Gravity and field data interpretation of a probabilistic buried impact crater in Mboutou and Environs, North Cameroon

The identification and characterization of terrestrial astroblemes in areas mostly affected by soil erosion, are very difficult. Some reliefs resulting from those impact craters have lost their original shape or have been buried over geologic time. Hence, this study was based on the integration of both gravity and geological studies for the investigation of a potential impact crater in Mboutou and Environs. First and foremost, the Power Spectrum Density curve was used for the extraction of the optimum residual anomalies whose depth to the top was estimated at 3 km. The high-resolution edge detection maps depicted a concentric a ring-shaped structure of diameter higher than 25 km. The 2D gravity modeling and geological observations, characterizing the deep and shallow structure of the probable astrobleme respectively, suggest a possible buried complex impact crater of thickness estimated at 2.5 km.