This research constitutes an important scientific contribution to the improvement of geological knowledge in the Nkara and its surroundings in the Kwilu Province, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The results obtained led to the identification of seven different lithofacies in the study area, namely: conglomerate, argillite, quartz sandstone, feldspathic sandstone, argillaceous sandstone, micaceous sandstone, and fine-grained soft sandstone; which, in view of the established classification criteria for detrital rocks, are respectively called polygenic pudding, argillites, quartz arenite, feldspathic arenite, greywackes, micaceous arenite and soft fine-grained arenite. The petrographic and geochemical compositions as well as paleo-environmental conditions of deposition are presented for the very first time in this work. From a chemical point of view, slight differences in SiO2, Al2O3 and Fe2O3 content are noted between the rock samples analyzed, due to the nature of their constituent minerals and/or matrix or cement. Just as there is also a close relationship between the chemical compositions of rocks and those of local lake and river's sediments. However, the contents of certain trace elements in the local lake and river's sediments could be linked to possible discrete mineralizations requiring future in-depth geological investigations. The size, degree of rounding of quartz grains in the rocks studied suggest their long transport under strong hydrodynamic conditions. While, the presence of iron oxides suggests their deposit in an oxidizing paleo-environment.
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Kanika et al. (2024) studied this question.
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