Location
On the left bank of the River Ogooué, Gabon, the LNP covers an area of approximately 5000 km2. The LNP, 290 km from the Libreville, is one of the world biodiversity hotspots thanks to the diversity of its ecosystems. It is also an archaeological site of major importance and, as such, a World Heritage Site by Unesco. With an average rainfall of 1500 mm / year, the park is drained by a perennial river system, including the Lopé river that drains the northern part of LNP. The Lope basin covers approximately 200 km2. The landscape of the Lope watershed consists of mosaics made of blocks of savanna, 40,000 years old, gallery forests and rain forests. The interactions between these landscape features are complex and have evolved over time, particularly in terms of human / environment relations, but also fauna / flora. The silicate bedrock consists of Archean basement rocks of the Congo craton (3.3 to 2.7 Ga) mostly granito-gneiss (TTG suite) with some basic to ultrabasic and volcano-sedimentary formations Francevillien (Proterozoic through 2.5 to 1.6 Ga) comprising sandstone, black shales, quartzites and metapelites jasper. In its downstream part, towards the Ogooué River basin, the forest-savanna mosaic developed on thin multi-phased regolith from sandy to sandy clay, reflecting the strong erosion of the late-Miocene age pediments. The upstream part, in forest, consists of higher areas, has a thicker lateritic regolith cover. The northern LNP zone hosts an international research station for the last 30 years (SEGC) and its forest is one of the best studied in Africa, with series of long-term data. Ongoing studies dela with the monitoring of the impact of climate change, as well as for understanding the history of ecological change through time and the role played by men in shaping the landscape.
