Regional paleogeographic evolution of West Africa: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration

Hempton, M R

Title: Regional paleogeographic evolution of West Africa: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration

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Abstract

New paleogeographic reconstructions of west African continental margins provide a regional framework to contrast differences in hydrocarbon habitat and tectonostratigraphic style. The framework consists of five regional provinces: (1) northwest Africa margin from Mauritania to Sierra Leone, (2) transform margin from Libera to Benin, (3) Niger Delta of Nigeria, Cameroon, and equatorial Guinea, (4) South Atlantic Salt Basin margin from Cameroon to Angola, and (5) southwest Africa margin of Namibia and South Africa. Computer-constrained paleogeographic reconstructions based on exploration data depict the separation of west Africa from South and North America along three rift systems during the Late Triassic to the Holocene. In northwest Africa, rifting began in the Late Triassic associated with the opening of the central Atlantic. In southwest Africa, rifting began between the southern tips of Africa and South America in the Early Cretaceous and propagated northward to the Benue trough, a broad zone of left-lateral shear and extensional basins that began to open in the Aptian. Between these two rift systems, the transform margin rift system initiated in the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) as a wrench-fault-dominated eastward extension of the Proto-Caribbean ocean that propagated to the Benue trough by the middle Albian. The most important variables affectingmore »« less

Authors:

Hempton, M R ^[1]

Shell Oil Co., Houston, TX (United States)

Publication Date:: Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI Identifier:: 5594456

Resource Type:: Journal Article

Journal Name:: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 77:11; Journal ID: ISSN 0149-1423

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 02 PETROLEUM; AFRICA; PALEONTOLOGY; PETROLEUM GEOLOGY; PETROLEUM DEPOSITS; EXPLORATION; PALEOCLIMATOLOGY; RIFT ZONES; GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS; GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES; GEOLOGY; MINERAL RESOURCES; RESOURCES; 020200* - Petroleum- Reserves, Geology, & Exploration

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                    Hempton, M R. Regional paleogeographic evolution of West Africa: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration.  United States: N. p., 1993. 
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                    Hempton, M R. Regional paleogeographic evolution of West Africa: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration.  United States.

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                    Hempton, M R. 1993.  
        "Regional paleogeographic evolution of West Africa: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration".  United States.

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@article{osti_5594456,

  title        = {Regional paleogeographic evolution of West Africa: Implications for hydrocarbon exploration},

  author       = {Hempton, M R},

  abstractNote = {New paleogeographic reconstructions of west African continental margins provide a regional framework to contrast differences in hydrocarbon habitat and tectonostratigraphic style. The framework consists of five regional provinces: (1) northwest Africa margin from Mauritania to Sierra Leone, (2) transform margin from Libera to Benin, (3) Niger Delta of Nigeria, Cameroon, and equatorial Guinea, (4) South Atlantic Salt Basin margin from Cameroon to Angola, and (5) southwest Africa margin of Namibia and South Africa. Computer-constrained paleogeographic reconstructions based on exploration data depict the separation of west Africa from South and North America along three rift systems during the Late Triassic to the Holocene. In northwest Africa, rifting began in the Late Triassic associated with the opening of the central Atlantic. In southwest Africa, rifting began between the southern tips of Africa and South America in the Early Cretaceous and propagated northward to the Benue trough, a broad zone of left-lateral shear and extensional basins that began to open in the Aptian. Between these two rift systems, the transform margin rift system initiated in the Early Cretaceous (Barremian) as a wrench-fault-dominated eastward extension of the Proto-Caribbean ocean that propagated to the Benue trough by the middle Albian. The most important variables affecting the tectonostratigraphic and hydrocarbon evolution of the west African margins include (1) the geometry, kinematics, and duration of rifting, (2) distribution of rift basins relative to paleoclimate zones (which affects the deposition of lacustrine source rocks and evaporites while influencing the type and quantity of sediment derived from land), (3) sea level fluctuations, and (4) distribution of deltaic and turbiditic depocenters.},

  doi          = {},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5594456},
  journal      = {AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)},

  issn         = {0149-1423},

  number       = ,

  volume       = 77:11,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1993},

  month        = {Mon Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1993}

}

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