Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Marine and Petroleum Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpetgeo

Regional geology and petroleum systems of the Illizi–Berkine area

of the Algerian Saharan Platform: An overview
S. Galeazzi a, *, O. Point b, N. Haddadi b, J. Mather c, D. Druesne d
a
Total Austral, Moreno 877, Buenos Aires, 1091, Argentina
b
Total S.A., 2, place Jean Millier - La Défense 6, 92078 Paris, La Défense Cedex, France
c
Total E&P Australia, Level 13 - BGC Centre 28, The Esplanade Perth, WA 6000, Australia
d
Total E&P Canada, 2900, 240, 4th Avenue S.W., Calgary, Alberta T2P 4H4, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Berkine and Illizi basins are Palaeozoic–Mesozoic intraplate depressions that preserve an over
Received 22 October 2008 7000 m thick sedimentary rock record and contain world-class petroleum systems with over 39 BBOE
Accepted 29 October 2008 EUR hydrocarbon reserves. Regional seismic transects and a wealth of well data are used to review the
Available online 17 March 2009
tectonostratigraphic evolution of the area. The Gondwana (Palaeozoic) and Tethys (Mesozoic) super-
cycles make up the bulk of the Phanerozoic succession. These 1st order cycles record extensional basin
Keywords:
formation, followed by a protracted period of overall net subsidence, and conclude with basin inversion
Berkine
and regional uplift during the Hercynian and Alpine orogenies respectively. Structural styles were
Illizi
Saharan Platform dictated by transpressional or transtensional reactivation of mostly NNE oriented basement structural
Palaeozoic sequence stratigraphy grain of Late Proterozoic–Ea.Cambrian (Pan-African) age and vertical movement of long wavelength
Intracratonic tectonism regional highs and lows. Local tectonism is considered to be the far-field effect of plate-tectonic processes
Hercynian Orogeny that affected the North African plate-boundaries, such as the Caledonian and Hercynian Orogenies, the
Ahara high opening of the Tethys and Atlantic oceans, and the Alpine Orogeny. These were accompanied by localised
Arenigian Unconformity thermal mantle processes.
Ashgillian Glaciation Regional unconformities subdivide the Gondwana and Tethys supercycles into eight and seven mega-
Silurian Hot Shale
sequences respectively. These regional units often record 2nd order transgressive–regressive cycles that
Devonian Hot Shale
constrain the mapping of reservoir-seal pairs and of main source rock intervals. The lower Palaeozoic
TAGI
TAGS megasequences are characterised by sand-rich laterally extensive coarse-grained fluvial and shallow
marine reservoirs interbedded with thin and widespread marine shales. They were mostly deposited in
shorelines of shallow epeiric seas and continental braided river systems, or during the Late Ordovician, in
a short-lived continental glacial system. Third order sequences display ramp-style geometries with
largely parallel to low-angle sigmoidal stratal patterns. Early Mesozoic sedimentation followed the Late
Palaeozoic uplift and peneplanation in the form of hinterland sequences containing fluvial and alluvial
sandstones and playa-lake mudstones and evaporites interbedded with thin lacustrine or shallow marine
shales and dolomites. The prolific petroleum systems that evolved within these series are associated with
the Early Silurian and Late Devonian world-class source rocks and numerous Paleozoic and Triassic
reservoirs.
This regional review provides a renewed comprehensive insight into the geological evolution of the area
that can help guide local exploration efforts, but also serves as a model for exploration in other intra-
cratonic basins of the world.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction and scope
The Berkine–Ghadames and Illizi basins are Palaeozoic and Early
Mesozoic tectonic depressions situated within the Saharan Plat-
form, to the south of the Atlas Orogenic Belt (Plate 1). They evolved
during the Palaeozoic as intracratonic depocentres where thick
sedimentary series were deposited over a high-grade metamorphic
and igneous Proterozoic basement. A major Late Palaeozoic
Unconformity separates the Palaeozoic basins from a northward
thickening Mesozoic wedge, which forms part of the NW African

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: sebastian.galeazzi@total.com (S. Galeazzi).

0264-8172/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2008.10.002
144 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Plate 1. (A) Enhanced satellite image of the Maghreb region (NW Africa), showing the main tectonic domains of the area and the location of the study area (NW Africa). The
Berkine–Ghadames and Illizi basins are Palaeozoic intracratonic depressions developed within the Saharan Platform. The Pan-African Tilemsi Suture separates the Eglab and Hoggar
massifs. N–S oriented basement faults formed during the Pan-African Orogeny and strongly influenced the structural grain of the Berkine–Ghadames and Illizi basins. The Amguid
fault and its continuation into the Amguid–El Biod fault trend bounds both basins to the west. (B) Pre-Mesozoic subcrop map of the Saharan Platform, showing the main Late
Palaeozoic (mostly ‘Hercynian’)–Early Mesozoic tectonic elements.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
passive margin of the Tethys basins. The complex Proterozoic
basement was accreted during the Pan-African Orogeny, and the
Gondwana, Tethys and Alpine 1st order tectono-sedimentary cycles
formed the region’s sedimentary and structural architecture. The
sedimentary rocks, regional unconformities and varied structures
register the geological evolution of the area throughout the
Phanerozoic.
The Berkine–Ghadames and Illizi (BGI) basins and the
surrounding regional highs of Tihemboka, Amguid–El Biod and
Hassi Messaoud make up a large and highly prolific world-class
petroleum province with some 39 BBOE in EUR (estimated ultimate
recovery) reserves. The Illizi basin contains known EUR reserves of
more than 5000 million barrels of oil, and over 37 trillion cubic feet
of gas (IHS, 2008). In addition, the Berkine–Ghadames basin
including the El Biod high area contains known EUR reserves of
over 20,000 million barrels of oil and more than 43 trillion cubic
feet of gas (IHS Database, 2008).
Almost 50 years of petroleum exploration and production by
Total S.A. and its predecessor companies have provided us with an
extensive database to describe the subsurface of the BGI basins.
Seismic and well data and numerous published detailed descrip-
tions of spectacular outcrops gave the information needed to try to
advance on the description of the subsurface geology of the area.
Our observations build upon previous in-house studies and publi-
cations by numerous authors, notably the regional studies of Beuf
et al. (1971), Fabre (1976), Legrand (1985), and Boote et al. (1998).
The Saharan Palaeozoic basins display stratigraphic architecture
and structural styles typical of intracratonic basins, characterised
by relatively thin and laterally extensive sedimentary series that
contain major regional unconformities and are arranged in broad
synclines and anticlines, affected by regional basement-involved
faults, and crustal buckling. Regional highs and faults are usually
long-lived features that separate basins, and some are organised in
strike-slip fault belts. Faults are often reactivated through time as
a response to tectonic events developed either close to the area or
more often to relatively distant plate-boundary events.
In this article we describe the whole Palaeozoic and Mesozoic
series of the BGI basins. However, we go into detail especially on the
Late Cambrian–Devonian and Triassic series, where most of the
hydrocarbons of the area occur. Our major objective is to describe
the tectonostratigraphic evolution of the BGI region of the Saharan
Platform, and the petroleum systems contained therein (Plate 1).
Other basins in the area, such as Tindouf, Reggane, Ahnet, Oued
Mya, Mouydir, and Murzuk (Plates 1 and 2) share a similar
geological evolution. Nevertheless, from a structural standpoint,
they differ on the degree of deformation during the Hercynian
Orogeny, and their Mesozoic subsidence, and consequently in the
timing and exploration potential of their petroleum systems.
2. Regional geological setting and Phanerozoic
tectonostratigraphic evolution
The BGI basins are Palaeozoic cratonic tectonic depressions that
formed next to the Gondwana passive margin in NE Africa
(Maghreb), probably as part of the proximal landward encroach-
ment of the passive margin wedge (Burke et al., 2003). They are
located in the Saharan Platform, between the Hoggar Massif and
the Saharan Atlas. Plates 1 and 2 display the main regional tectonic
domains and the stratigraphic architecture of the Maghreb region:
a northern deformed area of Alpine s.l. age, along the Tellian and
Saharan Atlas of Algeria and their continuation in the Rif and High-
Atlas ranges of Morocco; a western area of intense Hercynian
deformation that encompasses the Ougarta and the Anti Atlas
ranges; and a central, less-deformed region, largely covered by the
Great Saharan Ergs, which constitutes the Saharan Platform. The
145
Eglab Massif (Late Archean) and the Hoggar Massif (Late Protero-
zoic) are high-grade metamorphic and igneous terranes that bound
the region to the south. The Palaeozoic series outcrops in spectac-
ular exposures on the northern flank of these massifs, where details
of stratigraphy, facies and tectonism have been described by
numerous authors, remarkably by Beuf et al. (1971), and Fabre
(1976), amongst others.
The Saharan Platform contains a very long sedimentary record
of the Palaeozoic (Late Cambrian–Late Carboniferous) and Meso-
zoic (Mid Triassic–Late Cretaceous), which includes major regional
unconformities that record numerous periods of erosion (Beuf
et al., 1971; Fabre, 1976). The regional cross sections in Plates 2 and
3 show the overall stratigraphic and structural architecture of the
Saharan Platform. They illustrate the major 1st order tectonos-
tratigraphic units that make up the stratigraphy of the area: the
Palaeozoic ‘‘Gondwana Supersequence’’ separated from the Meso-
zoic–Early Tertiary ‘‘Tethys Supersequence’’ by the Late Palaeozoic
‘‘Hercynian’’ Unconformity.
The Palaeozoic ‘‘Gondwana Supersequence’’ (Boote et al., 1998)
consists of a 4000 m thick, mostly clastic sedimentary fill deposited
in shallow intracratonic marine basins. It records the Palaeozoic
depositional history of northern Gondwana after the Pan-African
Orogeny, and until the closure of the Iapetus and Rehic Oceans
during the Late Carboniferous Hercynian (Variscian) Orogeny.
Within this Supersequence gentle structures record tectonic events
that have been correlated to orogenies and plate-tectonic rear-
rangement phases (Table 1). They are often evidenced by major
tectonically enhanced unconformities such as the ‘‘Base Devonian’’
and Early Eifelian unconformities (Plate 4). The Palaeozoic series
were severely uplifted and eroded during the Late Carboniferous
Hercynian Orogeny and the following thermal uplift that heralded
the Pangea break-up. Plate 1B shows a pre-Mesozoic subcrop map
that illustrates the truncation of Palaeozoic strata at the Hercynian
Unconformity, and consequently the regional highs and basins
formed during the Mid–Late Carboniferous–Permian deformation
and uplift of the Saharan Platform.
After Late Palaeozoic peneplanation, subsidence resumed in the
Early Mesozoic and was recorded by the deposition of the ‘‘Tethys
Supersequence’’ (Boote et al., 1998). This 1st order depositional
cycle records the intraplate evolution during the opening and
closure of the Tethys Ocean. This tectonic cycle was represented in
the Saharan Platform by the formation of the completely discordant
‘‘successor’’ Triassic extensional basin (Triassic Salt basin) in the
northern portion of the Berkine–Ghadames and the Oued Mya
basins (Plate 2). The Late Palaeozoic Hercynian Regime was fol-
lowed by a period of emersion accentuated by an uplift to the north,
i.e. the Djeffara–Dahar high, which may be interpreted as a rift
shoulder associated with Permian rifting events documented in the
Djeffara region (Stampfli et al., 2001). These rifting events heralded
the inception of the Tethys passive margin of North Africa, and the
departure of the Apulian plate. Triassic–Lias extension was fol-
lowed by sedimentation within the landward tracts of the Tethys
encroachment, and a continuous northerly tilting of the underlying
Palaeozoic Platform during the Late Mesozoic. Mid–Late Mesozoic
subsidence was interrupted by the Late Neocomian tectonic event,
associated with intense deformation along the Amguid–El Biod
fault trend (Plate 1).
The base-Tertiary (or Atlasic) Unconformity, formed during the
Late Cretaceous to Early–Mid Tertiary mild but protracted regional
uplift of the Saharan Platform, which was coupled with the
thermal uplift of the Hoggar Massif in the south. Tertiary Alpine
tectonism induced local fault reactivation within the Saharan
Platform. The regional uplift and the accentuation of the Late
Mesozoic regional northerly tilting resulted in the unroofing of
the Illizi basin.
146 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Table 1
Tectonic evolution and major tectonically enhanced unconformities in the Berkine–Illizi region of the Saharan Platform.

