Journal of Global Ecology and Environment

This study characterises the lithostratigraphy, grain-size properties, and quartz-grain morphology of detrital formations encountered in the GOTTA 1, GOTTA 2, and GOTTA 3 wells in the Mohoua region of the eastern onshore sedimentary basin of Côte d’Ivoire. The objective was to reconstruct sediment-transport conditions and depositional environments using lithological descriptions, grain-size statistics, cumulative-curve analysis, and morphoscopy. The well successions are dominated by sandy units with clayey intervals and locally include lateritic crust, sandstone, gravel, and marl, indicating vertical changes in depositional conditions. Grain-size data comprise mainly medium sand, with locally coarse and fine fractions, and show moderate to poor sorting with variable skewness. Cumulative curves display predominantly sigmoidal facies. Transport interpretation indicates that bedload movement, particularly rolling, is important, with additional contributions from saltation and suspension. The Md–So diagrams indicate approximately equal river and beach affinities, while the Sk–Md diagrams indicate stronger coastal-dune than continental-dune affinities. Quartz grains are predominantly subrounded, with rounded, subangular, and angular forms also present. Glossy grains indicate transport in water, whereas matte surfaces suggest an aeolian contribution. Together, the lithological, grain-size, and morphoscopic evidence indicates a mixed depositional system in which fluvial, coastal-marine, and aeolian processes interacted in the Mohoua area during the analysed depositional history.