journal article
Aug 01, 2008
Tectonics and subsidence evolution of the Sirt Basin, Libya
AAPG Bulletin
Vol. 92
No. 8
pp. 993-1027
·
American Association of Petroleum Geologists AAPG/Datapages
Abstract
Abstract
A backstripping analysis of 225 wells located within the Sirt Basin, Libya, provides new constraints on the development of the Sirt Basin. Four tectonic phases are identified from Late Jurassic to present. The presentation of contour maps of subsidence and crustal stretching allows spatial and temporal variations in stretching to be visualized. A close match is observed with stretching phases documented for other African basins, consistent with discrete phases in the opening of the Tethys and Atlantic. Rifting and reactivation appear to be primarily controlled by the orientation of the basin and the underlying basement structure with respect to stress directions. The tectonic subsidence curves have also been forward modeled with an automated modeling technique to quantify the variation in timing and the magnitude of rifting. The tectonic subsidence history of the Sirt Basin is characterized by periods of stretching, alternating with periods of relative tectonic quiescence and thermal subsidence. Stretching started at the centers of the troughs and migrated toward the platform crests.
A backstripping analysis of 225 wells located within the Sirt Basin, Libya, provides new constraints on the development of the Sirt Basin. Four tectonic phases are identified from Late Jurassic to present. The presentation of contour maps of subsidence and crustal stretching allows spatial and temporal variations in stretching to be visualized. A close match is observed with stretching phases documented for other African basins, consistent with discrete phases in the opening of the Tethys and Atlantic. Rifting and reactivation appear to be primarily controlled by the orientation of the basin and the underlying basement structure with respect to stress directions. The tectonic subsidence curves have also been forward modeled with an automated modeling technique to quantify the variation in timing and the magnitude of rifting. The tectonic subsidence history of the Sirt Basin is characterized by periods of stretching, alternating with periods of relative tectonic quiescence and thermal subsidence. Stretching started at the centers of the troughs and migrated toward the platform crests.
Topics
No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →
References
117
[1]
Abadi, A.
, 2002, Tectonics of the Sirt Basin, inferences from tectonic subsidence analysis, stress inversion and gravity modelling: Ph.D. thesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, 187 p.
[2]
Abdulghader "Sedimentology and reservoir heterogeneities of the Nubian Sandstone, southeastern Sirt Basin, Libya" (1996)
[3]
Abugares "Sedimentology and hydrocarbon potential of the Gir Formation, Sirt Basin, Libya" (1996)
[4]
Ade-Hall "Geophysical studies of north Africa Cenozoic volcanic areas: II. Jabal Soda, Libya" Canadian Journal of Earth Science (1975) 10.1139/e75-117
[5]
Ade-Hall "Geophysical studies of north Africa Cenozoic volcanic areas" (1974)
[6]
Ahlbrandt, T. S.
, 2002, The Sirte Basin province of Libya—Sirte-Zelten total petroleum system: U.S. Geological Survey, http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/pub/bulletins/b2202-f, p. 1–29 (accessed January 2008).
[7]
Anketell "Structural history of the Sirt Basin and its relationship to the Sabratah Basin and Cyrenaican Platform, northern Libya" (1996)
[8]
Ashour "Microbiostratigraphical analysis of the Campanian–Maastrichtian strata in some wells in Sirt Basin" (1996)
[9]
Baird "Geohistory and petroleum in the central Sirt Basin" (1996)
[10]
Barbieri "Micropaleontology of the Rakb Group (Cenomanian to early Maastrichtian) in the Hameimat Basin, northern Libya" (1996)
[11]
Barr "Stratigraphic nomenclature of the Sirt Basin" (1972)
[12]
Modes of structural evolution of Abu Gharadig Basin, Western desert of Egypt as deduced from seismic data
A.I. Bayoumi, H.I. Lotfy
Journal of African Earth Sciences (and the Middle...
