Rio Muni is a division of Equatorial Guinea, more formally known as Republic of Equatorial Guinea which is located near West central Africa. Equatorial Guinea is made up of the basins of Bioko, Annobon, Corisco, Elobey Grande, and Elobey Chico and our main focus, Rio Muni (Introduction. Equatorial). Rio Muni is found a little north of the equator and hits its highest peak at 1,100 meters. How Rio Muni and its fellow basins came to existence is of big importance to researchers and the people of this world.
The Rio Muni and other basins that are similar to it have basins which contain, “fluvial lacustrine, evaporates and carbonate clastic sequences.”(Introduction. University) The first sequence, the lacustrine sequence is derived from the Atlantic Ocean and the many small lakes that were formed. The transitional sequence of the South Atlantic is formed by evaporates. This transitional sequence contains a syn-rift and post-rift intervals. When the carbonate and siliciclastic materials are present, they are mainly part of the post-rift interval.
When referring to the formation of the Rio Muni there are three main periods: the early cretaceous time, late cretaceous time, and sea level. In the early cretaceous time numerous clastic and sediment rates occurred (Early Cretaceous). The change in the late cretaceous time was fundamentally due to tectonic movement, and a higher rate of sediments was accumulated in the basins. Climate change was also characterized in this time period and a shift in position for Africa and North America was also a big adjustment in this period. During this late cretaceous time, the aquatic scene was set. Then came the period of time called sea level (Sea Level). “The Cretaceous successions are well identified by most major sequence boundaries,” (Sea Level). There are two major cycles of sea level change, those two cycles are divided into three minor cycles. The changes in sea level created the boundary between the sediments. “The depositional history of the Rio Muni basin can be divided into three phases: the syn-rift, transitional, and the post-rift phases. These rift systems influenced the deposition of the sediments and divided the basins in to many transform zones.
The Rio Muni basin took a very long time to be constructed. The Rio Muni was used as a study area for the formation of these basins. They studied the different sediments in different times in history. (Conclusions)
References:
“Conclusions.” University of South Carolina (24 April 2001) http://rainier.seis.sc.edu/alfredo/CONLUSIONS.html (24 February 2003)
“Introduction.” University of South Carolina (24 April 2001) http://rainier.seis.sc.edu/alfredo/OvonoOba.htm (24 February 2003)
“Early Cretaceous.” University of South Carolina (24 April 2001) http://rainier.seis.sc.edu/alfredo/EarlyCretaceous.html (24 February 2003)
“Late Cretaceous.” University of South Carolina (24 April 2001) http://rainier.seis.sc.edu/alfredo/LateCretaceous.html (24 February 2003)
“Sea Level.” University of South Carolina (24 April 2001) http://rainier.seis.sc.edu/alfredo/SEALEVEL.html (24 February 2003)
“Introduction.” Equatorial Guinea http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/E/EquatrG1u.asp
(24 February 2003)
“Land and People.” Equatorial Guinea http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/EquatrGu_LandandPeople.asp (24 February 2003)
“Economy.” Equatorial Guinea http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/EquatrGu_Economy.asp (24 February 2003)
“History.” Equatorial Guinea http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/section/EquatrGu_History.asp (24 February 2003)
Written by Alicia Thompson, 2003