DIVERSITY OF VEGETATION COMMUNITIES IN RELATION TO SOIL HEAVY-METAL CONTENT AT THE SHINKOLOBWE COPPER COBALT URANIUM MINERALIZATION, UPPER SHABA, ZAIRE

A study was made of plant communities and soils of the Shinkolobwe cop per/cobalt/uranium mineralized outcrop in Shaba Province, Zaire. The s ite has not been accessible until recently because of restrictions bas ed on strategic and military considerations since the discovery of rad ioactive minerals at this site in 1915. Some 11 different plant commun ities were identified, all controlled by the nature of the substratum and its chemical composition. The site is remarquable in that it inclu des in a single locality (Milestone XIII) most of the different plant communities found on other sites in Shaba. An ecotone with its belt of chlorotic Uapaca robynsii is particularly well defined. The site cont ains an endemic fern, Actiniopteris sp. nov., found elsewhere only in the Mindingi area (Mirungwe hill). From the eleven phytogeochemical tr ansects of Shaban copper/cobalt anomalies already published and from o ther unpublished field observations, a synthesis is provided, completi ng the noteworthy studies of DUVIGNEAUD & DENAEYER-DE SMET (1958-1963) .