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Provenance, weathering, and tectonic setting of the Yoyo, Kribi, and Campo beach sediments in the southern Gulf of Guinea, SW Cameroon

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Abstract

The coastal and landward sectors of the southern Gulf of Guinea are dominated by igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks of Precambrian and Paleozoic ages. However, the lithology and extent of the basement rocks hidden under thick lateritic covers are not well documented. To establish more precisely the provenance, paleoweathering, and tectonic setting, the mineralogy and chemical composition of beach sediments were examined. Beach sediments are fine to medium-grained and compositionally matured, revealed by the high SiO2/Al2O3 ratio and Zircon–Tourmaline–Rutile (ZTR) index values. Th/Sc vs. Zr/Sc bivariate and Al2O3–TiO2–Zr triangular diagrams suggested that the sediments were recycled. Ternary diagrams (A–CN–K and (A–K)–C–N) and chemical indices such as the chemical index of alteration (CIA), the plagioclase index of alteration (PIA), and the chemical index of weathering (CIW) indicated that the beach sediments were undergone moderate weathering. Numerous provenance discrimination plots based on TiO2, Al2O3, Zr, Th, Co, La, Sc, V, and Ni, and chondrite normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns suggested a felsic provenance for the beach sediments. Quartzose sedimentary provenance is also inferred through major element concentrations, reflecting the influence of abundant metasediments from the Nyong Paleoproterozoic, Pan-African Neoproterozoic, and Douala–Kribi–Campo basins. Paleotectonic analyses indicated rift and passive margin settings, which may be linked to the pre-Eburnean rifting (older than ca. 2500 Ma), the opening of Nyong intracontinental basins, and the development of a passive margin setting on the Congo craton’s northern border.

Research highlights

  • Yoyo, Kribi, and Campo beach sediments are quartz rich.

  • The beach sediments investigated underwent a moderate degree of weathering.

  • The sediments were derived from the Precambrian metamorphic and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks.

  • Geochemical data indicated the combination of rift and passive margin settings.

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Acknowledgements

This article is a part of the first author’s doctoral research. The current work was supported by the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Dschang, through an internal project. We thank the ALS Geochemical Laboratory, Vancouver, Canada, for the XRF and ICP-MS analyses and the University of Liege (Belgium) for XRD. We also express our thanks to the reviewers for their comments and inspiring suggestions on the earlier version of the manuscript. JSAA participated in this work during the sabbatical period at Bharathidasan University, which was approved by DGAPA (PASPA), UNAM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Dschang, P.O. Box 67, Dschang, Cameroon

    Francis Temgo Sopie, Théophile Njanko, Aristide Nadine Sonfack & Yannick Steve Ngagoum Kontchipe

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Yaoundé 1, P.O. Box 812, Yaoundé, Cameroon

    Gabriel Ngueutchoua, Daoud Fossa & Lesly Tawani Tembu

  3. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnología, Unidad de Procesos Oceánicos y Costeros, Circuito Exterior s/n, 04510, México DF, Mexico

    John S Armstrong-Altrin

  4. Department of Marine Sciences, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, 620 024, Tamil Nadu, India

    John S Armstrong-Altrin

Authors
  1. Francis Temgo Sopie
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  2. Gabriel Ngueutchoua
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  3. John S Armstrong-Altrin
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  4. Théophile Njanko
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  5. Aristide Nadine Sonfack
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  6. Yannick Steve Ngagoum Kontchipe
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  7. Daoud Fossa
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  8. Lesly Tawani Tembu
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Contributions

Francis Temgo Sopie and Gabriel Ngueutchoua contributed to the study conception. Field and laboratory works were performed by Francis Temgo Sopie, Daoud Fossa, and Lesly Tawani Tembu. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Francis Temgo Sopie. Théophile Njanko, Aristide Nadine Sonfack, and Yannick Steve Kontchipe Ngagoum were in charge of the geological mapping of this paper. John S Armstrong-Altrin contributed to the interpretation and discussion of geochemical data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriel Ngueutchoua.

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Communicated by George Mathew

Supplementary materials pertaining to this article are available on the Journal of Earth System Science website (http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Earth_System_Science).

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Temgo Sopie, F., Ngueutchoua, G., Armstrong-Altrin, J.S. et al. Provenance, weathering, and tectonic setting of the Yoyo, Kribi, and Campo beach sediments in the southern Gulf of Guinea, SW Cameroon. J Earth Syst Sci 132, 92 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-023-02101-5

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