Tectonic history along the South Gabon Basin: Anomalous early post-rift subsidence

An integrated study of the South Gabon Margin (South Atlantic) based on reflection seismic and well data has been performed to quantify tectonic activity. A regional profile crossing the entire basin together with subsidence analysis, highlights important aspects of the post-rift history. The most s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine and petroleum geology 2007-03, Vol.24 (3), p.151-172
Main Authors: Dupré, Stéphanie, Bertotti, Giovanni, Cloetingh, Sierd
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
Gabon
Hydrocarbons
Margin
Marine geology
Post-rift subsidence
Sedimentary rocks
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Summary:An integrated study of the South Gabon Margin (South Atlantic) based on reflection seismic and well data has been performed to quantify tectonic activity. A regional profile crossing the entire basin together with subsidence analysis, highlights important aspects of the post-rift history. The most striking event in the margin evolution appears to be the anomalous extra subsidence during the early post-rift period characterized by high sedimentation rates, equivalent to one third of the syn-rift subsidence. Although the presence of evaporite layers restricts knowledge of the underlying structures essentially composed of pre-rift and syn-rift sequences, the outcome of this post-rift tectonic study has strong implications for the rifting history. The early post-rift subsidence patterns can be related to a high thermal anomaly during the early rifting thermal state of the lithosphere. These findings are highly relevant for petroleum system studies and have implications for hydrocarbon generation.
ISSN:0264-8172
1873-4073
DOI:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2006.11.003