Tectonic event Time interval Major tectonically enhanced Remarks

unconformities
Alpine Orogeny s.l. Mid Miocene– Not studied Regional uplift of Saharan Platform, minor continental deposition during Miocene–
Quaternary Quat. Emplacement of Tellian nappes
Alpine Orogeny s.l. Atlasic Mid–Late Eocene Atlasic Unc (Late Cretaceous– s1 N160 E. Regional Uplift and northerly tilting of Saharan Platform. Over 2000 m uplift
Phase and Hoggar Palaeogene) of Hoggar Massif, associated with Eocene volcanism
Uplift
Alpine Orogeny, Early Santonian– Atlasic Unc (Late Cretaceous– s1 N–S Onset of African–Eurasia Collision. Transpressional reactivation of N–E oriented
Atlasic Phase Maastrichtian Palaeogene) structures in the Berkine and El Biod area
Early Cretaceous Late Neocomian– Early Aptian Unc s1 N160E. Sinistral Transpression along N–S faults in El Biod–Amguid region.
Tectonism Ea Aptian Numerous tight ‘‘pop-up’’ anticlines
Tethys Rifting Late Permian Hercynian Unc (Late Carboniferous–Mid s3 N130E. Extensional deformation linked to opening of Tethys Ocean. Accompanied by
Triassic–Jurassic Triassic), TRIAS 3 Unc (Norian) local thermal uplift and volcanism of Ladinian–Norian age
Hercynian Orogeny Late Devonian– Hercynian Unc (Late Carboniferous–Mid s1 NE–SW. Local transpressional reactivation of N–S oriented structures in El Biod
Permian Uplift Late Triassic), Namurian Unc, Strunian Unc Trend. Regional uplift and possible lithospheric buckling. Major erosion of pre-Late
Carboniferous (Dev–Carb Boundary) Carboniferous Palaeozoic series
Caledonian Regime Late Silurian– ‘‘Base Devonian’’ Unc, Pragian Unc s1 Roughly E–W. Local fault reactivation and associated folding in Ahara and
Early Devonian Tihemboka high region
Extensional Arenigian Late Arenig Unc (Ea. Arenigian) ‘‘Seq-Ord2 s3 E–W. Tectonic subsidence along Illizi basin centre. Major erosion on Ahara high and
Event Tremadocian– SB; base of Hamra Quartzite’’ NE Berkine areas
Early Arenigian
Pan-African Orogeny Late Proterozoic ‘‘Infra Tassilis Unc’’ (Top Basement) s1 E–W. Major Orogeny due to collision of East and West African Cratons. Major uplift
and pervasive N–S faulting and folding that define regional basement grain. Orogen’s
metamorphic and igneous root comprises basement of Berkine–Illizi area

Chronostratigraphy of unconformities, depositional units, and tectonic events shown on Plate 4.

Table 1 summarises the main tectonic phases that the Saharan
Platform went through during the last 600 Ma. The Gondwana and
Tethys 1st order cycles can be thought to record extensional and
transtentional basin formation, followed by a protracted period of
overall net subsidence during which the area worked as a number
of basins separated by regional highs, and concluding with basin
inversion and regional uplift during the Hercynian and Alpine
orogenies respectively.
2.1. The basement
The regional structural framework of the BGI basins is domi-
nated by N–S and NNE–SSW trending Pan-African basement faults
(Plates 1 and 3). The Saharan basement is well exposed in the
Hoggar Massif (Plate 1). The Late Proterozoic metamorphic suite of
the Hoggar Massif can be interpreted as the exposure of the roots of
the N–S oriented Pharusian Orogen, which continues southward
into the Dahomeyide mobile belt. It formed during the Late
Proterozoic collision between the West African Craton (Reguibat
Massif) and the East African continent, which included the Hoggar
Massif (Bessoles, 1983; Plate 1). The Tilemsi Suture, which runs NW
in the Western Sahara, separates the two accreted continental
blocks (Plate 1). The Hoggar area comprises most of the mobile belt
associated with this collision (Boullier, 1991). It consists of an
amalgam of igneous–metamorphic terranes separated by a N–S
trending pattern of anastomosing Pan-African shear zones (Coward
and Ries, 2003). These shear zones represent more brittle defor-
mation and formed late in the collisional process. They may be due
to continental escape, such as that of central Asia due to the colli-
sion of India with Asia (Burke et al., 2003; Coward and Ries, 2003).
The Hoggar shield comprises three main tectono-magmatic
terranes separated by shear zones: the western, central, and
eastern Hoggar (Plate 1B, Boullier, 1991). The western Pharusian
Hoggar is a Late Proterozoic terrane involving Archean granulites,
Early Proterozoic metamorphics and granites, and Late Proterozoic
sediments all intruded by very Late Proterozoic (572–592 Ma)
granites. The central Hoggar consists mostly of Early–Mid Prote-
rozoic metamorphics and granitoids, intruded by 600–615 Ma
syntectonic granitoids and 515 Ma (Cambrian) granites (Black,
1967). The 4 500 Fault separates the central and western terranes
(Plate 1, Guiraud and Bellion, 1995). The eastern Hoggar is also
a high-grade metamorphic terrane stabilised at c. 730 Ma and
bounded to the west by the Tiririne Belt (Coward and Ries, 2003).
These terranes accreted onto the eastern African Craton during
750–700 Ma, associated with an apparently SE-directed subduction
zone, including accretionary sediments, magmatic arcs and
oceanic–continental terranes. They then collided with the West
African Shield during the Late Proterozoic Pharusian Orogeny at c.
600 Ma. This latest collision affected the entire Hoggar Massif, and
included shear and normal faults associated with northward
displacement of the different terranes, and was associated with the
deposition of a Late Proterozoic molasse in western Algeria within
half grabens. Claret and Tempere (1967) report slightly meta-
morphosed Precambrian rocks in the Hassi Touareg area (just East
of Hassi Messaoud), which can be correlated with Late Proterozoic
syn-orogenic series of the Ahnet basin (Beuf et al., 1971).
Our observations in the BGI area do not show clear Early
Palaeozoic half grabens, but we deduct the presence of deeply
buried subtle Late Cambrian normal faults. Therefore, it is possible
that the BGI basins owe their creation to mild, Late Cambrian
transtensional deformation, which would have followed or possibly
represented an associated process of the lateral continental escape
tectonics during this Late Pan-African collision. Klitzsch (1970)
reports possible Cambrian (Early Palaeozoic?) extensional defor-
mation in Libya.
The basement heterogeneity of the Hoggar Massif continues
into the subsurface of the BGI basins, and determined main Phan-
erozoic deformation trends. These N–S Pan-African fault systems
were repeatedly reactivated during the Phanerozoic, remarkably in
Mid Palaeozoic, Hercynian (Late Palaeozoic), and Mid Mesozoic
tectonic phases (Guiraud and Bellion, 1995). The 4 500 lineament
continues into the study area and evolves to the north into the
Amguid–El Biod fault trend (Plate 1). The Tiririne Belt, which marks
the central–eastern Hoggar boundary continues to the north into
a number of N–S oriented faults, including the Fadnoun fault (Plate
1), marking the western boundary of the Tihemboka high. This high
would then correspond to the northern extension of the Eastern
Hoggar, while the central Hoggar basement would floor most of the
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178 147

Plate 2. Simplified cross sections across selected portions of the Saharan Platform. See text for discussion. The great exaggeration is necessary to give a perspective of the regional
setting of these basins. The reader should keep in mind that the dips in the area are indeed very gentle. Location in Plate 1A.

Illizi basin area (Plate 1). Late Proterozoic basement rocks were
reached by over 20 wells in the area of this study. They consist of
igneous and polyphase-high-grade metamorphic rocks, mostly
granites and granitic gneisses, dated around 650 Ma (Fabre, 1976),
which probably belong to the central Hoggar basement domain
(Fabre, 1976; Bessoles, 1983).
2.2. Tectonic domains
The major tectonic domains that formed as a consequence of the
Phanerozoic evolution of the BGI area are shown in the cross
sections and map in Plate 3. Key intracratonic tectonic elements are
broad basins and regional highs and characteristic strike-lip fault
trends. Regional highs and basins are long-lived features normally
associated with a single major tectonic cycle, e.g. Mid Palaeozoic
highs, Hercynian highs, Mid Mesozoic or Tertiary highs. Contrarily,
some faults and fault trends have been clearly reactivated several
times due to different tectonic events. Table 1 summarises the
major tectonic events that shaped the Saharan Platform during the
Phanerozoic.
2.3. Gentle regional highs
2.3.1. Early and Mid Palaeozoic highs
Isopach maps and cross sections (Fig. 1 and Plate 3) show that
during the Early Palaeozoic, the broad Late Cambrian–Devonian
Ahara high separated the Berkine and Illizi depocentres. In addi-
tion, the Illizi basin was bounded to the south by a long-lived high
in the area now occupied by the Hoggar Massif. The wide and
gentle Tihemboka high developed during the Mid Palaeozoic
separating the Murzuk and the Illizi basins. Isopach maps and
stratigraphic patterns suggest that this high continued to the NW
into the Ahara high in Algeria and the Gargaf high in Libya (Plate 3).
Faults in the Tihemboka area evidence Late Silurian and Early
Devonian tectonic activity. In addition, in the Early Palaeozoic,
a high existed to the west of the Illizi basin but is severely masked
148 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Plate 3. Regional seismic line-drawings of the Illizi and Berkine–Ghadames area. Seismic lines have been calibrated by numerous wells. Interpretation of basement marker in the
Berkine–Ghadames basin is highly hypothetical. Note the characteristic tectonic styles of high-angle, basement-involved normal, reverse and strike-slip faults of varied age. The
times of movement of faults are largely Early Palaeozoic (mostly inferred), Mid Palaeozoic, Hercynian, Triassic, Late Early Cretaceous and Alpine. Note the strongly discordant
Mesozoic succession (Tethys Supersequence) lying over deformed Palaeozoic series (Gondwana Supersequence). The inset provides a simplified tectonic-domains map of the Illizi
and Berkine–Ghadames area.
S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178 149
150 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Fig. 1. Cambro–Ordovician isopach defining major depocentres and regional highs. Note that the usually called Illizi basin extending throughout southern Algeria is actually a well
identified depocentre only towards the SW of the studied area. It continues to the north into the western extension of the Berkine basin.

