%0 Journal Article
%9 ACL : Articles dans des revues avec comité de lecture répertoriées par l'AERES
%A Niang, C. A. B.
%A Baratoux, David
%A Rochette, P.
%A Quesnel, Y.
%A Reimold, W. U.
%T The impact record of West Africa : Confirmed impact structures and potential impact sites
%D 2025
%L fdi:010093512
%G ENG
%J Journal of African Earth Sciences
%@ 1464-343X
%K West African Craton ; Impact craters ; Impact structures ; Recognition criteria ; Mineralization potential
%K AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST
%M ISI:001481268000001
%P 105627 [23 ]
%R 10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2025.105627
%U https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010093512
%> https://www.documentation.ird.fr/intranet/publi/2025-06/010093512.pdf
%V 228
%W Horizon (IRD)
%X More than 210 impact structures have been confirmed on Earth. They represent, however, only a small fraction of the actual record of collisions between the Earth and extraterrestrial bodies, as most of the terrestrial impact cratering record has been erased by tectonic, magmatic, erosion, and sedimentary burial processes. The present distribution of known impact structures on continental areas is strongly heterogeneous. Only 20 impact structures have been confirmed in Africa (i.e., similar to 1/10 of the global record), for a surface area that represents ca. 1/4 of the area of non-glaciated continents and includes several large Archean and Paleoproterozoic terranes. The deficit is even more pronounced for West Africa, with only three confirmed impact structures known at present, in a terrane of more than 5 million km(2). This region, 80 % of which comprises Archean and Paleoproterozoic terranes, represents 1/5 of the size of the African continent. Potential impact structures in West Africa have been regularly proposed, mainly based on remote sensing studies. However, restricted accessibility, the regionally seriously strained security situation, insufficient financial resources for academic research, and a relatively small number of West African geologists trained in impact science are the main reasons for the rather slow exploration of potential impact structures in the field. Here, we review the current knowledge about the confirmed, already discarded, and potential impact structures in West Africa, in order to provide a comprehensive entry point into the literature and encourage local geologists to investigate potential impact structures in the field. We also emphasize the possible connections between impact structures and mineralization of economic interest, which should be taken note of by exploration geologists and the mining companies operating in West Africa.
%$ 064