The distribution of electric conductivity on the eastern border of the West African craton (Republic of Niger)

Summary. Magnetotelluric soundings (MT) were conducted along the 14th parallel on the eastern border of the West African craton in the Republic of Niger.
This profile includes eight sites an average of 30 km apart. We determined the regional structure of electric conductivity and its relation to the various geological belts covered. This study took place within a 15–500 s period band. Two-dimensional modelling suggests that, in the sites located on the sedimentary basin and the mobile belt, there exists a conductive layer in the upper mantle at a depth of 80 km. Within the craton we were unable to prove the existence of this conductive layer.
There also exists another conductive layer at the crust—upper mantle boundary at a depth of 30 km, but this seems to disappear in the cratonic belt.
A significant electric discontinuity is present between the mobile belt and the sedimentary basin, due to a variation in resistivity in the substratum and a thickening in the surface cover.