by Hercynian and ulterior tectonism along the western tracts of the
Amguid–El Biod fault system (Beuf et al., 1971). This mild Mid
Palaeozoic tectonism in the Saharan Platform has been correlated
to the maximum collisional deformation of the Caledonian Orogeny
during the Late Silurian–Early Devonian (Beuf et al., 1971; Fabre,
1976; Table 1).
2.3.2. Late Palaeozoic–pre-Triassic highs
These highs most clearly define the outlines of the Palaeozoic
basins. They are related to regional uplift and compressional
deformation associated with the Hercynian Orogeny. To the west of
the BGI basins, the Hercynian Unconformity subcrop map (Plate 1B)
shows a trend of transpressional highs associated with the reac-
tivation of the northerly oriented Late Palaeozoic strike-slip faults
emanating from the Hoggar area, the Amguid–El Biod fault trend.
To the north, the Dahar high reveals subcropping lower Palaeozoic
beds. As mentioned earlier, this high may represent the shoulders
of the uplift associated with the Permo–Triassic rifts underlying the
Djeffara area (Stampfli et al., 2001). The earlier Palaeozoic highs of
Tihemboka and Ahara were not reactivated during the Hercynian
and pre-Mesozoic events.
2.3.3. Mesozoic and Tertiary highs
The Mesozoic reactivations and the associated inversion structure
along the Amguid–El Biod trend shows the continued activity along
this Late Precambrian strike-slip system (Plate 3). In the Hassi R’Mel
area, the western continuation of the Talemzane–Dahar high was
uplifted during the Late Cretaceous–Tertiary (Plate 2). In addition,
Plate 2 shows an even more spectacular uplift in the Djeffara area of
Tunisia. The cause of the later uplifts is not clear. They could either be
related to the deformation of the Atlas or else to the shoulder uplift
associated with the extension of the Tripolitania extensional system
offshore Libya and Tunisia. In Libya, the Gargaf arch, separating the
Murzuk from the Ghadames basin, i.e. is also active in post Cretaceous
times. Finally, the most spectacular uplift in the area is that of the
Hoggar Massif, uplifted over 2000 m since Eocene times. It is inter-
preted as a Phanerozoic high exhumed during the Eocene thermal
uplift (Fabre, 1976; Guiraud, 1998; Ayadi et al., 2000).
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
The Amguid–El Biod fault trend can be considered a long-lived
‘relatively mild’ strike-slip mobile belt (sensu Storti et al., 2003): an
area of Hercynian, Early Cretaceous, and Tertiary transpressional
deformation where Pan-African N–S and NNE-trending faults were
reactivated during almost all tectonic phases (Plate 3). Guiraud and
Bellion (1995), consider it to form part of the major plate-wide
lithospheric fault of 4 500 that extends from the Saharan Platform to
the Gulf of Guinea. In the area of this study, it is composed of several
N–S and NE oriented anticline and syncline trends and bounding
faults, and some major regional strike-slip faults. Our observations
show that this area comprises both a long-lived Palaeozoic high to
the west (largely beyond the study area) and part of the inverted Illizi
basin centre. Faults were most probably Early Palaeozoic normal
faults that were inverted in Hercynian times. They were then partly
reactivated as transtensional faults during the Late Triassic–Lias, and
then transpressionally reactivated again during the syn-sedimen-
tary Mid Cretaceous ‘‘event’’ and later during the Alpine Orogeny.
2.4. Shifting depocentres
Plates 2 and 3 show the evolution of the major depocentres in
the area during the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. The Palaeozoic basins
surrounded the Ahara–Tihemboka highs, defining a NNW-oriented
depocentre to the west, the Illizi trough, and the Berkine–Gha-
dames depocentre to the north, between the Ahara and the Tale-
mzane–Dahar highs. Note that the Illizi basin, as widely used in the
industry, comprises the petroleum province covering the Ahara
high, the northern Tihemboka high and the eastern flank of the Illizi
basin s.s. (Plate 3). The Late Palaeozoic–pre-Triassic regional uplift
resulted in a major shift of the depocentres and the inversion of
part of the Illizi basin. The Mesozoic ‘‘Triassic Salt basin’’ developed
as a successor basin discordantly covering a great part of the
previous Berkine–Ghadames depression, and the Talemzane–
Dahar high (Plate 2).
2.5. Major tectonostratigraphic units: the Gondwana and Tethys
Supersequences
The Phanerozoic depositional column of the Berkine and Illizi
basins is over 7000 m thick. The cross sections in Plates 2 and 3 depict
the depositional intervals and major unconformities associated with
the different tectonic phases of the Saharan Platform. In addition, the
chronostratigraphic charts in Plate 4 highlight the chronostrati-
graphic significance of major unconformities and illustrate the facies
stacking pattern observed within depositional sequences. We have
studied the depositional series of the area using sequence strati-
graphic principles, based on outcrop, well, and seismic data, sub-
dividing the series into 3rd and 2nd and 1st order sequences
(sequences, megasequences, and supersequences, respectively). In
the same way as previous publications, such as those by Fekirine and
Abdallah (1998) and Crossley and McDougall (1998), we propose
a ‘main’ subdivision of the series into megasequences, separated by
major inter-regional unconformities. We use the term ‘‘mega-
sequence’’ as a long-term composite sequence with duration in the
order of 10–50 m.y. They are thought to be linked either to 2nd order
eustatic cycles or/and major tectonic phases, and correspond to 2nd
order cycles of Vail et al. (1991). Most of the unconformities that
bound megasequences have been recognised and described in detail
in the field by previous authors, notably Beuf et al. (1971) for the Early
Palaeozoic, and more recently Eschard et al. (2005a).
The major unconformities of the Saharan Platform are associ-
ated with the main continental collisions that affected NW Africa,
i.e. the Hercynian and the Atlas (Alpine) orogenies. These major
unconformities separate the series into a lower Gondwana Super-
sequence (Palaeozoic), followed by a Tethys Supersequence
151
(Mesozoic), which are covered in turn by a thin Alpine Super-
sequence (Tertiary) (Plates 2–4). Other major tectonically enhanced
unconformities are interpreted to mark a change in tectonic regime
in the Saharan interior, and are accompanied by reactivation of
some fault trends indicating some degree of local tectonism. Guir-
aud (1999), and Guiraud et al. (2000) show that this tectonic
activity can be interpreted to echo distant (or not so distant) plate-
tectonic events that reactivate favourably oriented major basement
lineaments. Table 1 shows our preferred correlation of major
unconformities and time intervals with varied tectonic regimes and
events. In addition, other major unconformities that were previ-
ously attributed to epeirogenesis or even orogenic uplift show very
little relation with tectonism and are most probably due to major
sea-level falls. A clear example is the so-called ‘‘Taconic’’ (Ashgil-
lian) Unconformity, which is only related to a glacial eustatic fall
(Plate 4).
3. The Palaeozoic ‘Gondwana’ Supersequence: sedimentation,
tectonism and igneous activity
The Gondwana Supersequence is up to 4000 m thick (Plate 2),
and is largely clastic in nature. Deposition began in the Late
Cambrian, most probably due to the long-term Early Palaeozoic
eustatic high (Grabau, 1933), coupled with a slowly subsiding
Proterozoic basement. The most prominent unconformities within
the Palaeozoic and the facies stacking patterns subdivide the
Palaeozoic series into eight megasequences (Plate 4; Table 2). These
units normally show an overall internal transgressive–regressive
facies stacking pattern and provide the framework for regional
correlation of reservoir, seal, and source rock facies. Megasequences
are also observable at the seismic scale. The two main source rocks
of the area were deposited during Early Silurian (Llandoverian) and
Late Devonian (Frasnian) peak transgressions (2nd order
maximum-flooding surfaces).
3.1. Mid–Late Cambrian to Ordovician: basal clastic depositional
cycles of the Saharan Gondwana interior
The Mid–Late Cambrian to Late Ordovician interval ranges in
thickness from 200 to over 900 m and spans over 70 My (Fig. 1,
Plate 4). It consists of mostly siliciclastic mid to high latitude
fluvial, shoreline, and outer shelf marine deposits. It is limited at
its base by the Infratassilis Unconformity (‘Surface Infratassi-
lienne’; Beuf et al., 1971) that separates the Pan-African basement,
from the mildly deformed Palaeozoic depositional cover. Its top is
marked by the glacial Ashgillian Unconformity (Plate 4). The
Cambro–Ordovician interval is characterised by the presence of
thick and laterally extensive fluvial and shallow marine sandstone
intervals separated by discrete marine shale tongues. Fig. 2 shows
a schematic cross section along the Illizi basin, parallel to the
chronostratigraphic chart in Plate 4B, and displays the facies and
stratigraphic architecture of the Cambrian–Early Devonian
interval.
Major unconformities split this interval into three main mega-
sequences (CAM2, ORD1 and ORD2; Plate 4, Fig. 2, Table 2). All of
those unconformities are at least locally, tectonically enhanced, e.g.
ORD-2 Unconformity in the Illizi basin (Fig. 2). The CAM 1 Mega-
sequence has been identified in western Algeria and southern
Morocco, where the Cambrian series exceeds 1000 m in thickness
(Galeazzi et al., 2000). The CAM-2 Unconformity is better expressed
in the northern portion of the Hassi Messaoud area, where it is
interpreted on the basis of facies stacking patterns, and placed at
the base of fluvial facies of the Upper Ra Mb (Hassi Leila Fm),
directly overlying marine facies of the Mid Ra (R2) Mb. In the Illizi
basin, this unconformity is very interpretational and is placed
152 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
Plate 4. (A) N–S chronostratigraphic chart of the Illizi–Berkine area with indication of main petroleum systems. (B) E–W Palaeozoic chronostratigraphic chart of the Illizi basin. Only the most commonly used formation names shown.
Location in Plate 3.

153
154 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Table 2 within the fluvial facies of the Hassi Leila Fm. Conversely, the
Palaeozoic Megasequences of the Berkine and Illizi basins, Saharan Platform, Algeria Arenigian ORD-2 Unconformity is a major erosional surface well
(see also chronostratigraphic charts on Plate 4).
expressed in the western portion of the Illizi basin (Fig. 2). This
Megasequence Age Basal unconformity Peak transgression unconformity is marked by major truncation of the underlying
(duration) (approximate dating) series on the Ahara high, and by onlap of the overlying Mid Ordo-
CARB 2 MS (w?) Mid Mid Namurian Unc Late Namurian (Seq vician succession.
Namurian– (w323 Ma) MCARB-1 MFS)
The maps of Fig. 3 show the palaeogeographic evolution of the
Early Permian
CARB 1 MS Tournaisian– Strunian Visean (Seq LCARB-3 Late Cambrian–Late Ordovician in the study area. Note that the
(w27 Ma) Mid Namurian Unc (w354 Ma) MFS) series can be locally incomplete due to erosion at various Palaeozoic
DEV 2 MS Frasnian– Frasnian Frasnian unconformities.
(w16 Ma) Fammenian Unc (w370 Ma) (Seq Fras-1 MFS) Early and Mid Palaeozoic sequences in the Saharan Platform are
DEV 1 MS Lochkovian– Base Devonian Unc Emsian
(w47 Ma) Eifelian (w417 Ma) (Seq Emsian-1 MFS)
characterised by an overall horizontal stratal-stacking pattern with
ORD-3-SIL 1 Late Ashgillian Early Llandoverian minor intervals showing internal low-angle sigmoidal architecture
MS (w26 Ma) Ashgillian– Unc (w444 Ma) (Seq Sil-1 MFS) (Fig. 4). Major unconformities, readily visible at regional scale, define
Pridolian top and base of megasequences, and often formations too (Plate 4).
ORD-2 MS Early SEQ ORD-2 UNC Late Llanvirnian–Ea.
Within megasequences, the long-term transgressive systems tracts
(w30 Ma) Arenigian– (w480 Ma) Llandeilian (?) (Seq
Late Ashgillian Ord-2 MFS) display a general horizontal stratal-stacking pattern. These intervals
ORD-1 MS Late SEQ ORD-1 UNC Mid Tremadocian often exhibit a general wedge shape due to basal onlap termination
(w20 Ma) Cambrian– (w500 Ma) (Seq Ord-1 MFS) over regional highs and upon underlying unconformities. On the
Low-Ea. other hand, overall progradational intervals, which largely corre-
Arenigian
CAM 2 MS Mid (?)–Late Infra Tassilis Unc in N.A.
spond to 2nd order highstand systems tracts, show a low-angle
(w20 Ma) Cambrian studied area, Late Cam sigmoidal internal architecture. They may also locally show a wedge
Unc elsewhere shape due to erosion at the overlying unconformities.

Fig. 2. Simplified stratigraphic cross section showing the stratigraphic architecture of 3rd order depositional sequences and megasequences of Lower Palaeozoic in the Illizi area.
Note the major truncation and erosion at the Arenigian (ORD-2), Ashgillian (AU), and Base Devonian (BD) unconformities. The basal CAM 2 sandstones are interpreted to partially
onlap onto the Ahara high. Lithostratigraphic units: 1, Hoggar-type polyphase metamorphic basement; 2, Hassi Leila Fm; 3, ‘‘Argiles d’El Gassi’’ Fm; 4, ‘‘Grès d’El Atchane’’ Fm; 5,
‘‘Hamra Quartzites’’ Fm; 6, ‘‘Grès d’Ouargla’’ Fm; 7, ‘‘Argiles d’Azzel’’ Fm; 8, ‘‘Grès d’Oued Saret’’ Fm; 9, ‘‘Grès de Ramade (Unit IV)’’ Fm; 10, ‘‘Argiles Microconglomeratiques (Unit IV)’’
Fm; 11, ‘‘Dalle de M’Kratta (Unit IV)’’ Fm; 12, Silurian Hot Shale or Tanezzuft Fm; 13, ‘‘Argiles à Graptolites’’ Fm; 14–18, ‘‘Silurien Argilo-greseux’’ Fm; or 14–19, F6 Fm subdivided into
members: 14, M1; 15, M2; 16, A; 17, B1; 18, B2; 19, Devonain F6 Fm or C1.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178 155

Fig. 3. Facies maps of selected intervals of Cambro–Ordovician (pre-Ashgillian) sequences. Note the effect of erosion at various major unconformities on the preservation of the
Early Palaeozoic series, especially on the Ahara high. The outline of this regional high and its timing of formation (Late Tremadocian–Arenigian) are evidenced by the trend of
Arenigian erosion, and facies patterns of the transgressive Mid Arenigian sequence. The Ashgillian erosion pattern is linked to glacial scouring.

3.1.1. Mid–Late Cambrian: alluvial and fluvial sheet sandstones
(CAM-2 Megasequence)
In the Illizi–Berkine area, a coarsening upward, fluvial to shallow
marine sand-sheet some 100–200 m thick, represents CAM 2
deposits. CAM-2 rocks found in the Illizi basin and the neighbour-
ing N’Ajjers Tassili, consist of medium to coarse-grained micaceous
sandstones that cover the heterogeneous metamorphic basement
and onlap onto regional highs. In outcrops, they are normally
referred to as Grès de Tin Taharadjeli of the Ajjers Fm (Nyssen et al.,
1964; or Unit I, Borocco and Nyssen, 1959). The basal beds may
locally comprise conglomerates that infill pre-depositional topog-
raphy (Beuf et al., 1971). Facies correspond to braided style fluvial
deposits in the Illizi Platform area, probably forming part of a large-
scale alluvial fan, but become predominantly marine in character to
the north. In outcrops, slightly younger marine facies cover the
fluvial deposits of the basal Cambro–Ordovician sequences, and are
many times seen lying directly above basement.
The CAM 2 series has been dated as Late Cambrian based on the
presence of acritarchs in wells in the Oued Mya basin. In addition,
they are dated based on their relative position with respect to well-
dated overlying Tremadocian shales in the Hassi Messaoud Field
(Combaz, 1967). CAM-2 fluvial/alluvial facies consist of coarse-
grained sandstones and conglomerates, rich in feldspar, and igneous
and metamorphic clasts, subangular and poorly sorted, with occa-
sional clay rip-up clasts. Shallow marine facies are finer grained,
more quartzitic than the coeval continental deposits, and contain
conspicuous Skolithos, locally referred as tigillites, as well as other
traces fossils, including Thalassinoides, Daedalus and Cruziana. Both
fluvial/alluvial and shallow marine sandstones are poor reservoirs in
156 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Fig. 4. Typical ramp-style depositional sequence architecture of Mid Ordovician interval. Formations are clearly time-transgressive at the regional scale.

the Hassi Messaoud Field, due to the abundant Illite cement (Claret
and Tempere, 1967; L’Homer, 1967; Djarnia and Fekirine, 1998);
however, they may show secondary mouldic porosity associated
with dissolution of feldspars that greatly improve reservoir quality.
3.1.2. Early Ordovician: first widespread marine transgression and
complete T–R facies cycle wedge (ORD-1 Megasequence)
The Megasequence ORD-1 is represented by a simple Early
Tremadocian to Early (basal?) Arenigian transgressive–regressive
facies cycle, up to 300 m thick (Plate 4, Fig. 2). It is best developed in
the Illizi s.s. and Berkine depocentres, as it may be largely eroded in
the stable platform areas at the overlying unconformity that marks
its top. The ORD-1 interval consists of fluvial and shallow marine
quartz-rich sandstones and quartzites, and dark grey marine shales.
It most probably comprises at least three 3rd order sequences.
Fluvial sandstones are represented by coarse to medium-grained
quartz arenites and quartzites. Shallow marine sandstones are also
quartzitic and contain abundant tigillite trace fossils (Skolithos).
Verrien et al. (1967), and Beuf et al. (1971) report northerly oriented

Fig. 5. Isochore map of Ashgillian glacial deposits (Unit IV Fm). This map is based on well data and clearly shows regional N–S oriented thickness anomalies that correspond to
glacial valley fills. More detailed mapping reveals additional smaller valleys and scours not displayed by this map (Fig. 6). Sparse data on western portion of map precludes mapping
of valleys.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178 157

palaeocurrents both in the Tassilis outcrops and in the Hassi Mes-
saoud area. Marine shales consist of grey and dark–grey shales that
can locally contain high organic content. Nevertheless, the patchy
distribution due to erosion and its usually deep Hercynian burial
render this interval a minor source rock in the area.
Late Cambrian and Early Tremadocian sandstones have proven
productive where fractured or where secondary porosity is
enhanced close to the Hercynian Unconformity, such as in the Hassi
Messaoud field in central Algeria (Bacheller and Peterson, 1991). In
this field, the main reservoir corresponds to fluvial and shallow
marine facies of the Hassi Leila Fm. The producing sandstones are
less argillaceous than the underlying fluvial series, and cement is
mostly associated with kaolinite instead of illite (L’Homer, 1967;
Djarnia and Fekirine, 1998). Sandstones exhibit porosities below
10%, and permeabilities in the order of 10 mD (Claret and Tempere,
1967). Skolithos-bioturbated shallow marine facies are typically
fine-grained and quartz-cemented and are very poor reservoirs.
The basal fluvial and shallow marine sandstones are locally
assigned to the ‘‘Grès de Miribel’’ or ‘‘Grès d’El Gassi’’ formations in
the subsurface. Preferred formation names are shown in Fig. 2 and
Plate 4. These series are correlated with the upper part of the Ajjers
Formation in the Tassilis N’Ajjers (Beuf et al., 1971), where fluvial
deposits are overlain by undated shallow marine sandstones which
display multidirectional sigmoidal cross-stratification, and bio-
turbated sandstones deposited in tidal sand flats and estuarine
channels (Eschard et al., 2005a). The El Gassi shales that mark the

Fig. 6. (A) Detailed isochore map of Ashgillian glacial deposits (Unit IV Fm) in Block 242, Illizi basin. Location in Fig. 5. (B) A-A0 well-log cross section showing erosion at the
Ashgillian Unconformity and major facies variations within the Glacial Unit IV Fm. Unit IV-L, IV-U, and IV-3 are local units, which represent separate 4th order sequences.
158 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

peak transgression of this megasequence are well dated in the
Hassi Messaoud area, where Combaz (1967) describes a rich
assemblage of spores, chitinozoans and acritarchs of Mid Trem-
adocian age. These deposits would be the distal lateral equivalent of
fine-grained thin-bedded sandstones with wavy and falser bedding
and abundant Cruziana ichnofacies locally known as ‘‘Vire de
Mouflon’’ Fm in the Tassilis N’Ajjers, which have also been dated
Early Ordovician, based on marine macro fauna by (Legrand, 1964;
in Eschard et al., 2005a).
3.1.3. Arenigian–Late Ashgillian: the second Ordovician T–R facies
cycle wedge (ORD-2 Megasequence)
Megasequence ORD-2 is represented in the Illizi–Berkine area
by a Mid (?) Arenigian–Late Ashgillian transgressive regressive
cycle up to 400 m in thickness, made up of at least four 3rd order
sequences (Fig. 2, Plate 4). Maximum thickness development is
found in the Illizi s.s. and Berkine depocentres, probably associated
with transtensional faulting during the Early Arenigian. The
uppermost ORD-2 strata are eroded at the Ashgillian Unconformity,
and are directly covered by Late Ashgillian glacial deposits of the
ORD-3-SIL-1 Megasequence (Fig. 2). The ORD-2 Unconformity,
which marks the base of this megasequence is tectonically
enhanced, and truncates underlying strata so that Arenigian
sandstones may locally lie directly on top of basement (Fig. 2).
A highly regressive succession of braided-fluvial sandstones and
quartzites of Arenigian age (Beuf et al., 1971; Crossley and McDou-
gall, 1998) records the basal tracts of this megasequence. Hamra
quartzites may reach a depositional thickness of over 300 m along
the Illizi s.s.–Berkine depocentre. They pass into shallow marine
deltaic deposits and marine shales to the northwest. The marine
facies are dated at outcrops from an Early Tremadocian Lingulid
fauna (Lingulobolus septentrionalis, Legrand, 1985.). Basal fluvial
sands are covered progressively by a set of backstepping para-
sequences containing shallow marine fine to medium-grained high
energy shoreline sandstones with abundant Skolithos, deposited
during the renewed marine flooding of the Gondwana passive
margin. These shallow marine transgressive deposits (Ouargla Fm)

Fig. 7. Silurian isopach map. Note the thinning marking the Ahara and Tihemboka highs. The interval is absent in the Hassi Messaoud area due to Hercynian erosion. Thickness map
based on well data, except in central Berkine-Ghadames Basin, where it was estimated from seismic data (dashed countours).
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
are coeval with the sand-rich ‘Hamra’ fluvial facies to the south
(Fig. 4). The backstepping suite progressively covers the Ahara high,
as shown in Fig. 3. Our facies interpretation suggests that the Ahara
high was exposed during the Early Arenigian, and was progressively
flooded during the ensuing transgression, introducing a change in
facies polarity with respect to older Ordovician sequences. Undated
but roughly coeval rocks outcrop in the Tassilis N’Ajjers. These lay
over a sharp erosional unconformity, the Ord-2 Unc, covering earlier
Ordovician series, and consist of coarse-grained sandstones with
sigmoidal crossbedding and channel geometries interpreted as
estuarine tidal deposits by Eschard et al. (2005a). The peak trans-
gression of this megasequence was achieved in Llanvirnian times,
and is recorded by the deposition of the regionally extensive Azzel
Fm marine shales (Figs. 2 and 3). These consist of glauconitic black
shales deposited on a tide-dominated shelf (Fekirine and Abdallah,
1998). The upper progradational interval of the ORD-2 Mega-
sequence records an overall regression with fluvio-deltaic deposi-
tion that includes the shallow marine and fluvial sandstone facies of
the Oued Saret Fm (Plate 4).
Hamra quartzites provide poor quality reservoirs but are
productive where fractured, or where leaching near the Hercynian
Unconformity enhances secondary porosity. They contain large
volumes of oil and gas along the Hamra–Gassi Touil trend of the
western Berkine province. The Azzel black shales can contain high
TOC and provide a local source rock.
The uppermost portion of this megasequence shows an overall
deepening-upward pattern and contains a Caradocian dolomite
level (Plate 4). The Ashgillian Unconformity largely truncates these
rocks, but overlying shales of Caradocian age are locally preserved
and evidence the transgressive character of the Caradocian. Both
the Caradocian and Llanvirnian shales are dated by chitinozoans
(Plate 4; Combaz, 1967; Oubebsir and Paris, 1995).
3.2. Late Cambrian to Late Ordovician Tectonism: possible
transtensional deformation
This interval was characterised by the generalised subsidence in
the Illizi–El Biod and Ghadames depocentres. Observations in the
subsurface point towards subtle tectonism during the Arenigian,
North
AHARA HIGH
SED-1 IH-101
0.5
TWT (Seconds)
0.0
10 Km 1 Infra-Tassilis Unc.
2 Ashgill Unc.
-0.5 3 Llandovery MFS
Fig. 8. Lower Palaeozoic stratal pattern in the Illizi area. Line drawing based on seismic line flattened at Llandoverian MFS (Silurian Hot Shale) to enhance the stratal pattern of the
Ordovician and Silurian. The Mid–Late Ordovician interval is wedge shaped as it gradually thins over the Ahara high. It is characterised by a marked onlap over the top-basement
unconformity, and an overall parallel stratal pattern. The Silurian section is a prograding wedge with a sigmoidal stratal pattern. During most of the Silurian the Ahara high
remained a flooded sea-bottom feature, and had a minor effect in sedimentation. Note the top-lap and truncation termination patterns at the Base Devonian Unconformity. Location
in Plate 3.
159
associated with uplift of the Ahara area, and evidenced by the
truncation of the pre-Arenigian series, as well as the facies patterns
of the overlying sequences (Figs. 2 and 3). The available seismic data
in the Illizi area shows a clear thickening of the Early Ordovician
towards the Illizi–El Biod trough, and we suspect that this is
accompanied by minor normal or transtensional faulting (Table 1).
Since the thickest basin develops next to, and along the Amguid–El
Biod fault trend it is possible that this deformation was transten-
sional in character, with the Illizi s.s. trough being a pull-apart basin.
3.3. Late Ordovician–Late Silurian: Ashgillian glacial deposits
covered by a Silurian prograding wedge (ORD-3-SIL-1
Megasequence)
This megasequence consists of a major transgressive–regressive
facies cycle of 30 m.y. duration (Plate 4). It reaches a thickness of
over 1000 m, and is composed of Ashgillian glacial and glacio-
marine deposits at its base, covered by Early Silurian marine shales
and followed by a prograding fluvio-deltaic wedge of Mid–Late
Silurian age (Fig. 2, Plate 4). The Ashgillian Unconformity is often
referred to in local industry literature as the Taconian Unconfor-
mity, but we interpret almost no tectonic enhancement. This
surface is characterised by widespread deep erosion of the under-
lying series, reaching to basement at regional highs (Fig. 2) and is
interpreted as related to the eustatic fall associated with the short-
lived Late Ashgillian glaciation (Brenchley et al., 1994; Armstrong
and Coe, 1997). Brenchley et al. (1994) estimate a sea-level fall
between 45 and 65 m, which coupled with glacial scouring resulted
in deep erosion potential.
The lower portion of the ORD-3-SIL-1 Megasequence is made up
of glacial deposits of the Tamadjert Fm (Unit IV Fm normally used in
subsurface), which can locally reach over 200 m in thickness (Figs.
5 and 6). These consist of tillites, conglomerates and sandstones of
glacial and glacio-fluvial origin, and conglomeratic and pebbly
shales of glaciolacustrine and glacial marine nature. Sandy deposits
occur in large channel-shaped and laterally constrained depositional
bodies, and provide one of the most important reservoirs of the
Illizi basin (Fig. 6). At the regional scale coarse-grained facies give
way to fine-grained facies to the north (Berkine basin; Fig. 5).
South
ILLIZI BASIN
IRLS-2
EIF-GIVETIAN
ASHGILL
MID ORDOVICIAN
BASEMENT
4 Wenlock Unc. 7 Eifelian Unc.
5 Base Devonian Unc. 8 Frasnian MFS
6 Praguian Unc. 9 Strunian Unc.
160 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
Ghienne et al. (2003) identify four main depositional facies tracts
within these glacial sequences in Libya, going from ice-distal
systems (fully marine) to ice-marginal, and then to periodically
deglaciated and permanently ice-covered depositional domains.
Fully marine facies occur in the Berkine area, while deposits of ice-
margin and periodically glaciated domains characterise the Illizi
basin until the outcrop belt of the Tassilis N’Ajjers. Beuf et al. (1971)
report a S–N to NNW glacier movement direction based on glacial
striations and channel patterns observed in outcrops, which coin-
cides with the orientation of the possible glacial valleys interpreted
in our isopach map of Fig. 5. Internally the glacial deposits contain
major unconformities readily visible in outcrops, based on which
Rubino et al. (2003a,b) recognise four depositional sequences,
which would represent cycles of ice advance and retreat.
These sequences show widely varying thickness at the scale of
the Illizi Fields (Fig. 6), and complex lithologic assemblages, asso-
ciated with proximal proglacial settings. Most of these deposits laid
down in the proximal tracts of these sequences would be associated
with phases of ice retreat, while glacial advance periods are here
Fig. 9. Lower Devonian isopach map. Early Devonian deposition was highly influenced by the Ahara high especially during the Late Early Devonian as shown by the pinch-out trend
of F3 sands in the Alrar–El Wafa area.
mostly characterised by erosion (Rubino et al. (2003a,b). Erosional
features include glacial valleys which vary in size from mega scale,
up to 5–15 km wide, to intra-valley channels (Beuf et al., 1971).
Various authors describe varied depositional facies within the Illizi
basin area and in the outcrops of the Tassilis N’Ajjers, including
proximal Gilbert deltas (Eschard et al., 2005a), high and low density
turbidite sandstones deposited in turbidite channels and lobes
(Dixon, 2008), fluvial outwash plains and braid deltas (Rubino et al.,
2003b), glacio-marine muddy dropstone shales, classic shoreline or
delta lobes and possible ice base ‘‘tunnel’’ deposits (Hirst et al.,
2002). Most of the coarse-grained facies can provide reservoir
grade rocks. In addition to depositional and erosional features,
these interesting series also display syn-depositional deformation
such as slumps, growth faults or valley-wall collapse structures, as
well as glacially-induced bed-rock compressional folds (Beuf et al.,
1971).
The Ashgillian glacial deposits are capped by a tabular,
regionally extensive coarse sandstone and quartzitic bed, some
20–40 m thick locally known as the M’Kratta Fm (Figs. 2 and 6b).
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
These deposits are very well developed in the Illizi basin, but are
only locally recognised farther north into the Berkine basin and in
the neighbouring Oued Mya basin west of Hassi Messaoud (Claret
and Tempere, 1967). Field observations by Beuf et al. (1971)
describe them as an association of coarse-grained fluvioglacial
deposits, probably outwash deposits. They report shallow marine
shoreface deposits within its upper 2–3 m that display remarkable
perched-beach ridge geomorphological relationships, and are
overprinted with polygonal permafrost cracks. These facies
evidence the interplay between eustatic rise and isostatic rebound
during the end of glaciation, as also interpreted by Sutcliffe et al.
(2000) in various locations of Late Ashgillian deposits of northern
Gondwana. The shoreline sandstones represent the transgressive
remnants of the post-glacial flooding of the Early Llandoverian.
The peak transgression was reached in the Mid Llandoverian
(Legrand, 1985), and is recorded by the deposition of the Silurian
Hot Shale, or ‘Argiles à Graptolites’ Fm, or Tanezzuft Fm (Plate 4,
Fig. 2). This transgression was associated with a global and rapid
Early Silurian sea-level rise well documented, besides the Gond-
wana margin, in the North American craton and in China (Ross and
Ross, 1988). The Silurian Hot Shale contains up to 17% TOC and
a predominantly type I–II, oil-prone kerogen, and provides the
most prolific source rock of the Saharan Platform (Boote et al.,
1998; Lüning et al., 2000).
A long-lived progradation from Llandoverian to Late Silurian
times followed the Early Llandoverian regional transgression
(Fig. 2, Massa and Jaeger, 1971; Legrand, 1985; Dardour et al., 2004).
Thickness patterns suggest similar basins and highs in the BGI area
as those of the lower Palaeozoic (Fig. 7). The Silurian Hot Shale
contains a major condensed section that provides the down-lap
surface over which the Silurian clinoforms die (Figs. 2 and 8). The
Mid Llandoverian to Pridolian interval consists of a progradational
3rd order-sequence set, with a NW direction of progradation
(Legrand, 1985; Fig. 2). It displays an overall coarsening upward
facies trend ranging from deep marine shales to delta and coastal
plain sandstones and shales. The time-transgressive sand-prone
facies are locally known as the Silurian-F6 Fm or ‘‘Silurien Argilo-
greseux’’. Third order sequences display a low-angle sigmoidal
geometry. They contain well-developed fluvio-deltaic lowstand
wedges, associated with rare, silty, deep-water turbidites. The
transgressive systems tract is thin and strongly retrogradational,
and is followed by a fluvio-deltaic progradation during the sea-
level highstand (Fig. 2). ‘F6’ Deltaic and fluvial sandstones are good
reservoirs throughout the Illizi and Berkine basins. Dardour et al.
(2004) document the same Late Silurian stratal pattern and overall
sequence stratigraphic architecture in the Ghadames basin in Libya.
Henniche et al. (2003) report braided river and braid-delta
deposits, as well as shoreface and estuarine sandstones in the
coarser grained tracts of the Silurian prograding strata in outcrops
of the Tassilis N’Ajjers.
The Silurian progradation is capped by the Base Devonian
Unconformity, which marks a major relative sea-level fall. This
unconformity records the renewed emergence of the Saharan
Platform and is locally tectonically enhanced. It is followed in the
Early Devonian by the emplacement of a generalised north-flowing
fluvial system reminiscent of those of the Early Palaeozoic (Beuf at
al., 1971). This overall pattern fits well 2nd order eustatic trends of
Ross and Ross (1988).
3.4. Late Ordovician–Silurian tectonism: sea-level changes,
epeirogenesis, local fault activity, and the Caledonian tectonic
regime
Beuf et al. (1971) and Fabre (1976) report Late Ordovician
deformation in the Tassilis N’Ajjers. This deformation seems to be
161
represented by subtle E–W oriented folds involving Ordovician
sandstones, and discordantly covered by Ashgillian glacial deposits
(Fabre, 1976). In addition, both authors confirm the local nature of
these structures, which they date as of Caradocian age. We have not
identified such deformation in the subsurface.
The most significant tectonic activity is found towards the
Silurian–Devonian boundary. Subsurface and outcrop observations
along the Tihemboka high by Beuf et al. (1971) indicate minor N–S
faulting and folding of Late Silurian and Early Devonian age. Faults
of the same age are interpreted in various fields in the Ahara–
Tihemboka high of the Illizi area (Fabre, 1976). Moreover, evidences
of Late Silurian–Early Devonian faulting abound in the Murzuk
basin in Lybia. In addition to mild tectonism, the Late Silurian to
Early Devonian was characterised by a major relative base-level fall
that resulted in a significant downward facies migration towards
the BGI basin centre in the Early Devonian. The relative base-level
fall was associated with the sub-aerial exposure of the Tihemboka,
Ahara, and Gargaf highs, and probably other regional highs, as
evidenced by the onlap pattern of the Devonian strata onto the Late
Silurian beds (Fig. 2, Plate 4). A clear thinning of the Devonian and
Silurian series over those highs (Figs. 7 and 9) is also mainly a result
of erosion and non-deposition in the elevated areas during this
period. A Late Silurian–Early Devonian palaeosol is described by
Beuf et al. (1971) in the Tassili Tafassasset, where Silurian sands just
below Devonian beds are deeply altered; including possible pedo-
genic features, and exhibiting a characteristic reddish colour.
Moreover, as a result of this event, fluvial-braided sandstones of
presumed Lochkovian age directly overlie marine Pridolian
deposits in the Berkine basin. In general and during times of
exposure and erosion, local highs provided local sources of sedi-
ment supply (Eschard et al., 2003, 2005b), therefore resulting in
periodic local changes of sediment dispersal patterns.
This major event is recorded by a tectonically enhanced
unconformity of Pridolian–Early Lochkovian age, the Base Devo-
nian Unconformity, with a major hiatus that results from a combi-
nation of eustatic fall with epeirogenic uplift, enhanced locally by
transpressional movement along some N–S oriented faults in the
Tihemboka area.
This deformation is referred to as ‘Caledonian’ in the local
literature, as is the unconformity separating Silurian from Devonian
strata. Although the mechanical link of northern Gondwana with
the Caledonian Orogeny in NW Europe and North America is not
clear, since the Rehic Sea laid in between, there would be a possi-
bility that the Late Silurian–Early Devonian faulting in the Saharan
Platform was somehow related to far-field effects of the Caledonian
Orogeny caused by closure of the Iapetus Ocean with the collision
between Baltica and Laurentia. While on one hand Fabre (1976)
gives minor importance to Caledonian tectonism, Guiraud (pers.
com., 2002), interprets two main Caledonian tectonic events in the
Illizi and Murzuk areas, one at the Silurian–Devonian boundary,
and the second during the latest Early Devonian. Regarding the
‘‘Caledonian Unconformity’’ itself, Eschard et al. (2003, 2005b)
recur to eustasy to explain the coeval Late Silurian–Early Devonian
erosion of distant and independent highs. Our observations confirm
the occurrence of some degree of faulting in SW Algeria, and the
local tectonic enhancement of the Base Devonian Unconformity.
Nevertheless due to the regional character of this unconformity,
and the major downward shift in facies, we favour a eustatic origin,
with the hiatus enhanced by the concurrence with long-term
regional uplift and local tectonism. This combination affected the
local expression of more than one Late Silurian–Early Devonian
Unconformity. A major base-level fall of Late Silurian age, followed
by an overall low sea-level during the Early Devonian is recorded in
various basins of the world (Ross and Ross, 1988). Consequently, we
drop the use of ‘Caledonian Unconformity’ typically used by
162 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Fig. 10. Hercynian subcrop map of the Berkine–Illizi area. Note the different scales of Hercynian deformation expressed by regional highs and lows, and smaller-scale folds and
faults. Intense deformation is concentrated along the Amguid–El Biod fault trend, which acted as a mild intraplate strike-slip mobile belt throughout the Phanerozoic. Other minor,
although locally important strike-slip faults also developed or reactivated in the Illizi area, such as the Fadnoun and Garet–Tesselit faults. In addition, this map displays the major
Palaeozoic unconformities of Arenigian, Ashgillian, and Late Silurian–Early Devonian age. 1, Cambrian (Hassi Leila Fm); 2, Tremadocian (El Gassi Fm); 3, Arenigian (Hamra Fm); 4,
Arenigian–Llanvirnian (Ouargla Fm); 5, Llandeilian–Caradocian (Azzel and Oued Saret Fm); 6, Ashgillian (Unit IV); 7, Lower Silurian (‘Argiles à Graptolites’–Tanezzuft Fm); 8, Upper
Silurian (F6 Fm); 9, Lower–Mid Devonian; 10, Upper Devonian (Frasnian Hot Shale); 11, Upper Devonian; 12, Lower Carboniferous; 13, Mid and Upper Carboniferous.

previous authors in the region, since it implies a ‘tectonic’ origin to
this unconformity, and keep that orogenic term to identify
a tectonic regime of much longer duration: the ‘Caledonian regime’
(Table 1).
3.5. Devonian: major regression and ‘continentalisation’ followed
by a major transgression
As discussed above, due to the major latest Silurian base-level
fall, Early Devonian deposition shifted downwards towards the
Berkine and Illizi s.s. depocentres, where thick fluvial sandstones
accumulated, infilling narrowed basins. Consequently, the Devo-
nian succession is mostly wedge shaped (Plate 3), reaching
a maximum thickness of over 1000 m in the Berkine basin, and
decreasing to the south to about 200 m at the Ahara high.
The Devonian series consists of dominantly clastic coastal to
shallow marine and offshore deposits, arranged in a single 2nd
order T–R facies cycle wedge. The Base Devonian Unconformity
defines its base, while its top is marked by a Late Devonian
(Strunian) Unconformity. The globally observed Frasnian sea-level
rise (Ross and Ross, 1988) produced the 2nd order maximum
flooding surface of the interval. Marine shales deposited during
this transgression, and locally known as the Frasnian Hot Shales,
provide a widespread high-quality source rock to the area. This
‘Frasnian Hot Shale’ Fm is particularly thick and organic rich in
the Berkine basin, where it sourced most of the prolific fields in
the Triassic fairway. In addition, the lower and middle Devonian
contains various unconformities, notably the Pragian Unconfor-
mity (Plate 4), clearly developed in the Illizi area, and described
in detail in the Tassili N’Ajjers by Beuf et al. (1971) and Eschard
et al. (2005a).
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
3.5.1. Early and Mid Devonian (Lochkovian to Givetian): fluvial and
shallow marine sedimentation (DEV-1 and DEV-2 Megasequences)
The lower to middle Devonian consists of a clastic wedge that
onlaps the flanks of the Ahara high, and develops greatly in thick-
ness towards the Berkine basin (Fig. 9). Facies show an overall
fining-upward trend, with basal fluvial sandstones covered by
progressively deeper deltaic to marine facies. Two major sequence
boundaries of Pragian and Eifelian age define three sequence sets,
of Lochkovian, Pragian–Emsian, and Eifelian–Givetian age (Plate 4).
The basal portion of the Lochkovian Sequence Set consists of up
to 200 m thick massive braided-river sandstones restricted to the
Berkine depocentre. These deposits are clearly ill-dated and could
include latest Pridolian beds. They comprise medium to coarse-
grained, moderately sorted quartz-rich sandstones with good
porosity and permeability. Facies change vertically to estuarine
sands with pervasive ferruginous cementation, and then to marine
shales. Sandstones of possible Late Lochkovian age cover the Base
Devonian Unconformity in the Illizi area and in the Tassilis N’Ajjers
(Plate 4). In the Illizi basin they appear as a sand-prone interval
composed of fluvial to shallow marine rocks of Late Lochkovian–
Emsian age. This interval onlaps on sub parallel, truncated Silurian
strata and shows a tabular to slightly lenticular shape as it fills
a subtle erosional relief. It is known as the F6–C Mb in the Illizi
basin, and has been subdivided into three main units: C1, C2, and C3
(Plate 4). C1 consists of coarse to medium-grained sandstones some
tens of meters thick interpreted as braided river deposits at the
base changing to meandering sandstones and floodplain
mudstones towards its top. It is absent in the highest parts of the
Ahara and Tihemboka highs. Beuf et al. (1971) report a consistent
NNW palaeocurrent direction in these sandstones in the Tassilis
N’Ajjers. C1 sandstones are covered by the shale prone C2 interval
composed of ferruginous shales and fine-grained sandstones
interpreted as floodplain and suspended-load river, as well as
supratidal and tidal flat deposits (Beuf et al., op cit; Henniche et al.,
2003). F6–C2 outcrops in the Tassili N’Ajjers described by Fabre
(1976) consist of 40–50 m of coastal-shallow marine deposits
containing interbedded thin sandstones and ferruginous shales,
occasionally oolitic, with Skolithos and Spirophyton, but also with
abundant floodplain deposits (Henniche et al., op. cit.). It changes
facies to marine shales in the Berkine basin. C1 sands may represent
a late lowstand and a transgressive systems tract, while C2 shales
and sands correspond to the highstand of a Late Lochkovian–Early
Pragian depositional sequence.
F6–C3 sandstones are fluvial to shallow marine and show a clear
overall fining and deepening-upward facies pattern. They are
interpreted as transgressive deposits related to the renewed
flooding of the area during the Early Pragian. They are separated
from C2 member by the ‘‘Pragian’’ Unconformity, and form the
basal part of our Pragian Sequence Set in the area. The Pragian
Unconformity (Plate 4) is well expressed throughout the study area
and at outcrop along the Tassilis (Beuf et al., 1971; Fabre, 1976).
Regionally widespread Emsian marine shales throughout the Illizi
and Berkine area cover F6–C3 transgressive sandstones. These
shales include an Emsian MFS (Plate 4), and record major flooding
of the Ahara and Tihemboka high area, as described by Beuf et al.
(1971), Fabre (1976), and Eschard (pers. comm. 1999). The Lower
Devonian widespread reservoir unit shows a strong regional
hydrodynamic flow from a charge area in the outcrops at the Tas-
silis N’Ajjers. Hydrodynamic flow is directed towards the basin, and
northward to exit areas where these reservoirs lie in contact with
the Mesozoic clastic series across the Hercynian Unconformity,
especially the Maouar high area (Fig. 10).
Highstand sandstones of Late Emsian–Early Eifelian age (F5 and
F4 Fm) cover the Emsian transgression. These sandstones were
163
deposited within deltas that prograded from SE to NW within the
SE portion of the Illizi basin, on the flanks of the Tihemboka high.
They are good reservoirs, and shale-out northward, within the Illizi
area (Fig. 9).
Covering the Early Eifelian interval and separated by an
unconformity, the F3 sandstone was deposited on the flanks of the
Ahara high in a basinward position with respect to F4/F5 sands. The
F3 Fm is the major reservoir in the giant Alrar–Al Wafa Field (Fig. 9).
Chauochi et al. (1998) describe this sandstone as a barrier island
deposit laid-down in an embayment or estuary. F3 sands were
deposited during the Late Eifelian–Early Givetian in a position
basinward from the last shelf-break of the Pragian–Emsian
Sequence Set. They rest directly over marine shales of the previous
F4/F5 highstand. Since the overlying transgressive and highstand
facies comprise shaly facies in the area of the field, F3 ‘detached-
lowstand’ sandstones are isolated between shales providing a very
effective combination structural-stratigraphic trap.
The overlying Givetian and Early Frasnian sequences consist of
marine shales and include calcareous shales, and marly carbonates
that suggest deposition within an open marine shallow platform.
Shallow marine limestones abound in Eifelian–Givetian sequences
and no sandy shoreline facies seem to be present in the area.
3.6. Early–Mid Devonian tectonism: minor and latest ‘‘Caledonian-
regime’’ faulting
Sudden facies changes and thickness variations within the
Pragian–Givetian interval, and reported fault relationships from the
literature indicate active tectonism during the Early and Mid
Devonian. Major faults in the Tihemboka and Ahara high area
appear to be N–S oriented. Some complex stratal and facies rela-
tionships in this area suggest active faulting especially during
Eifelian–Givetian times, well recorded by the tectonically enhanced
Eifelian Unconformity. Nevertheless, the amount of erosion at this
unconformity does not reach the same magnitude as in the earliest
Devonian, although its control on local facies distribution makes it
important in terms of exploration.
3.6.1. The Late Devonian Frasnian shales and fluvio-deltaic
prograding F2 Fammenian sandstones (DEV-2 Megasequence)
The Upper Devonian consists of a shale-prone coarsening
upward interval deposited mostly during the transgression and
ensuing progradation that followed the deposition of the F3 Mb
sandstones. It contains the Frasnian source rock at its base, and the
thin F2 reservoir towards its top. This interval makes up the upper
portion of the Devonian DEV-2 Megasequence. Measured from the
Frasnian MFS to its top defined by the Strunian Unconformity (Plate
4), it ranges in thickness from less than 70 m in SE Illizi area to over
250 m in the Berkine basin.
The Frasnian Hot Shale was deposited during this major conti-
nental flooding event. Frasnian source rocks are well known
throughout Gondwana, particularly in northern Africa and in areas
as distant as Saudi Arabia, Bolivia and northern Argentina, and were
deposited during a major eustatic high (Ross and Ross, 1988). The
Frasnian Hot Shale consists of black shales with few thin black
limestone layers, deposited in an outer shelf marine environment
under anoxic conditions. Lüning et al. (2003) report a hot shale
thickness of over 200 m in the northern tracts of the Berkine basin,
where this source rock is characterised by TOC values of up to 8–
14% and a type I–II kerogen. Hot-shale thickness and organic
content diminish to the south, giving way to overall lean shales
towards the southern Illizi area and Murzuk basin.
Within the Early–Mid Devonian overall transgressive unit, the
so-called Frasnian Unconformity separates Mid from Upper
164 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
Devonian marine shales (Plate 4). A good part of the Mid Devonian
marine shales disappear on the flanks of the Ahara high. This
thinning is interpreted as due to truncation and onlap mostly at the
Pragian and Eifelian unconformities. Nevertheless some erosion
may be associated with the transgressive surface just underlying
the Frasnian Hot Shales, as indicated in Plate 4. Our interpretation is
that the Frasnian Unconformity reflects the local erosional char-
acter of a major Early Frasnian transgressive surface, but we do not
interpret this surface as a major unconformity.
The Upper Devonian is a coarsening upward interval that covers
the Frasnian Hot Shales and contains within its upper tracts the F2
sandstone reservoir. The F2 is a deltaic sandstone deposited during
the Late Devonian progradation that filled the Frasnian–Famme-
nian epeiric sea. Late Devonian progradation is well recorded
throughout the Saharan Platform (Conrad et al., 1986). The basin
centre was probably located in the Berkine basin (Plate 3). Internal
offlaping sigmoidal stratal patterns are locally visible in the N–S
seismic transect of Plate 4, on the central and northern Illizi basin.
F2 Fm comprises ferruginous sandstones of normally poor quality
that show a particularly high GR response. Best reservoirs are found
in the southern Illizi basin, along the northern continuation of the
Tihemboka high, where it provides a secondary reservoir in the
giant Zarzaitine, and Edjeleh fields and other minor accumulations.
Thickness and facies trends seen on well-log cross sections
suggest that the Ahara–Tihemboka high of the Illizi basin was
flooded in the Givetian–Frasnian. Nevertheless, it continued to be
a local high apparently controlling local facies distribution during
the latest Devonian and Early Carboniferous.
3.7. Carboniferous: marine clastic to carbonatic sedimentation and
the desiccation of the BGI basins
The Carboniferous of the Illizi and Berkine basins is a marine
clastic-carbonate sequence up to 1300 m thick preserved only in
the central part of the Berkine basin and the NE portion of the Illizi
area (Fig. 10). The local Carboniferous interval spans the period
Tournaisian–Westphalian, during which basin development and
sediment dispersal patterns were controlled by the Early Hercynian
uplift of the Saharan Platform.
We have divided the Carboniferous in two megasequences,
CARB-1, and CARB-2 (Table 2), separated by a major unconformity
of Mid(?) Namurian age (Plate 4). The CARB-1 Megasequence is
largely transgressive in character and contains the Visean marine
shales of the Issendjel Fm (Fabre, 1976). These mark the peak
transgression of the whole Carboniferous. CARB-1 is mostly clastic,
with some carbonate intervals in the eastern tracts of the Illizi
basin. The upper portion of the CARB-1 Megasequence and the
CARB-2 Megasequence record a 2nd order regression that culmi-
nated with the uplift and subsequent exhumation of the Saharan
Platform during the Late Carboniferous and Permian. The Upper
Carboniferous is rich in carbonates and evaporites.
3.7.1. Tournaisian–Namurian: fluvio-deltaic sandstones in Berkine
basin (CARB-1 Megasequence)
The lower portion of this megasequence consists of an overall
transgressive sequence set that followed the Strunian regression. It
is largely sand-prone in the central–northern parts of the Berkine
basin, and mud-prone and mixed carbonate-clastic elsewhere.
The Tournaisian and Early Visean interval in the Berkine basin is
a 200–300 m thick sandy unit with fluvio-deltaic and shoreface
sandstones (F1 and Rourde El Khrouf ‘RKF’ Fms). It shows an overall
horizontal stratal-stacking pattern, and is overlain by Visean
marine shales that seal underlying reservoirs. In addition, basal
Tournaisian shales mark an early transgressive event just following
the Late Devonian regression.
The RKF and F1 sandstones are fluvial and wave dominated
deltaic and shoreface deposits arranged in numerous stacked pro-
grading sequences. Sandstone packages are typically 15–20 m thick
and provide good quality multi-layer reservoirs in the southern
fields of Berkine Fairway (see below). Similar facies of the same age
are seen in outcrops of the Gargaf high, where Whitbread and
Kelling (1982) describe 800 m of deltaic and shoreface deposits
(Mrar Fm). These authors report that the upper transgressive
portion of the series contains large Collenia stromatolite mounds.
The same facies are well known in the Visean of the Tassili N’Ajjers
(Fabre, 1976).
Well-log correlations in the Berkine basin suggest that F1 and
RKF sandstones thin and shale-out towards the south and east.
Since the interval is truncated at the Hercynian Unconformity to the
west and north, we interpret a N–S, or eventually NW–SE, sediment
dispersal direction in this part of the basin. On the other hand,
Whitbread and Kelling (1982) document a consistent westerly
oriented transport direction in the subsurface of the Ghadames
basin in Libya, just north of the Mrar outcrops in the Gargaf high.
This suggests that both areas occupied opposite flanks of a rela-
tively small Berkine–Ghadames basin. The centre of this basin is
probably marked by the thickest preserved Carboniferous below
the Hercynian Unconformity, locally known as the Berkine–Illizi
Hercynian Syncline (Fig. 10). This would indicate a reversal of
sediment dispersal patterns during the Late Devonian–Early
Carboniferous that might be related to the beginning of uplift of the
Hercynian highs that would later surround the Berkine–Illizi area
(Fig. 10).
In the Illizi area, Fabre (1976) describes the Upper Tournaisian as
lying directly over Devonian, or earlier series, and composed of
transgressive sandstones and carbonates rich in brachiopods and
fish bones as well as Collenias stromatolites. Late Tournaisian and
Early Visean sandstones are scattered fluvio-deltaic layers of the
Issendjel Fm, and provide productive reservoirs to fields near the
Algerian–Libyan border of the Illizi area.
The Late Visean and the overlying Early Namurian of the Illizi
area consists of bioclastic grainstones and calcite cemented fine-
grained sandstones and greenish shales of the Oubarakat Fm, which
display an overall shallowing upward facies trend. The Visean
transgression is well marked in the subsurface by a continuous
shale interval of 50 to over 100 m present throughout the area.
Interpretation of the Namurian Unconformity is based on the
presence of a relatively localised sharp-based sandstone wedge not
more than 40 m thick in the western portion of the Illizi basin. This
clastic wedge consists of fluvial deposits that pinch out towards the
south and east, on the flanks of the buried Tihemboka high. It is
encased within a carbonate rich fine-grained marine interval, and
we interpret it as due to a sudden base-level fall, probably associ-
ated with early stages of the Late Carboniferous Gondwana glaci-
ation (Ross and Ross, 1988). In outcrops in the Illizi area, Claracq
(1959, in Fabre, 1976) reports Late Carboniferous crossbedded
medium-grained sandstones with fossil wood incised into fossilif-
erous marine carbonates. These consist of channel-fill deposits and
occasionally show lateral accretion stratification. They are shoe-
string shaped, and typically measure some 300 m wide, and 20–
30 m thick, forming continuous outcrops of up to 12 km long.
3.7.2. Late Namurian, Stephanian and Westphalian: carbonates in
the Illizi basin (CARB-2 Megasequence)
The Late Namurian and Stephanian interval is restricted to the
eastern portion of the Illizi area. It is a 350–400 m carbonate–
evaporite package referred to as the El Abed Larache or Dembaba
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
Fm. It consists of variegated carbonates, dolomites and sandy
dolomites, with goniatites and brachiopods, interbedded with
occasional gypsum beds. Well-log correlations indicate an overall
coarsening upward trend, developed over a lower maximum
flooding surface, at the base of the interval of probable Late
Namurian or Early Westphalian age.
Fine-grained continental or possible coastal plain clastics cover
the preceding carbonate deposits, and are separated from it by
a sharp laterally continuous surface. This interval is preserved in
only a few wells where it can reach up to 150 m. It consists of very-
fine grained sandstones and siltstones with ripple marks, and
reddish, variegated bioturbated dolomites and claystones, inter-
bedded with evaporites (Fabre, 1976). Dolomite facies include
oolitic grainstones, and can display stromatolitic lamination, and
polygonal desiccation cracks. Some of the fine-grained layers
contain fresh water gastropods (Fabre, 1976). Outcrop descriptions
by the same author show that a gypsum layer covered by a thin
aeolian or fluvial sandstone caps this series.
The Late Namurian to Stephanian is interpreted to represent the
gradual isolation of the Berkine–Illizi basin from open Palaeo–
Tethys waters, during the Hercynian deformation of the Saharan
Platform. Open marine Visean deposition gave way to an isolated
carbonate basin, which towards the Late Westphalian evolved to
a shallow playa-lake ending in desiccation by Early Permian(?)
times. The shallowing upward trend continued with the exhuma-
tion of the area during the latest Carboniferous, Permian and Early
Triassic, accompanied by local continental deposition of the ‘Argiles
de Tiguentourine’ Fm in the south eastern portion of the Ghadames
basin (Plate 4). Indeed, the overall facies stacking and stratal
patterns of the Early and Mid Carboniferous seems to fit the global
sea-level trends, but the overlying Mid–Late Carboniferous basin
desiccation clearly shows the prevalence of tectonic, Hercynian,
uplift over the long-term eustatic trend of high sea-levels described
by Ross and Ross (1988).
3.8. Hercynian faulting, folding, and pre–Mid Triassic regional uplift
Late Palaeozoic tectonism in the Saharan Platform was charac-
terised by regional uplift and basin inversion during the Hercynian
deformation, caused by the collision between Laurentia and Gond-
wana and the consequent closure of the Rehic and western Paleo–
Tethys oceans during the Late Devonian–Permian interval. This
collision resulted in the formation of the Mauritanides–Appalachian
Orogen, in NW Africa and SE North America, and its continuation
into the European Variscides, and ended with the assembly of the
Pangea Supercontinent (Ziegler, 1990). Far-field effects of the major
Hercynian Orogeny are clearly visible in the Saharan Platform up to
distances of over 1500 km (Haddoum et al., 2001). Within the
Saharan Platform, the intensity of deformation decreases towards
the east, away from the Hercynian fold belt in western Morocco and
Mauritania (Fabre, 1976). The most proximal foreland deformation
in the Moroccan Anti Atlas and Ougarta ranges include tight folds
and reverse faults and mild metamorphism Donzeau (1983). Farther
east, in outcrops of the Ahnet basin, important strike-slip faults,
reverse faults and associated folds along mostly N–S oriented fault
swarms follow the basement structural grain. In the eastern Saharan
Platform, deformation consists of compressional structures of varied
style and scale, including regional uplift, long-wavelength gentle
folding and regional basin inversion, and strike-slip and reverse
faults and associated open folds (Fig. 10).
The Hercynian Orogeny was a long-lived plate-tectonic event,
associated with the progressive collision of continental masses as
the Rehic and Palaeo–Tethys ocean closed. Guiraud (pers. com.,
2002) considers that the Late Devonian–Early Carboniferous Bre-
tonic (Strunian) Phase represents the first tectonic event associated
165
with the Hercynian Orogeny, while the latest deformation can be
dated as Early Permian (Villeneuve et al., 1991). Most of the
deformation in the Saharan foreland seems to correspond to the
major tectonic phases of this orogeny during the Late Carbonif-
erous–Early Permian (Haddoum et al., 2001), which due to the
stronger tectonic stresses must have propagated more distally into
the continental interior.
All the regional seismic lines and well-log cross sections show
the paramount importance of the Late Palaeozoic erosion and
deformation (Plates 1–4, Fig. 10). They indicate that massive
intervals of Palaeozoic rocks were eroded throughout the region,
with over 4000 m eroded, for instance, in the Hassi Messaoud and
Talemzane–Dahar highs (Plate 1B, Fig. 10).
The erosion of nearly flat-lying strata over most of the Illizi area
and the Berkine–Illizi Syncline (Fig. 10) is evidence of regional uplift.
Nevertheless, we propose that most of this regional uplift is probably
not due to the horizontal stress of the Hercynian Orogeny itself but to
post-orogenic thermal uplift associated with a higher freeboard of
the assembled continental masses of Pangea. Long wavelength
deformation is also evident in the subcrop map of Fig. 10 and
expressed by regional highs and lows such as the Talemzane–Dahar
and the Amguid–El Biod highs, and the Berkine–Illizi Syncline. Their
variable orientation may be due to the superposition in NE Algeria
and Tunisia of Hercynian, compression-related features, with
slightly younger extensional deformation elements of the western
reaches of the Tethys rifts. Stampfli et al. (2001) report that first
extensional deformation in the Djeffara graben began in the Early
Carboniferous, although the main rifting phase is Late Permian–
Early Triassic in age. Hercynian anticline and rotated uplifted blocks
are evidences of inversion of the Illizi basin centre (Plate 3, Fig. 10).
The zone of minimum erosion is located towards the Libyan–
Algerian border region of the Illizi area, where Late Carboniferous
rocks are preserved in a broad exhumed synclinorium (Fig.10). Here,
the poorly dated continental series of the Tiguentourine Fm might
correspond to syn-tectonic Permian red beds preserved in a shallow
depression located to the east of the Hercynian highs (Plate 4).
Hercynian faults are mostly N–S, NNE and NNW oriented reverse
and strike-slip faults. They are apparently organised in fault arrays
making major trends of deformation, such as the Amguid–El Biod fault
trend, or more locally, the Fadnoun or Essaoui Mellene faults (Fig. 10).
Haddoum et al. (2001) describe in detail similar structures from
outcrops in the Ahnet basin. They show that faults are generally
vertical with indications of dextral or sinistral strike-slip displace-
ment depending on their respective NNE or NNW orientations. In
addition, strike-slip faults evolve locally into reverse faults, or
terminate in horsetail structures. These authors observe that reverse
faults are well expressed in the brittle lower Palaeozoic series, but
die-out in the shalier Devonian series. A comparable relationship is
also observed in the Devonian or Carboniferous shales of the Berkine
and Illizi basins. Folds are oriented parallel to the fault system and
associated with the hanging wall of reverse faults.
The N–S and NNE strike-slip fault and fold orientation in the area of
this study is largely consistent with a NNE–SSE and ENE–WSW
oriented shortening proposed for the Ahnet basin by Haddoum et al.
(2001) based on detailed outcrop analysis. The transpressional defor-
mation resulted from the reactivation and inversion of pre-existing
Palaeozoic and mostly Pan-African fault systems (Beuf et al., 1971;
Fabre, 1976).
4. The Mesozoic ‘Tethys’ Supersequence: sedimentation,
tectonism and igneous activity
Following Late Palaeozoic uplift, subsidence resumed in the
northern Saharan Platform during the Late Triassic, associated with
a widespread generalised extensional regime (Fabre, 1976; Courel et al.,
166 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Fig. 11. Triassic isopach map showing the development of the Triassic extensional basin in the Berkine area. Regional extensional deformation produced transtensional reactivation
of the Amguid–El Biod fault trend, evidenced by numerous pull-apart troughs. All Triassic faults are thought to have had a normal vertical displacement. The overall structural
pattern suggests a sinistral horizontal displacement along some of the major faults of the Amguid–El Biod fault trend. Block symbols refer to present day vertical displacement and
evidence the transpressional reactivation of faults along the Amguid–El Biod trend.

