Skip to content
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Menu
Home
About Us
Resources
Profiles Metrics
Authors Directory
Institutions Directory
Top Authors
Top Institutions
Top Sponsors
AI Digest
Contact Us
Publication Details
AFRICAN RESEARCH NEXUS
SHINING A SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICAN RESEARCH
Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Upper Cretaceous to Paleogene Kilwa Group, southern coastal Tanzania
Journal of African Earth Sciences, Volume 45, No. 4-5, Year 2006
Notification
URL copied to clipboard!
Description
The geology of southern coastal Tanzania has remained poorly understood since the first comments on its stratigraphy were made over 100 years ago. However, new field surveys combined with shallow drilling along the coast between Kilwa and Lindi are beginning to resolve the depositional history and structural evolution of this region over the past 85 Ma. Here we present the first attempt to synthesize the results of these studies to provide a coherent sedimentological, litho- and sequence stratigraphic framework, including new geological maps, for the Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene of the coastal zone. Santonian to Oligocene sediments crop out along a broad coastal belt south of the Rufiji River from the Kilwa peninsula to Lindi Creek in southern Tanzania. During ∼55 Ma, over 1 km of a broadly homogeneous, mid to outer shelf clay-dominated succession was deposited across the passive margin, which we define here as the Kilwa Group. This lies disconformably across the shelf on Albian marls and is itself unconformably overlain by shallow water Miocene clays and more recent limestones, sands and gravels. Four formations can be identified within the Kilwa Group on the basis of characteristic secondary lithologies and facies, described here for the first time; the Nangurukuru, Kivinje, Masoko and Pande Formations. These formations include conformable stratigraphic intervals through both the Paleocene-Eocene and Eocene-Oligocene boundaries. Within the Kilwa Group, 12 sequence stratigraphic cycles can be identified at present, demonstrating relatively uniform and continual subsidence across the margin from Santonian to Early Oligocene time. A further major bounding surface is present between the Upper Cretaceous and Paleogene, but this may become partly conformable in the Lindi area. Although the principal lithology in all formations is clay or claystone, there are more permeable intervals containing pervasive coarser siliciclastic sediments and these have yielded traces of crude oil which is likely to have migrated from lower in the succession. The Kilwa Group thus also provides important new evidence for petroleum play development in the southern coastal zone. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors & Co-Authors
Nicholas, Christopher J.
Ireland, Dublin
Trinity College Dublin
Pearson, Paul Nicholas
United Kingdom, Cardiff
Cardiff University
Bown, Paul R.
United Kingdom, London
University College London
Jones, Tom Dunkley
United Kingdom, London
University College London
Huber, Brian T.
United States, Washington, D.c.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Karega, Amina
Tanzania, Dar es Salaam
Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation
Lees, Jackie A.
United Kingdom, London
University College London
McMillan, Ian K.
United Kingdom, Cardiff
Cardiff University
O'Halloran, Aoife
Ireland, Dublin
Trinity College Dublin
Singano, Joyce M.
Tanzania, Dar es Salaam
Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation
Wade, Bridget S.
United States, New Brunswick
Rutgers University–new Brunswick
Statistics
Citations: 101
Authors: 11
Affiliations: 6
Identifiers
Doi:
10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2006.04.003
ISSN:
08995362
e-ISSN:
1464343X
Research Areas
Environmental
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Locations
Tanzania