Copper/Cobalt strata-bound systems; A Basin Analysis approach to the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Central African Katangan basin of Zambia an

What are the geodynamic, tectonic and stratigraphic processes of Central African Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins responsible for continental (Gondwana) crustal growth? And how did they influence the mobilisation, transportation, concentration and precipitation of copper and cobalt in the Central African Copper/Cobalt province?
The geodynamic and tectono-stratigraphic development of Western Gondwana, in both Africa and Brazil, involves the development and accretion of a series of terranes recorded in the stratigraphy and structure of Neoproterozoic basins. Key to understanding this process of Supercontinent growth is the subsidence and deformational history of these basins as indicators of the precollisional history and later accretionary processes that constructed Gondwana. These same basins record the Neoproterozoic glaciogenic periods and, in the case of the Katangan basin of Central Africa, became the depository of the world's largest strata-bound copper/cobalt deposits.

This project will take a first principle and integrated approach to the analysis of the Neoproterozoic Katangan basin, with the intent of defining the processes of basin formation and subsequent deformation resulting in the growth of Gondwana. The genesis of major copper deposits is an integral part of this process, adding significant constraints on the thermal, fluid and geochemical evolution of the basin. Building on the well-known lithostratigraphic framework, a regional sequence stratigraphic model will be built, paleogeography mapped and structural restorations used to build an evolutionary model of the basin. Individual subsidence profiles will be created and back-stripped to establish a subsidence history. This will be back-stripped with the help of thermochronological data to understand the subsidence driving mechanism and quantify heat flow through time. Integrating this with the magmatic and metamorphic history of the basin will place constraints on the timing and mechanism of fluid flow. From this dynamic base a model of Neoproterozoic basin evolution and deformation and large scale copper mineralisation will be developed. Such a dynamic basin analysis will be new to the Katangan basin and the issue of Neoproterozoic basin formation and deformation in Central Africa generally. It will be challenging due to poor chronological control, but will undoubtedly provide new perspectives to the process of Neoproterozoic crustal growth, basin formation, tectonics and metallogenesis. The underpinning geoscience work will be largely core based stratigraphic analysis and mine and field section construction and restoration. In addition to these basic geological sources, funding will be required for zircon U/Pb provenance studies, zircon, apatite and fluid inclusion thermochronometry and palaeontology will be required to support the dynamic basin subsidence analysis.