Int. J. Pure Appl. Sci. Technol., 10(2) (2012), 38-61.

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Akata Formation
The Akata Formation is the under compacted, over pressured, marine prodelta megafacies of the
Niger Delta basin. It is composed mainly of marine shale with occasional turbidite sandstone and
siltstone (Short and Stauble, 1967). The thickness ranges from 600m to over 6000m and depends on
the shale diapirism. It is thought to be the sources rock of the Niger delta complex. Abundance of
planktonic foraminifera assemblage indicates deposition of the Akata shale on a shallow marine
environment (Whiteman 1982).

Agbada Formation
The Agbada Formation underlies the Benin formation and consist of interbeded fluviomarine sands,
sandstones and siltstone of various proportion and thickness representing cyclic sequence of offlap
unit (Weber, 1971). Texturally the sandstone vary from coarse to fine grained, poorly to very well
sorted, unconsolidated to slightly consolidated. Lignite streak and limonite coating occur with some
shell fragment and glauconitic (Short and Stauble, 1967). The shale are medium to dark grey, fairly
consolidated and silty with localized glauconitc. Shaliness increases sownward and the formation
passes gradually into the Akata formation. The Agbada Formation constitute a complex series of
deposits laid down under at least five sub-environments of deposition including holomarine, Barrier
bar, barrier foot, Tidal coastal plain and lower deltaic flood plain (Whiteman, 1982). The thickness
arranges from 0-4 500m.

Benin Formation
The Benin Formation is the Topmost unit, composed of fluviatile gravel and sands. It is described as
the coastal plain sands which outcrop at Benin, Onitsha and Owerri province and elsewhere in the
Delta area (Reyment, 1965). The deposit is predominantly continental in origin and consist of
massive, highly porous, fresh water bearing sandstones with little shale intercalation which increases
toward the base of the formation.
Texturally, it consists of fine grained sand and commonly granular. The grains are sub-rounded to
well rounded, poorly sorted and partly unconsolidated. The sand are white or yellowish brown due to
limonitic coat. Plant remains and lignite streak occur in places, with haematite and feldspar grain
(Weber, 1971). It ranges from Miocene-Recent in age although lack of faunal content makes it
difficult to date directly. The thickness ranges from 0-2100m (Short and Stauble, 1967). It is thickest
in the central area of the delta where there is maximum subsidence. The Benin formation is partly
marine, partly deltaic, partly estuarine and partly lagoonal or lay down in a continental upper deltaic
environment (Short and Stauble, 1967; Reyment 1965). To date, very little oil have been found in the
Benin formation

Structural Setting
Growth fault triggered by penecontemparaneous deformation of deltaic sediment are the common
structures in the Niger Delta, (Merki, 1972; Evamy et al, 1987). They are generated by rapid
sedimentation and gravitational instability during the accumulation of the Agbada deposits and
continental Benin sands over the mobile undercompacted Akata prodelta shale. Lateral flowage and
extrusion of the Akata prodelta shale during growth faulting also account for the diapiric structure on
the continental slope of the Niger Delta in front of the advancing depocentre of paralic sediment
(Selley, 1997). (Weber and Daukoru, 1975), recognized four main types of oil field structure
(Figure5)

a. Simple rollover structure

b. Structure with multiple growth fault
c. Structure with antithetic fault
d. Collapsed crest structure