Geologic development and hydrocarbon habitats of the Tunisia-Sicily shelf

Conference · Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:5749398

Schamel, S ^[1]

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1. Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia (USA)

Hydrocarbon habitats on the Tunisia-Sicily shelf result from the complex interplay of three factors: (1) proximity to a source of terrigenous sediments, (2) eustatic sea level changes resulting in major transgressive/regressive events, and (3) a varied and ever-changing structural mosaic involving successive transtensional, transpressive, and compressional tectonic phases. The stratigraphy, structure, and petroleum resources of the shelf are linked, directly or indirectly, to the crustal template created during the middle Mesozoic rifting of the Tethyan margin of north Africa. Transtensional stretching and crustal fragmentation forming the Tunisia-Sicily passive margin occurred in the Late Triassic-Jurassic at the juncture of the South Saharan and Gibraltar shear zones, creating a complex array of ridges and furrows and localized pull-apart basins. During the Cretaceous and early Tertiary, the subsident block-faulted shelf was buried beneath a varied stratigraphy ranging from a thin pelagic limestone succession devoid of terrigenous components in Sicily to a considerably thicker neritic Tunisian succession composed of mixed terrigenous and carbonate strata. Beginning in the middle Cretaceous, the region experienced localized tectonic instability expressed as transtensional faulting, crustal inversion, salt diapirism, and submarine volcanism. The principal post-Paleozoic hydrocarbon habitats are (1) Triassic-Jurassic restricted pull-apart basins, (2) Cretaceous-early Tertiary structurally controlled shallow shelf edges, and (3) the late Cenozoic foredeep containing synorogenic clastic facies.

• OSTI ID: 5749398
• Report Number(s): CONF-8809346-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 72:8; Conference: Mediterranean Basins conference and exhibition, Nice (France), 25-28 Sep 1988; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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