NARG Newsletter June 2016V3
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12 Newsletter June 2016 Fieldwork Conferences New Start PhDs Updates on field studies. Presentations made at Nawwar Al-Sinawi joined Extensive logging and EAGE, IAS, AAPG, in April, to work on sampling of sections in PESG/HGS Africa diagenesis of Jurassic. the Agadir and Tarfaya Conference. Publication New Provenance PhD to start in Sept. Basins update. North Africa Research Group Integrated regional studies focussed New papers on on the North Atlantic margin Illizi Basin 11 PhDs, supported by leading academic staff at Manchester, TuDelft and collaborating institutions • NARG continues to expand the North Cretaceous clastics and extending the Atlantic study, with 11 PhDs in 2016 Jurassic study to include the working on integrated projects along the diagenesis, a key factor in Moroccan margin. determining reservoir • We are refining the biostratigraphy of the characterisation. Early Cretaceous and Jurassic to develop • The Cenomanian-Turonian source type sections and paleoenvironmental rock study aims to better understand models. controls on TOC richness comparing • Seismic and well data supplied by ONHYM Atlantic margin and Tethyan realms. allows extension offshore with the aim of • Research has been presented at developing a fully integrated source to recent conferences at the EAGE, IAS sink study. This includes modelling the and AAPG. English, K.L., Redfern, J., Bertotti, G., English, J., and Yahi Cherif, R., 2016, complex salt tectonics and evaluating the • We continue to strengthen our Intraplate uplift: new constraints on the evolution of the Cretaceous basins. capability, building links with Luc Hoggar dome from the Illizi basin (Algeria): • New PhD projects will commence this Bulot at Marseille and now involving Basin Research, p. 1-17. year to extend the reconnaissance work Mike Simmons (Halliburton) to add by defining the provenance of the Early biostratigraphic capacity. Essaouira Agadir Basin Early Cretaceous Source to Sink Barrage outcrop, east of Tamri. Prominent incision into early Study Barremian limestones filled with fluvial sandstone – Incised Valley?. Manchester students Angel Arantegui Defining Late Barremian and Tim Luber have completed field Source to Sink to Aptian Regressive seasons supported by a team of field Packages assistants and staff. This is being integrated with analysis of the hinterland Tim Luber completed a 6-week Deep Sink Shallow Sink Source field season focused on uplift / subsidence history by Remi improved dating and chasing Charton at TuDelft, supervised by Prof the coarse clastics interval Giovanni Bertotti and Prof Joep Storms observed in the Assaka and and offshore subsurface studies by Tamri outcrops regionally across Leonardo Muniz-Pichel and Tu Anh the Cap Ghir/Agadir/Taghazout Nguyen. region. The outcrop work forms the crucial shelfal The main fluvial systems were control on timing and palaeofacies identified inland, associated distribution for the Source-to-Sink study, with the deltaic and shoreface successions. Inland valuable new data points show the extent of 8 June 2016 Tim Luber - University of Manchester 7 yielding valuable information on drainage channels and incised valleys, which will be input into a regional sequence stratigraphic model. size, location and sediment discharge. Output will be regional correlations, sequential GDE maps and a revised biostratigraphy. Tim Luber (3rd year PhD) and Dr. Luc Bulot (Cerege- Aix- Marseille University) discussing ammonites collected in the field during this years biostratigraphy field season. Aptian Reference Section for the Agadir-Essaouira Basin Further work carried out in March 2015 with Dr Luc Bulot (Cerege - Aix-Marseille University) targeted the ammonite biostratigraphy of key E. Cretaceous sections located in the region. The faunas collected in 2015 and 2016 represent the largest bed by bed collection made in the northern part of the Essaouira basin for the Late Barremian to basal Albian part of the succession. The first paper, being prepared now, will formally describe new ammonite species/genera and establish a biostratigraphic reference to allow refined correlations at basin scale. High-resolution sampling will integrate ammonite, planktonic foram and nannoplankton dating with TOC and C13 isotopes (bulk rock) data to produce a reference section and Blue Aptian marls outcropping at TisKatine, the greatly improve the chronostratigraphic framework for the Aptian of the Essaouira Basin. proposed location for a new type section in the This work also involves collaboration with Dr. Mike Simmons (Halliburton) - planktonic Essaouira Agadir Basin (top). foraminifera , Dr Jason Jeremiah (Shell) nanoplankton, and our colleague (previously with NARG in Manchester) Dr. Stephane Bodin (Aarhus University) for carbon/oxygen isotopic Aptian Procheloniceras sp. ammonites from analysis. TisKatine (bottom). 