The Pan-African West Congo belt in the Republic of Congo (Congo Brazzaville): Stratigraphy of the Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups studied by detrital zircon geochronology

•First geochronological study of detrital zircons in Neoproterozoic (meta-) sedimentary (Mayombe and West Congo Supergroups) of the (Araçuai-) West Congo foldbelt in Congo Brazzaville.•U–Pb data (LA-ICP-MS) on 1674 zircon grains from 15 samples permit a subdivision into (1) those in which the youngest zircons are ca. 900Ma, and (2) those that also contain late Neoproterozoic (600–700Ma) zircons.•Sedimentary rocks of group 1 were deposited during the rift and drift phases of the Araçuai – West Congo orogenic cycle, while those of group 2 were formed during collision and uplift.•On the basis of these results a revision of the Neoproterozoic stratigraphy for Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo is proposed.