Numerous deep-water play types have been identified along the transform margin of NW Egypt. A large segment of the offshore Matruh Basin has play types related to a prominent shale décollement within the Matruh Canyon. The footwalls of the growth faults associated with the shale detachment provide fault-controlled three-way closures very similar to the well-known rafts in the Lower Congo Basin in West Africa. As updip extension transitions to downdip contraction, some thin-skinned toe-thrust imbrications can be found in the ultradeep-water part of Matruh Basin. Another important play type in the deep-water offshore Matruh Basin is related to the prominent syn-rift “hinge zone” of an interpreted transform margin of the eastern Mediterranean. This play type could serve as a play opener along the transform margin of NW Egypt and NE Libya. The offshore Matruh and Herodotus basins of NW Egypt represent an underexplored region of the Mediterranean, with only one deep-water well drilled along the margin to date.
The offshore Matruh and Herodotus basins of NW Egypt represent an underexplored region of the Eastern Mediterranean with only two wells drilled along the margin to date. The Matruh Canyon segment in the broader Matruh Basin appears to be unique in Egypt having a large gravity-driven linked system detached on shale. The updip extension with blocks bounded by listric normal faults (rafts) in the onshore part of the system transitions into downdip contraction with toe-thrust imbrications in the ultra-deep water part of the Herodotus Basin. The structures above a prominent Cretaceous shale detachment level within the basin fill of the Matruh Canyon developed during two major periods. The Syrian Arc regional-scale inversional episodes appear to trigger and reactivate the gravity-driven linked system during the Santonian and the mid-Cenozoic. Whereas the Messinian unconformity post-dates the formation of the rafts, an offhore segment of the linked system shows neotectonic activity.
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