1989
10.1016/0899-5362(89)90070-5
[13]
Befield "Post-Eocene sedimentation in the eastern Sirt Basin, Libya" (1980)
[14]
Belazi "The geology of the Nafoora oilfields, Sirt Basin, Libya" Journal of Petroleum Geology (1989) 10.1111/j.1747-5457.1989.tb00200.x
[15]
Benkhelil "The origin and evolution of the Cretaceous Benue trough (Nigeria)" Journal of African Earth Sciences (1989) 10.1016/s0899-5362(89)80028-4
[16]
Bezan "The Paleocene sequence in Sirt Basin" (1996)
[17]
Bezan "Oligocene sediments of Sirt Basin and their hydrocarbon potential" (1996)
[18]
Bezan "The Beda Formation in the Sirt Basin" (1996)
[19]
Biju-Duval "Structure and evolution of the Mediterranean Sea basin, in Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project" (1977)
[20]
Bond "Construction of tectonic subsidence curves for the early Paleozoic miogeocline, south Canadian Rocky Mountains" Implication for subsidence mechanisms, age of break up, and crustal thinning: Geological Society of America Bulletin (1984)
[21]
Bonnefous "Geology of the quartzitic “Garage Formation” in the Sirt Basin" (1972)
[22]
Bu-Argoub "Palynological and playnofacies studies of the Upper Cretaceous sequence in well C275-65, Sirt Basin, northeast, Libya" (1996)
[23]
Burke "Two plates in Africa during the Cretaceous?" Nature (1974) 10.1038/249313a0
[24]
Cahen "The geochronology of Africa" (1984)
[25]
Cande "Plate kinematics of the South Atlantic, Chron C34 to present" Journal of Geophysical Research (1988) 10.1029/jb093ib11p13479
[26]
Cavazza (2004)
[27]
Clifford "Africa oil—Past, present and future" (1986)
[28]
Clifford "Geology of a stratigraphic giant: Messla oil field" (1980)
[29]
Cloetingh "Thermo-mechanical modeling of Black Sea Basin (de)formation" Sedimentary Geology (2003) 10.1016/s0037-0738(02)00287-7
[30]
Cloetingh "Strength reversal in Europe's intraplate lithosphere: Transition from basin inversion to lithospheric folding" Geology (2005) 10.1130/g21051.1
[31]
Cloetingh "Lithosphere folding: Primary response to compression? (from central Asia to Paris Basin)" Tectonics (1999) 10.1029/1999tc900040
[32]
Cloetingh "Lithosphere memory, state of stress and rheology: Neotectonic controls on Europe's intraplate continental topography" Quaternary Science Reviews (2005) 10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.06.015
[33]
De Klasz "The west African sedimentary basins" (1978)
[34]
Dercourt "Geological evolution of the Tethys belt from the Atlantic to the Pamirs since the Lias" Tectonophysics (1986) 10.1016/0040-1951(86)90199-x
[35]
Dewey "Kinematics of the western Mediterranean" (1989)
[36]
Dingle (1978)
[37]
Duncan "Hotspots in the southern oceans—An absolute frame of reference for motion of the Gondwana continents" Tectonophysics (1981) 10.1016/0040-1951(81)90126-8
[38]
El-Alami "Habitat of oil Abu Attifel area Sirt Basin" (1996)
[39]
El-Alami "Hydrocarbon habitat in the Sirt Basin, northern Libya" Petroleum Research Journal (1989)
[40]
El-Baki "Diagenesis and diagenetic history of the Lidam Formation in northwest Sirt Basin" (1996)
[41]
El-Hawat "The Nubian Sandstone in the Sirt Basin and its correlatives" (1996)
[42]
El Sogher "Late Cretaceous and Paleocene ostracodes from the Waha Limestone and Hagfa Shale formations of the Sirt Basin" (1996)
[43]
Eliagoubi "Biostratigraphy and paleoenvironment of Upper Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) foraminifera of north-central and northwestern Libya" (1980)
[44]
Fairhead "Mesozoic plate tectonic reconstructions of the central South Atlantic Ocean: The role of the west and central Africa rift system" Tectonophysics (1988) 10.1016/0040-1951(88)90265-x
[45]
Fairhead "A regional gravity study of the west Africa rift system in Nigeria and Cameroon and its tectonic interpretation" Tectonophysics (1987) 10.1016/0040-1951(87)90084-9
[46]
Futyan "The hydrocarbon habitat of the oil and gas fields of north Africa with emphasis on the Sirt Basin" (1996)
[47]
Gammudi "The ostracod fauna of the Miocene Maradah Formation exposed in the eastern Sirt Basin" (1996)
[48]
Garea "Environment of deposition and diagenesis of the Bead Reservoir in Block NC74F" (1996)
[49]
Gass "Geological and geophysical parameters of mid-plate volcanism" Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of Londo (1978) 10.1098/rsta.1978.0035
[50]
Gealey "Plate tectonic evolution of the Mediterranean–Middle East region" Tectonophysics (1988) 10.1016/0040-1951(88)90270-3
Showing 50 of 117 references
Metrics
105
Citations
117
References
Details
- Published
- Aug 01, 2008
- Vol/Issue
- 92(8)
- Pages
- 993-1027
Authors
Cite This Article
Abdulbaset M. Abadi, Jan-Diederik van Wees, Paul M. van Dijk, et al. (2008). Tectonics and subsidence evolution of the Sirt Basin, Libya. AAPG Bulletin, 92(8), 993-1027. https://doi.org/10.1306/03310806070
Related
You May Also Like
Unconventional shale-gas systems: The Mississippian Barnett Shale of north-central Texas as one model for thermogenic shale-gas assessment
Daniel M. Jarvie, Ronald J. Hill · 2007
2,457 citations
Spectrum of pore types and networks in mudrocks and a descriptive classification for matrix-related mudrock pores
Robert G. Loucks, Robert M. Reed · 2012
2,051 citations
Characterization of gas shale pore systems by porosimetry, pycnometry, surface area, and field emission scanning electron microscopy/transmission electron microscopy image analyses: Examples from the Barnett, Woodford, Haynesville, Marcellus, and Doig units
Gareth R. Chalmers, R. Marc Bustin · 2012
1,285 citations
Organic matter–hosted pore system, Marcellus Formation (Devonian), Pennsylvania
Kitty L. Milliken, Mark Rudnicki · 2013
911 citations