetization.