Present Day Sea Bed Features and Depositional Environment Distribution Inspiring the Understanding of Turbidite System Offshore Nile Delta Basin

Abstract

The tectono-stratigraphy of the Nile Delta Basin has had an active history since Jurassic rifting through the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. During several periods of that history there were turbidite sequences that constitute major fairways for the accumulation of hydrocarbon. At the foundation of BP Exploration’s common process for building the regional framework and play fairway analysis, is the construction of Gross Depositional Environment (GDE) maps. These maps are generated for reservoir, seal and source rock distribution and are used to focus exploration activity in the sweet spots in the basin. One of the primary GDE Levels that was part of the regional framework on the East Mediterranean is the present day GDE. The primary features that could be interpreted on that fairway reflect some processes that help in the understanding of the turbidite systems in the Tertiary stratigraphy. The present-day depositional facies in the Nile Delta exhibit a dramatic variety of carbonate, evaporite and clastic facies which may provide insights into deposition within the Tertiary stratigraphy. Mapping of the sea bed in the vicinity of the Rosetta Canyon may reflect elements of the turbidite channel systems within the Oligocene to Pliocene stratigraphy. The changes in the depositional elements and morphology of the canyon is highly influenced by the changes in slope gradient and the basin/slope boundary. The interpretation of the present day GDE, together with sea bed features (canyons, faults and mud/gas volcanos), are providing some guidelines to the understanding of the tectonic history and changes in depositional environments in some of the Tertiary reservoirs distributed in the Nile Delta Basin.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90355 © 2019 AAPG Africa Region, The Eastern Mediterranean Mega-Basin: New Data, New Ideas and New Opportunities, Alexandra, Egypt, September 6-7, 2019