Why is there oil in Angola What is the geology of the Area How and Essay

Why is there oil in Angola What is the geology of the Area How and when did the land form The common point with other african countries with oil - Essay Example In the coastal basin series that are found on Angola’s western margin, there lies cretaceous to Pleistocene marine sediments. Angola’s most mineral potential apart from the gas reserve, and its oil, has a relationship to the Precambrian shield, and these has been found to outcrop over a larger parts throughout the country. After oil and gas, Angola’s next most important resource is diamond (Arthur, et.al, 2003). The Precambrian basement also has a relationship by which the diamonds are distributed. The kimbelite pipes that are of crustaceous age have been instrumental in bringing the diamonds close to the surface. The kimberlite pipes are arranged along a structural trend of about 1200 km in length and in the north easterly direction, they have been witnessed to intersect the Precambrian shield. There have also been found to the existence of carbonates that have been instrumental in offering the exploration of minerals that are associated with carbonates such as the rare earths and the fluorites. Along certain parts of Angolan pre Cambrian shield, there has been found the occurrence of fold belts that are three in number. This fold belts have been found to be associated with ores such as polymetallic copper of the copper belt type (Fullagar, West & National Science Teachers Association 2011). Angola’s important gas and oil reserves are mainly hosted by the presence of marine coastal basins. These basins are mainly of lower Quaternary to Cretaceous age. In addition, these coastal basins are also associated with other mineral deposits such as copper, bitumen, and various chemical and industrial deposits such as potash, phosphate, sulphur, gypsum and limestone. In the south eastern parts of Angola the area is extensively covered by deposits of Kalahari sand. These deposits have been found to mainly contain lignite