2003). Late Triassic normal faults developed throughout the Berkine
and Oued Mya basins (Fig. 11), and are related to the opening of the
Tethys Ocean and the beginning of rifting in the Moroccan and Algerian
Atlas and its continuation into the Djeffara basin (Stampfli et al., 1991;
Guiraud, 1998; Stampfli et al., 2001). Faulting in the Algerian interior
was locally associated with alkaline volcanism. Two main depocentres
developed in the Saharan Platform during the Triassic, the Oued Mya
and the Berkine basins, separated by the Hassi Messaoud high (Fig. 11).
The Mesozoic series is over 4000 m thick in the Berkine–Ghadames
basin (Plate 2). The Triassic and Jurassic interval was preferentially
deposited within the extent of the Triassic basin and progressively
onlaps the underlying Palaeozoic series on the southern flanks of the
basin. Conversely, the Late Cretaceous covered large tracts of
the Saharan Platform as it was deposited during the late sag phase of
the ‘Triassic’ basin(s) and during a global first order eustatic highstand.
However, Late Cretaceous rocks are largely eroded and exhumed in the
Illizi area due to the later uplift of the Hoggar Massif (Plates 3 and 4).
The Mesozoic sedimentary rocks in the area are largely clastic and
evaporitic within lower, Triassic and Jurassic tracts, which are covered
by clastic Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous depositional wedges, in
turn overlain by a carbonate and evaporite-prone Upper Cretaceous
succession (Plate 4). Table 3 summarises the separation of the Mesozoic
units into Megasequences bounded by major regional unconformities.
4.1. Triassic: continental deposits in the hinterland portion of the
Tethys continental encroachment
Late Mid Triassic red beds record the first sedimentary deposits
after Hercynian uplift in the Berkine–Illizi area. They unconformably
overlie igneous and sedimentary rocks ranging from Proterozoic to
Carboniferous in age, exposed during the Late Palaeozoic (Fig. 10). The
Triassic interval has an overall wedge shape, is thickest in the north,
and pinches out on the southern flank of the Berkine basin (Plates 2
and 3). At a local scale it fills NNE oriented depressions, and displays

Table 3
Mesozoic–Cenozoic Megasequences of the Berkine and Illizi basins, Saharan Platform, Algeria (see also chronostratigraphic chart on Plate 4).

Megasequence (duration) Age Basal unconformity (approximate dating) Peak transgression

– – Atlas Unc (65–30? Ma) Tertiary not studied
CRET 3 MS (w31 Ma) Senonian Cenom 1 Unc (w96 Ma) Mid Campanian
CRET 2 MS (w24 Ma) Aptian–Albian Early Aptian Unc (w120 Ma) Late Albian
CRET 1 MS (w24 Ma) Neocomian NEOC 1 UNC (w144 Ma) Early Barremian
JUR 3 MS (w19 Ma) Malm Malm 1 Unc (w165 Ma) Kimmeridgian
JUR 2 MS (w22 Ma) Dogger Dogger 1 Unc (w187 Ma) Bathonian
TRIAS 3-JUR 1 MS (w29 Ma) Late Norian–Lias TRIAS 3 (Norian) Unc (216 Ma) Sinemurian
TRIAS 2 MS (w16 Ma) Late Ladinian–Mid Norian Hercynian Unc (290–235 Ma), Late Carnian
Ladinian Unc in Tunisia
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178 167

Fig. 12. Well-log cross section of the Berkine basin (datum Late Carnian MFS). Note the lateral relationship between Triassic volcanics and TAGI fluvial deposits. Sand-rich TAGI
deposits in Berkine Fairway are most probably largely composed of re-deposited shortly transported sands, sourced from subcropping Devonian sandstones. Frasnian–Triassic
petroleum system works by direct charge of Triassic reservoirs by subcropping Frasnian shales as well as by vertical migration along normal faults. Location in Fig. 11. 1, ORD-2 MFS
(Llandeilo); 2, Ashgillian Unc; 3, Sil-1 MFS (Llandoverian); 4, Base Devonian Unc; 5, Frasnian MFS; 6, Strunian Unc; 7, Visean MFS; 8, Hercynian Unc; 9, Carnian MFS; 10, Norian Unc;
11, Lias-2 Unc; 12, ‘B’ Horizon (Sinemurian MFS).

a variable thickness that reaches over 600 m (Fig. 11). It is bounded at
its base by the Hercynian Unconformity and its top is marked by the
Hettangian MFS (Plate 4).
The Triassic series of the Berkine area consists of a largely clastic
continental wedge of mostly Mid–Late Triassic age, arranged in two
megasequences (Plate 4). This wedge begins with fluvial-lacustrine
deposits of probable Late Ladinian–Early Carnian age (TAGI Fm),
covered by Carnian mixed carbonate-clastic continental to shallow
marine-lacustrine rocks (TAGI and TAC Fm), which are in turn followed
by a continental clastic-evaporitic wedge of likely Rhaetian age (TAGS
and S4 Fms, Plate 4A, Fig. 12). Shallow marine and lacustrine TAC Fm
deposits represent the peak transgression of Late Carnian age recog-
nised throughout NW Africa (Courel et al., 2003; Eschard and
Hamouche, 2003). An unconformity of possible Norian age separates
the lower Trias-2 Megasequence, containing the TAGI and TAC
formations, from the upper Trias 3-Jur1 Megasequence, which contains
the TAGS and S4 formations (Fig. 12).
The Triassic series progressively onlaps the underlying substratum
from N to S. The oldest Triassic deposits are found in the subsurface of
the Tunisian Djeffara, where a very complete Late Permian to Mid
Triassic succession has been found in the subsurface (Busson and
Burollet, 1973, Plate 2A). The TRIAS 1 MS, not described here, is only
developed in Tunisia (Plate 4).
4.1.1. Ladinian–Early Norian: fluvial to shallow marine
sedimentation (TRIAS 2 Megasequence – TAGI and TAC Fms)
This megasequence is bounded at the base by the Hercynian
Unconformity and at its top by the Norian Unconformity. It shows an
overall fining upward pattern. The TAGI formation makes up the
basal interval, and consists of laterally extensive and vertically
stacked sand-prone continental deposits. It is covered and laterally
changes facies to TAC fine-grained shallow marine and lacustrine
facies. Sand content is highest along fault-bounded depressions
(Fig. 13). Turner et al. (2001) recognised 4 sequences within the
TAGI–TAC interval in the Berkine Fairway. They describe TAGI
sandstones as composed at the base by ephemeral fluvial sands
deposited in a playa-lake-fluvial system, followed by fluvial sand-
stones deposited in perennial rivers. The first are associated with
aeolian and terminal fan sandstones and playa-lake shales. Both
facies provide a sand-prone interval along the Berkine Fairway
(Fig. 13). Fluvial drainage is thought to have consisted of NNE
flowing rivers, with local lateral streams reaching the area from
a regional high to the SE or a volcanic high to the NW. Absence of
sand on regional and local faulted highs is the reason for numerous
dry holes.
TAGI reservoir properties are excellent, with good primary
porosity and minor diagenesis. Sandstones consist of quartz are-
nites at the base, and become sub-arkosic towards the middle and
upper intervals (Rossi et al., 2002). Quartz-rich cement and illite
clay coating make the lower TAGI a relatively poorer reservoir. The
best TAGI reservoirs reach permeabilities of over 1 Darcy, and
porosities exceeding 20%, which are largely primary in origin and
facies dependent. They are sealed by TAC lacustrine and shallow
marine shales, present throughout the Berkine Fairway area. The
TAC formation was deposited covering a major transgressive
surface, and includes a thick succession of shales that are accom-
panied in the central portion of the Berkine and ‘El Biod’ area by
168 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Fig. 13. TAGI Fm net sand isopach map (Trias-2 MS). Sand deposition is associated with NE flowing fluvial systems. Thickness patterns suggest syn-sedimentary faulting. The inverse
relationship between volcanism and sand thickness indicates that a volcanic high separated a SE depositional fairway (Berkine basin) from a NW one that continues to the west into
the Oued Mya basin.

5–10 m thick dolomite layers of lacustrine-restricted marine origin.
They change facies towards the south and southeast to thin fluvial
sands, also assigned to the TAGI Fm.
Triassic outcrops in the Tunisian and Libyan Djeffara, include
similar facies as those observed in the Algerian subsurface (Rubino
et al., 2003c). The Mid Triassic continental facies of the Kurrush and
Kirchaou Fm include braided river, aeolian and terminal fan sand-
stones, associated with red playa-lake and fluvial flood-plain
shales, similar to the TAGI facies in Algeria. In addition, the tran-
sition to overlying coastal and marine deposits is marked by
prominent flooding surfaces that bound backstepping para-
sequences. TAC time-equivalent series in outcrops in SE Tunisia and
northern Libya include open marine carbonate–dolomite platforms
of Mid Carnian to Early Norian age (Peybernes et al., 1994). They
represent the distal facies of the lacustrine-shallow marine thin
dolomite to marly shales observed in Algeria.
4.1.2. Early Norian to Raethian: alluvial fans and sabhka
sedimentation (TRIAS 3-JUR 1 Megasequence – TAGS and S4 Fms)
The Norian Unconformity (Fig. 12, Plate 4) separates the TRIAS 2
from TRIAS 3-JUR 1 MS. This is a major unconformity characterised
by the truncation of the underlying strata on the basin margin and
regional highs. We have observed some truncation and onlap on
this surface on some seismic lines, but the poor seismic resolution
in the area does not normally allow observations at this scale.
Rubino et al. (2003c) have also identified an Early Norian Uncon-
formity in the outcrops in NW Libya, where it is defined by the
direct superposition of the fluvial facies of the Abu Shaybah Fm
over open marine dolomites of the Aziziah Fm.
This megasequence is composed of sand-rich braided and
meandering river deposits (TAGS Fm), largely concentrated in the
southwestern portion of the Berkine basin, which change facies to
massive salt deposits of the S4 Fm to the north (Fig. 14). The
extension of the sandy facies suggests a large alluvial fan centred in
the Hamra–Rhourde Nouss area (Fig. 14). The facies transition is
achieved by a change from thick alluvial-fluvial sandstones to
interbedded thin sand and shale intervals interpreted as terminal
fans or ephemeral fluvial aprons, which evolve basinward to silty
shales with anhydrite facies marking a playa-lake margin envi-
ronment. These facies pass rapidly northwards into almost exclu-
sively halite deposits (Fig. 14).
TAGS sandstones are excellent reservoirs. In the El Biod area fields,
such as Rhourde Nouss, Hamra or Gassi Touil, sand distribution seems
largely constrained by faulting. Local sand-rich grabens and half
grabens may contain up to 100 m of net sand (Fig. 14). Lias S1–3 salt
formations provide the vertical seal to TAGS reservoirs (Plate 4), and the
ultimate seal to all petroleum systems in the area.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
Fig. 14. TAGS/S4 net sand and facies map (Trias-3-Jur-1 MS). TAGS Fm sandstones are restricted to an alluvial fan-braided river system in the Hamra–Rhourde Nouss area, and pass
rapidly into terminal fans and a playa-lake salt basin to the north.
4.2. Tectonism and igneous activity: extensional deformation and
Triassic basic volcanism
Triassic normal faults in the Berkine area show an overall NNE
and NE orientation. They strongly affect depositional thickness and
sediment patterns of Late Carnian–Norian deposits (Eschard and
Hamouche, 2003). The trend becomes N–S along the Amguid–El
Biod Fault Zone. In this area, faults show minor Triassic vertical
displacements, as suggested by the local isopach anomalies
(Fig. 11). Subsequently, most of those faults were severely inverted
in Late Mesozoic and Tertiary times. