Hydrocarbon Prospectivity in Mesozoic and Early–Middle Cenozoic Rift Basins of Central and Northern Kenya, Eastern Africa

Tiercelin, Jean-Jacques; Nalpas, Thierry; Thuo, Peter; Potdevin, Jean-Luc

doi:10.1306/13351553m1001742

Cited by 14 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Our thermochronological results from the Elgeyo and Samburu sites in the northern and central Kenya Rift sectors agree with the well-documented, regionally widespread Paleogene episode of extension in the Turkana region [Morley et al, 1992;Foster and Gleadow, 1996;Morley et al, 1999;Morley, 2002;Tiercelin et al, 2012]. East of the present-day Elgeyo Escarpment, Paleogene normal faulting and coeval sedimentation along the proto-Kerio Basin had been previously inferred based on a pronounced negative Bouguer gravity anomaly, reflecting a thick sedimentary fill, thought to be incompatible with the amount of Neogene extension and tectonic basin subsidence [Morley et al, 1992;Mugisha et al, 1997].…”

Section: Regional Implications For Rifting In East Africasupporting

confidence: 86%

“…These basins span the region between the Ugandan border and Lake Turkana (Fig. 1), and they host sedimentary fills 5 to 8 km thick that include intercalated volcanic rocks [Morley et al, 1992;Tiercelin et al, 2012]. However, apatite (U-Th)/He and fission-track data from the western rift flank (Cherangani Hills of northern Kenya) and from the presentday eastern rift flank southeast of Lake Turkana (Figs.…”

Section: Geological Setting and Tectonic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cenozoic extension in the Kenya Rift from low‐temperature thermochronology: Links to diachronous spatiotemporal evolution of rifting in East Africa

et al. 2015

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Key points: Data and modeling show Paleogene and middle Miocene cooling episodes  Cooling episodes separated by stable conditions, slow exhumation or subsidence  Extension pattern is compatible with random rift initiation above a plume This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/2015TC003949 ©2015 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved. AbstractThe cooling history of rift shoulders and the subsidence history of rift basins are cornerstones for reconstructing the morphotectonic evolution of extensional geodynamic provinces, assessing their role in paleoenvironmental changes, and evaluating the resource potential of their basin fills. Our apatite fission-track and zircon (U-Th)/He data from the Samburu Hills and the Elgeyo Escarpment in the northern and central sectors of the Kenya Rift indicate a broadly consistent thermal evolution of both regions. Results of thermal modeling support a three-phased thermal history since the early Paleocene. The first phase (~65-50 Ma) was characterized by rapid cooling of the rift shoulders and may be coeval with faulting and sedimentation in the Anza Rift basin, now located in the subsurface of the Turkana depression and areas to the east in northern Kenya. In the second phase, very slow cooling or slight reheating occurred between ~45 and 15 Ma as a result of either stable surface conditions, very slow exhumation, or subsidence. The third phase comprised renewed rapid cooling starting at ~15 Ma. This final cooling represents the most recent stage of rifting, which followed widespread flood-phonolite emplacement and has shaped the present-day landscape through rift shoulder uplift, faulting, basin filling, protracted volcanism, and erosion. When compared with thermochronologic and geologic data from other sectors of the East African Rift System, extension appears to be diachronous, spatially disparate, and partly overlapping, likely driven by interactions between mantle-driven processes and crustal heterogeneities, rather than the previously suggested north-south migrating influence of a mantle plume.

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Section: Regional Implications For Rifting In East Africasupporting

confidence: 86%

Section: Geological Setting and Tectonic Historymentioning

confidence: 99%

Cenozoic extension in the Kenya Rift from low‐temperature thermochronology: Links to diachronous spatiotemporal evolution of rifting in East Africa

et al. 2015

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“…This region has been described as the most important area in eastern Africa for studying a long-lived segment of the East African Rift System and how it interacted with the Cretaceous-Paleogene southern Sudan and Anza rifts (Fairhead, 1986;Reeves et al, 1987;Greene et al, 1991;Morley et al, 1999c). The present-day Lake Turkana Basin is part of a string of major N-S oriented half-grabens that developed between Cretaceous and Eocene-Oligocene to Pliocene-Pleistocene times (Mugisha et al, 1997;Morley et al, 1999a,d;Hautot et al, 2000;Tiercelin and Lezzar, 2002;Tiercelin et al, 2004Tiercelin et al, , 2011Ducrocq et al, 2010) (Fig. 1c).…”

Section: Regional Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1c). Depth to basement was interpreted to be 4 km for the Lotikipi Basin, and 6 km for the Gatome Basin (Wescott et al, 1999;Desprès, 2008;Tiercelin et al, 2011). Seismic data from the Gatome Basin revealed one major half-graben basin sequence consisting of lavas belonging to the ''Turkana Volcanics'' and pre-volcanic sedimentary rocks that may correlate to the Lapur Sandstone, overlying Precambrian basement.…”

Section: Regional Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1c), partly filled by thick piles of volcanics (up to 3.5 km) and sub-volcanic sedimentary formations of possible Cretaceous or early Cenozoic age. These sediments were interpreted as possibly correlative with the ''Lubur Series'' outcropping to the east of these basins (Morley et al, 1999e;Wescott et al, 1999), or with the Muruanachok Sandstone that outcrops to the south-southwest (Wescott et al, 1999;Thuo, 2009;Tiercelin et al, 2011) (Figs. 2 and 3).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Stratigraphy, sedimentology and diagenetic evolution of the Lapur Sandstone in northern Kenya: Implications for oil exploration of the Meso-Cenozoic Turkana depression

Tiercelin

Potdevin

Thuo

et al. 2012

Journal of African Earth Sciences

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Evolution of the northern Turkana Depression (East African Rift System, Kenya) during the Cenozoic rifting: New insights from the Ekitale Basin (28‐25.5 Ma)

et al. 2018

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Two sedimentary basins are identified in the Turkana Depression (East African Rift System, Kenya). One of them, the Ekitale Basin, is presented in detail. Located on the western rift shoulder of the northern Turkana Depression, the preserved portion of the Ekitale Basin is 3–5‐km wide and bordered by N40°–50° normal faults. These normal faults were inherited from the reactivation of pre‐existing basement structures. The Ekitale Basin is filled by the ~75‐m‐thick Topernawi Formation. The lower portion of the formation provides evidence that the basin was occupied by a lake, bordered by alluvial fans, and into which river‐derived turbiditic complexes were deposited. The upper portion is comprised of pyroclastic deposits, originating from volcanic activity, and interbedded with fluvial deposits emplaced during periods of volcanic quiescence. The Ekitale Basin opened just after 28 Ma and was abandoned prior to 25 Ma, placing it after the deposition of the Oligocene Traps (ca. 33.9–27 Ma) and prior to the rift climax (after 14 Ma). This syn‐rift basin largely impacts our understanding of the Cenozoic rift evolution in the Turkana Depression. It helps to identify, for the first time, the first pulse of extension of the Cenozoic rifting, revealing a two‐step rifting scenario for the northern Turkana Depression. The Ekitale Basin, and analogous syn‐rift basins, is believed to have developed from the reactivation of pre‐existing structures during a period of extension marked by low differential stress and a low amount of extension.

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Hydrocarbon Prospectivity in Mesozoic and Early–Middle Cenozoic Rift Basins of Central and Northern Kenya, Eastern Africa

Cited by 14 publications

References 48 publications

Cenozoic extension in the Kenya Rift from low‐temperature thermochronology: Links to diachronous spatiotemporal evolution of rifting in East Africa

Cenozoic extension in the Kenya Rift from low‐temperature thermochronology: Links to diachronous spatiotemporal evolution of rifting in East Africa

Stratigraphy, sedimentology and diagenetic evolution of the Lapur Sandstone in northern Kenya: Implications for oil exploration of the Meso-Cenozoic Turkana depression

Evolution of the northern Turkana Depression (East African Rift System, Kenya) during the Cenozoic rifting: New insights from the Ekitale Basin (28‐25.5 Ma)

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