Sebastian Lüning

Integrated depositional model for the Cenomanian–Turonian organic-rich strata in North Africa

Abstract During the Late Cenomanian–Early Turonian (C/T) Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE2), organic-rich strata was deposited in rift shelf basins and slopes across North Africa and in deep-sea basins of the adjacent oceans. Based on a review of published and unpublished information, this paper documents the distribution and organic-richness of C/T strata across the whole region within a palaeogeographic framework and systematically analyses the conditions and processes, which controlled their deposition. Previously, the C/T in North Africa has been most intensively studied in southern Morocco (Tarfaya) and Tunisia. Only little data is availabe for other parts of North Africa, namely Algeria, Libya and Egypt, because distribution of C/T Corg strata there becomes more patchy. A general decrease in peak organic richness and black shale thickness occurs from west to east, partly as a result of upwelling along the Moroccan Atlantic coast and the absence of upwelling in the eastern Mediterranean area. Furthermore, in the confined central Atlantic, the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) in many places reached down to the deep-sea floor (3–4 km), while the lower limit of the OMZ along the North African Tethys was much shallower and underlain by oxic water masses. As documented by high resolution biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic data, C/T black shale deposition in most areas outside the upwelling zone are restricted to a strong, eustatic, latest Cenomanian transgressive phase. Triggered by this sea-level rise, the OMZ impinged onto the North African continental shelf and the margins of intrashelf basins, which mostly formed during the Early Cretaceous as halfgrabens. Important units containing C/T organic-rich strata in the region are the Atlantic Tarfaya black shales (Morocco, Western Sahara), black shales and phtanites in the Moroccan and Algerian Atlas, the Bahloul Fm. in the SE Constantine Basin and in northern and central Tunisia, the Etel Fm. in the Sirte Basin, the Al Hilal Fm. in Cyrenaica (Libya), the Abu Roash Fm. in the Abu Gharadig and Fayium basins (Western Desert, Egypt), the Daliyya Fm. along the NE Sinai–Palestine–Isreal coast and the Shueib Fm. in west central Jordan.

Re-evaluation of the petroleum potential of the Kufra Basin (SE Libya, NE Chad) : does the source rock barrier fall ?

Abstract The Kufra Basin is a large, underexplored, Palaeozoic intracratonic sag basin in SE Libya and NE Chad with extensions into NW Sudan and SW Egypt. The basin fill consists of shallow marine to fluvial deposits ranging in age from infracambrian to Cretaceous. Geologically, the basin is very similar to the Murzuq Basin in SW Libya which recently presented Libya with its largest oil discovery for over a decade. Most of the hydrocarbon play elements known from the Murzuq Basin also occur in the Kufra Basin: thick, porous Cambro-Ordovician sandstones are present and would form good reservoirs, lower Silurian shales may act as effective seals, and there are potential structural traps in seismically defined fault blocks. However, the source rock availability in the Kufra Basin is currently unclear. One of the two main source rock candidates in the basin is a lower Silurian shale unit (Tanezzuft Formation). The Tanezzuft shales have been described as being up to 130 m thick in outcrops at the basin margins, but the shales were found to be replaced by siltstones and sandstones in two dry exploration wells drilled in the northern part of the basin by AGIP between 1978 and 1981. Hot shales developed at the base of this widespread Silurian shale unit form important source rocks in many areas of North Africa and Arabia. These hot shales are interpreted to have been deposited in palaeodepressions, such as incised valleys of the preceding lowstand, or intrashelf basins, during the initial transgression after the melting of the late Ordovician ice cap. The areal distribution of the organic-rich unit is, therefore, discontinuous. Fieldwork in the Kufra Basin has shown that the basal Tanezzuft horizon is not exposed on the northern and eastern margins of the basin. Deep infracambrian rift grabens have been interpreted on seismic lines from the Kufra Basin and, in analogy to Oman and Algeria, could contain organic-rich infracambrian deposits. The infracambrian succession in the Kufra Basin may contain a second major potential source rock and warrants further investigation.

Sedimentary response to basin inversion: Mid cretaceous-early tertiary pre- to syndeformational deposition at the Areif El Naqa anticline (Sinai, Egypt)

SummaryThe Areif El Naqa domal anticline in northeastern Sinai is part of the ‘Syrian Arc’ which represents an intraplate orogen that has been formed since the late Cretaceous by inversion of an older half-gaben system as a consequence of the collision of the African and Eurasian plates. The here studied pre- and syn-deformational Upper Albian to Lower Eocene sedimentary succession in the anticline was formed under shallow marine to hemipelagic conditions resulting in predominantly carbonate lithologies with only subordinate siliciclastic intercalations. The depositional history at Areif El Naqa has been reconstructed in terms of sequence stratigraphy on the basis of detailed sedimentological, biostratigraphical, and paleoecological investigations of ten sections including comparisons with age-equivalent successions further north and south as well as published data.Following a late Triassic-early Cretaceous extensional period, tectonically rather quiet conditions prevailed during deposition of the Albian-Turonian successions. Inversion started around the Coniacian. Three main phases of uplift have been determined for the Areif El Naqa anticline on the basis of evidence from lateral facies and thickness changes, local development of pronounced hiatuses, and in comparison to the sequence stratigraphic development in the tectonically quiet region of central east Sinai. The first major compressional phase is interpreted to have taken place in Coniacian-early Santonian times. It is characterized by pronounced facies and thickness changes which were documented in an earlier study byBartov et al. (1980). Nevertheless, inter-regional sea level changes still controlled deposition at Areif El Naqa during this period. The second pulse of tectonic uplift is indicated for the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian. This is based on siliciclastic deposits which are interpreted as having been reworked from older siliciclastic rocks uplifted in the anticlinal core. The third compressional pulse is inferred to be of middle Paleocene to early Eocene age as evidenced by a major hiatus in sections on the northern anticlinal flank. The uplift history at Areif El Naqa has been compared with the tectonic development in other parts of the Syrian Arc and in general seems to reflect major movements which occurred throughout the anticlines of the fold belt.

Frasnian organic-rich shales in North Africa: regional distribution and depositional model

Abstract During the Frasnian, organic-rich shales were deposited across much of North African, most notably in parts of Morocco, Algeria, southern Tunisia, western Libya and the Western Desert of Egypt. They are estimated to be the origin of about 10% of all Palaeozoic-sourced hydrocarbons in North Africa. The depositional, palaeoecological and geochemical characteristics of this black shale unit can be best studied in the eastern Algerian Berkine (i.e. western Ghadames) Basin where the thickest and organically richest ‘hot shales’ occur. In wireline logs, the Frasnian hot shales are marked by high gamma-ray values, often in excess of 300–400 API, which, according to gamma-ray spectrometry, almost exclusively originate from an elevated uranium content. Comparison with total organic carbon (TOC) data shows that the gamma-ray curve can be used as a proxy for the TOC content of the Frasnian shales, with 150 API correlating approximately with TOCs of about 3% in eastern Algeria. The hot shale unit usually consists of high-frequency, high-amplitude, metre-scale gammaray cycles; however, especially in the thicker hot shale units, the lower frequency envelope curve of the high-frequency gamma-ray cycles has a gradual, bell-shaped form. The gradual increase and subsequent decrease in organic richness over time may be interpreted as evidence for a gradual rise and subsequent fall of the oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), with invasion of oxygen-depleted waters onto the North African shelf. The rise of the OMZ may have been triggered by the Early Frasnian transgression, which has been described in detail from Morocco, where it is now well-dated by conodonts and is associated with characteristic black shales and carbonates. Additional high-resolution biostratigraphic data are still needed in order to better correlate the Frasnian hot shales of Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya with other Late Devonian dysaerobic/anaerobic facies in Morocco, western Egypt, Europe, South and North America.

Global Infracambrian petroleum systems: a review

Abstract This review covers global uppermost Neoproterozoic–Cambrian petroleum systems using published information and the results of studies undertaken by the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) on the Neoproterozoic Officer Basin. Both production and hydrocarbon (HC) shows sourced from, and reservoired in, uppermost Neoproterozoic–Cambrian successions occur worldwide, and these provide ample incentive for continuing exploration for these older petroleum systems. However, the risks of charge volume, timing of generation–migration v. trap formation and preservation of accumulation are significantly higher than in conventional Phanerozoic petroleum systems. Therefore, the location and assessment of preserved HC accumulations in such old petroleum systems presents a significant exploration challenge. Organic-rich metamorphosed Proterozoic successions of SE Greenland, the Ukrainian Krivoy Roy Series, the Canadian Upper Huronian Series and the oil shales of the Russian Onega Basin are known as the worlds oldest overmature petroleum source rocks. The oldest live oil has been recovered from the McArthur Basin of Australia (c. 1.4 Ga; Ga is 109 years), followed by the Nonesuch oil of Michigan. Numerous other petroleum shows have been reported from Australia, Canada, China, India, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali, Oman, Pakistan, Venezuela and the USA. These demonstrate that generation and migration of Proterozoic petroleum has occurred worldwide. The Siberian Lena–Tunguska province, the Russian Volga–Ural region and the Middle Eastern south Oman petroleum fields exemplify the productive potential of uppermost Neoproterozoic–Cambrian successions, where petroleum generation, migration and trapping were either late in the geological history (Palaeozoic–Mesozoic, Oman) or where accumulations have been preserved beneath highly effective super-seals (Lena–Tunguska). The total resource potential of the Lena–Tunguska petroleum province is estimated to be 2000 Mbbl (million barrels) oil and 83 Tcf (trillion cubic feet) gas. The equivalent proven and probable reserves derived from Neoproterozoic–Early Cambrian source rocks and trapped in Late Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran), Palaeozoic and Mesozoic reservoirs in Oman are at least 12 bbbl (billion barrels) of oil and an undetermined volume of gas. The recovery of 12 Mcf (million cubic feet) of Precambrian gas from the Ooraminna-1 well in the Amadeus Basin in 1963, together with the occurrence of numerous HC shows within the Australian Centralian Superbasin, triggered the initial exploration for Proterozoic hydrocarbons in Australia. This included exploration in the Neoproterozoic Officer Basin, which is reviewed in this paper as a case study. Minor oil shows and numerous bitumen occurrences have been reported from the 24 petroleum exploration wells drilled in the Officer Basin to date, indicating the existence of a Neoproterozoic petroleum system. However, the potential of the Neoproterozoic petroleum system in the vast underexplored Officer Basin, with its sparse well control, remains unverified, but may be significant, as may that of many other ‘Infracambrian’ basins around the world.

Late Maastrichtian litho- and ecocycles from hemipelagic deposits of eastern Sinai, Egypt

Abstract A biostratigraphical and palaeoecological survey employing calcareous nannofossils and planktonic and benthonic foraminifera has been carried out in four sections of hemipelagic marls and chalks of the Late Maastrichtian Abathomphalus mayaroensis Zone of eastern Sinai, in order to evaluate the mechanisms controlling the composition of the well preserved microfauna and nannoflora. The Abathomphalus mayaroensis Zone in eastern Sinai can be easily identified by the wide occurrence of the index fossil A. mayaroensis and can be further subdivided by the first occurrences of Plummerita reicheli (ex. P. hantkeninoides) and Micula prinsii. Microfossil abundances and lithologies are characterised by pronounced repetitive distribution patterns. These include low and high frequency fluctuations of the planktonic/benthonic (P/B) foraminiferal ratio, repetitive changes in the abundance of calcareous nannofossils and benthonic foraminifera, as well as the development of chalk-marl couplets and thinning upward chalk packets. both microfossil distribution patterns and the occurrence of rhythmites are attributed to changes in primary palaeoproductivity. Semiquantitative investigations of calcareous nannofossils and a few selected benthonic foraminifera yield evidence of the presence of high (HP) and low (LP) productivity assemblages. The interpreted HP assemblage is dominated by Glaukolithus diplogrammus, Manvitella pemmatoidea, Microrhabdulus decoratus and Micula murus and the benthonic foraminifera Neoflabellina jarvisi; the LP assemblage is characterised by Lithraphidites quadratus and Bolivinoides draco. However, further quantitative studies are necessary to reconstruct the exact composition of these assemblages and to explain deviatory developments. The chalk-marl couplets, thinning-upward chalk packets and the high frequency P/B patterns are interpreted to reflect productivity changes related to orbital forcing. These hemipelagites were deposited during the latest phase of the southern Tethyan upwelling system, which was active from the Santonian to the Late Maastrichtian with a peak in the Campanian. Termination of upwelling just before the K/T boundary also provides a good explanation for the change towards a palaeobathymetric control on foraminiferal distribution, as observed for the Palaeocene of central east Sinai.

Petroleum source and reservoir rock re-evaluation in the Kufra Basin (SE Libya, NE Chad, NW Sudan)

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses that the source-rock potential of the Kufra Basin is currently unclear. The Tanezzuft shales have been described as being up to 130 m thick in outcrops at the basin margins, but the shales are thin and mostly replaced by siltstones and sandstones in two dry exploration wells drilled in the northern part of the basin. Hot shales are interpreted to have been deposited in palaeodepressions, such as incised valleys of the preceding lowstand or in intrashelf basins during the initial transgression after the melting of the late Ordovician ice cap. Fieldwork in the Kufra Basin has shown that the basal Tanezzuft horizon is mostly not exposed on the northern and eastern margins of the basin. A detailed evaluation of the lower Silurian source-rock potential may require shallow stratigraphic drilling. Deep infracambrian rift grabens have been interpreted on seismic lines from the Kufra Basin and, in analogy to Oman and Algeria, could contain organic rich intervals; this succession in the Kufra Basin may contain a second major potential source rock and warrants further investigation.

Infracambrian hydrocarbon source rock potential and petroleum prospectivity of NW Africa

Abstract Proven Infracambrian hydrocarbon plays occur in various parts of the world, including Oman, the former Soviet Union, India, Pakistan and Australia. Organic-rich strata also occur in NW Africa, and gas shows originating from Infracambrian hydrocarbon source rocks are known from well Abolag-1 in the Mauritanian part of the Taoudenni Basin. The distribution of Infracambrian source rocks in North Africa is patchy and deposition commonly occurred in half-graben and pull-apart basins. In these intra-shelf basins, marine, organic-rich shales and limestones were deposited beneath the turbulent wave zone, away from the coarse siliciclastic Pan-African molasse detritus. On the West African Craton (including the Taoudenni Basin) organic-rich horizons were also deposited earlier, in pre- and syn-Pan-African times between 0.5 and 2 Ga (Ga is 109 years). The long-lasting sedimentation history in this area contrasts with that of the Pan-African regions, such as Oman, which lies in the Pan-African province of the East African Orogen, where preserved sediments are rarely older than 640 Ma. Infracambrian black phyllites in the Anti-Atlas region of Morocco were deposited on a continental slope of a short-lived ocean lying to the north of the West African Craton. Hydrocarbons generated during Infracambrian times from these deposits, however, have a low preservation potential. Infracambrian organic-rich and/or black-pyritic deposits in North Africa are proven in the Taoudenni Basin, the Anti-Atlas and the Ahnet Basin. Thick carbonate successions exist in the Taoudenni Basin, indicating deposition in areas some distance from contaminating coarse siliciclastic hinterland influx. Infracambrian strata may also occur in the Tindouf Basin. However, their deep burial and consequent early maturation history may be unfavourable for the preservation of Infracambrian-sourced hydrocarbons in this area. Local development of Infracambrian source facies may also occur in the Reggane, Ahnet, Mouydir and Iullemeden basins, as indicated by black shales in wells MKRN-1 and MKRS-1 in the Ahnet Basin. Generally, however, these basins appear to be close to the active Pan-African orogenic belt and, consequently, probably received large quantities of coarse siliciclastic sediment, largely of continental facies, which may have diluted any significant hydrocarbon source potential.