THE LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY OF JURASSIC AND LOWER CRETACEOUS ROCKS IN THE IN RUVUMA BASIN, MOZAMBIQUE

The scientific discussion regarding the breakup of the paleo-continent Gondwana is still ongoing. From Permo – Jurassic age, the breakup timing has been postulated as a remarkable moment that affected the displacement of Gondwana sectors and the formation of a new oceanic crust in the Mozambique basin. The Ruvuma basin, located on the border between Tanzania and Mozambique, lies in a north-northwest to south-southeast trending orogenic belt with a 400 km southern extension. The stratigraphic development of the Ruvuma Basin is related to the progressive breakup of southwest Gondwana. In the past, several authors have successfully used outcrop data, reconstruction maps, seismic interpretation, and geochemical analysis to characterize the stratigraphic provenance of the Ruvuma Basin. The names of the local places in northern Mozambique and southern Tanzania have been used in the stratigraphic nomenclature as formal names of the revised lithostratigraphic units. The present research has been done using a limited available data in the onshore Ruvuma Basin. The conceptual interpretation of Lukuledi-1 well has been performed. This work proposes a well correlation based on well logs from one well in the Ruvuma Basin with no more than three horizons and two respective markers mapped in a tentative equivalence of lithology according to previous lithostratigraphic formations in the onshore part of the Ruvuma Basin in northern Mozambique. The results also indicate that faults played a major control on sedimentation causing lateral changes. Moreover, as a part of this research, Ruvuma Basin nomenclature has been summarized.