Geological history of the west Libyan offshore and adjoining regions

Conference · Mon Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1988 · AAPG Bull.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5904205

Benniran, M M; Taleb, T M; McCrossan, R G

The continental margin of the African plate north of Libya is separated from the Saharan platform to the south by a major Variscan fault system running along the coastline. The structural evolution of three sedimentary basins within the margin is discussed. The Jeffara basin, onshore western Libya-southern Tunisia, formed as a right-lateral pull-part late in the Variscan event. When the strike-slip motion ceased in the Late Permian, the basin continued to subside thermally. The Sabratah (Tripolitanian) basin, offshore western Libya-southern Tunisia, and the Benghazi basin in the Sirte rise were both formed as left-lateral pull-aparts in the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic. From the Middle Jurassic to the present they have subsided thermally. Onshore the lower Mesozoic is characterized by continental and nearshore clastics, separated by an evaporite sequence of Late Triassic-Early Jurassic age. Offshore this sequence is thought to grade northward into open marine carbonates. Uplift along the edge of the Saharan platform during the Early Cretaceous sourced coarse clastics, which grade northward into a thick sequence of shallow-water carbonates. Throughout the Late Cretaceous and early Tertiary, high-energy carbonates were deposited around the flanks of the Sabratah basin, grading into deeper-water, fine-grained clastics and carbonates toward the center of the basin. The late Tertiary succession is dominated by clastics derived from the growing Tellian Atlas to the northwest. During the Mesozoic and Tertiary a thick sequence of carbonates was deposited on the Pelagian platform to the north of the Sabratah basin. Periodically the platform was exposed subaerially.

• Research Organization: Sirte Oil Co., Tripoli (Libya)
• OSTI ID: 5904205
• Report Number(s): CONF-8809346-
• Journal Information: AAPG Bull.; (United States), Vol. 72:8; Conference: Mediterranean Basins conference and exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 Sep 1988
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
LIBYA
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
CARBONATE ROCKS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
JURASSIC PERIOD
PERMIAN PERIOD
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
TERTIARY PERIOD
TRIASSIC PERIOD
AFRICA
CENOZOIC ERA
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MESOZOIC ERA
PALEOZOIC ERA
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration