DAHOMEY - WESTERN NI ER DEI TA PASSIV e TRANSFORM MARGIN: Introduction The Nigerian coastal basins (the Niger Delta and the Dahomey Basin) have been studied since the early 1980's primarily for mincral and petroleum resourees. ‘These basins are two of several passive margins types (Klemme, 1980) located on the West Afiican continental margin of Gulf of Guinea. In a tectonic plate contest. the margin is considered translational (Grant. 1971, Burke. 1976). with its counterpart being the equatorial margin of Brazil (Ceara and Potiguar basins). As mentioned in Doust and Omatsola (1989 and this volume) and discussed by several authors (c.g , Burke, et al, 1971; Burke and Whiteman, 1973: Burke, 1976; Ajakaiye etal, 1986; Benkhehl etal , 1988: Babalola and Gipson, 1991), the origin of the West African marginal basins is related to tensional processes which broke the crust of the Gondwana supercontinent during the jurassic. The breakup occurred along a series of rift zones of different orientations that met in a triple junction in the area of the present Gulf of Guinea at the location now occupied by the Niger Delta, Two of the arms. aligned along the SW and SE coasts of Nigeria and Cameroon. developed into collapsed continental margins of the South Atlantic, whereas the third, failed arm developed into the Benue Trough. The separation of Aftica from South America, which began some 130 Ma ago as a result of crustal stretching, faulting, and subsidence, occurred in a continent-o-continent transeurrent contact along, the northem shore of Gulf of Guinea (Mascle and Blarez, 1987). This transform margin is characterized by pull- apart basins which are bounded along strike (NW and SF sides) by transform faults, and on their NE ends by southwest-dipping normal faults (Grant, 1971), such as in Tano and Keia basins in Cote D'Ivoire, and Ghana and the Dahomey Basin. In contrast the Niger Delta / Benue Trough, located at the eastern-end of these transform ditections, displays characteristics of a sheared basin (Burke, 1976). ‘The stratigraphic evolution of the Dahomey Basin offshore shows three main teetono-stratigraphie units associated with the following stages of development: a pre-rift/ basement phase, non-manne / lacustrine (rif), and oceanie (dnt) (Figure 3), ‘The pre-rift Pan Afvican basement of the Dahomey Basin is characterized by lineaments and faults produced during crustal consolidation, In outcrops the basement consists mainly of mobile belt igneous and metamorphic rocks (Hessouh et al. 1994), The basement top is recognized on the seismic data as a very strong and low frequeney reflector below which there are chaotic reflectors, The pre-rift may also possibly include Paleozoic, Triassic, and Jurassic continental and shallow marine sediments. Two phases are recognized in the tif tectonie stage - First Phase’ formation of half graben system during the Neocomian("), possibly creating a narrow rift valley with lakes and yoleanocs similar to present day Fast Africa (Hessouh et al,, 1994) ~ Second Phase: crustal subsidence and the deposition of sediments, which formed a wedge: ie. part ofa sag basin, between the half graben system and the breakup unconformity A dnifi-related sedimentary wedge was deposited afier the breakup of the South American and African continents, which constitutes the upper Aptian to Recent marine megasequen In the late Albian to early Turonian times, deep water shales and calcilutites constituted a source rock for the Dahomey Basin and the West African continental margins, as in the Brazilian equatorial marginal basins [AAPG CN #41, Course Manual and Aas of Structural Styies on Reflection Profies trom the Niger Deta, 2002 Digital Canynaht ©) 2018 The Amarcan Association ot Petroleum Geolog sts