Two major Cretaceous transgressive-regressive sedimentation cycles occur from Zaire to the Douala basin, Cameroon. These two major cycles are separated by a major interregional unconformity of late middle-late Turonian age. The major middle Cretaceous cycle is divided into three major cycles: a late Albian, an early-middle Cenomanian, and a late Cenomanian - early middle Turonian cycle. The major Late Cretaceous cycle is also divided into three minor cycles: a Coniacian-Santonian, a Campanian, and a Maestrichtian cycle. All major and minor cycles are well defined in Zaire and Cabinda, but the minor cycles are not as well defined in Gabon and in the Douala basin.

With a few differences, the middle and Late Cretaceous cycles of central West Africa correlate with those of the eastern Arabian Peninsula, northern Europe, north central Asia, and the Western Interior of North America.

The fact that the central West African cycles correspond in time with those of other areas of the world suggests that the effects of the local salt tectonics and the rate of sedimentation were not strong enough to change the time in which these cycles occurred.