TheKandi fault zone is a southern extension of the Hoggarfault zone inWest Africa, with splays inBenin,Togo and southeasternGhana. It lies at the southern end of the Trans Saharan belt, alineament that extends in a southwest direction fromAlgeria toBenin. The Kandi fault zone is identified with theSobral fault in northeasternBrazil, considered to be the northern section of theTrans Brazilian Lineament.[1]
The Kandi fault is a band about 400 m thick of ultramylonites with shallow-plunging stretching lineations.[2]The nature of the deposits of the Kandi Basin indicate that they were formed during the melting of the wide ice sheet that overlay the Afro-Arabian Shield during LateOrdovician times.[3]Kandi lies at the southern end of the Trans Saharan Kandi/4°50' lineament, which represents a suture resulting from an oblique collision between theWest African craton and theSao Francisco /Congo craton.The Sobral shear zone of theTransbrasiliano lineament is considered a continuation of this lineament.[4]The fit between the continental margins ofSouth America andAfrica is poor in this region, in contrast to the excellent fit to the west and south, but this can be explained by splay faults created during the separation of the continents.[5]
