Saharan Metacraton

The geology of the continent has only been partially explored, and other names have been used to describe the general area that reflect different views of its nature and extent.

[1] This last term is because the older rocks are almost completely covered by recent sediments and desert sands, making geological analysis difficult.

The southern boundary is not well-defined, but may be considered to run along the northern edge of the Oubangides orogenic belt in the southwest and the Aswa Shear Zone further east.

It lies under southern Egypt and Libya and western Sudan, northern Kenya, Uganda and Congo, the Central African Republic, Cameroon and eastern Nigeria and Chad.

[4] Perhaps the simplest view is that the "craton" is an assembly of microcontinental blocks with different origins that were swept together during the Pan African orogeny.