2 Aptian to Albian shoreface cross- bedded sandstones in Oued Chebeika Tarfaya Study Area A ngel Arantegui undertook five weeks of fieldwork during April and May 2016, supported by Dr Rhodri Jerrett and field assistants. The main focus was logging a 25 km-long transect along Oued Draa, which records the Early Cretaceous continental to marine transition, and runs parallel to the existing transect logged along Oued Chebeika about 50 km to the SW. The aim is to establish an outcrop-based correlation and suite of facies models for the Early Cretaceous succession. Resampling was undertaken to improve the biostratigraphic dating through macro- and microfossils and palynology. Current work includes microfacies characterization of the re- dated Jurassic mixed siliciclastic-carbonate marine succession in the Ifni area, working in collaboration with Mike Simmons and Luc Bulot, in order to more precisely date this section and document the rift and post-rift evolution of this part of the Tarfaya Basin. Future work will focus on interpreting and integrating all the outcrop and offshore subsurface data: • Rift to post-rift evolution and sedimentation of the northern part of the Tarfaya Basin • Early Cretaceous sequence stratigraphic framework -Tarfaya Basin Intensely bioturbated floodplain deposits in Oued Chebeika. IAS 32nd Meeting of Sedimentology (Marrakech, May 2016) Temporal and spatial evolution of Mesozoic drainage systems feeding the deepwater Atlantic passive margin of Morocco: Tarfaya Basin Angel Arantegui, Luber, T, Charton R, Simmons M, Bertotti G, Redfern J Panorama showing the Early Cretaceous continental succession in Oued aargh….the path is closed….. Dr Rhodri Jerrett Draa unconformably overlain by Cenozoic. at rush hour in Tarfaya Completed and Ongoing studies in NARG Early Dolomitisation Carboniferous Completed Studies processes / Late Ongoing Studies Marar Fm Cretaceous Carbonate Burial and Source Rock Hunter Palaeozoic Sequence Laurent Reservoirs Tertiary Deepwater diagenetic history of Petitpierre JR/SB Eocene Bou Dabbous Fm Stratigraphy Richard Newport (PhD) Systems the Illizi basin, Algeria Tunisia Dr Ian Carr, Stefan North African Margin Kara English (PhD) Dr Alvaro Beracosso Lubeseder Nummidian Start Oct 2015 Flysch Nile Delta Myron Thomas Late Triassic Reservoirs Gianluca Badalini Jurassic carbonate Climate / Tectonic Control Dorthe Hansen systems along the N Atlantic Margin Nadine Mader Vicky Catterall Aude Duval-Arnould Late Triassic Rift Fill Nawwar Al-Sinawi Ivan Fabuel Perez Habid Awatif (Mres) Late Triassic Structure Dr Catherine Baudon Late Cretaceous Clastic systems Cretaceous Depositional Systems Ordovician Dr Stefan Bodin Moroccan Atlantic Margin Silurian Shale Gas Glacials Tadla Basin Jonathan Wood Tim Luber (PhD) Murzuk Basin EOG Consultancy Gregg Pyke Angel Arantegui (PhD) Characterising the carbonate Project Remi Charton (PhD – TuDelft) reservoir systems and controls on Cret Nubian further propsectivity in the Kotla Carboniferous Reservoir Volcanics Sirt Tu Anh Nguyen (PhD) Ghadames Basin Modelling Graben, Sirte Basin Libya Characterisation Libya Basin Leonardo Muniz Pichel (PhD) Ruth Underdown Dr Sebastian Frohlich Mustafa Karer Jianpeng Wang (PhD) Mohamed Salem New start 2016 Provenance (Libya Gov Funded 3 Recent Presentations Constraining hinterland dynamics AAPG/SEG International Conference and Exhibition (ICE) 2016, Barcelona, April (3-6) 2016 – Oral presentation: Post-Variscan thermal histories in Quantification of Mesozoic vertical movements Morocco: Implications for Mesozoic source-to-sink The aim of this work being undertaken by Remi Charton at TuDelft is to provide rates of systems (Rémi Charton, G Bertotti, J Storms, M denudation and subsidence for the exhuming and subsiding parts, respectively. These Gouiza, A Arantegui, T Luber, A Duval Arnould, and rates, when extended to surfaces, will provide qualitative estimates of eroded and J Redfern). deposited volumes of sediments for time periods, and can be compared in order to test different scenarios (identification of components and comparison of order of NAC 2016, 13th Nederlands Aardwetenschappelijk magnitude). Congres, Veldhoven, April (7-8) 2016 – Poster presentation: Post-Variscan vertical movements in The scenarios to be tested are: a) different extents of the areas being exhumed (by Morocco: Implications for Mesozoic source-to-sink varying the surface); for instance by including or not the Tindouf basin in the exhuming systems (Rémi Charton, G Bertotti, J Storms, M part, or diminishing the eroded surface of the Meseta; b) different timing of erosion (by Gouiza, A Arantegui, T Luber, A Duval Arnould, and changing the time-temperature results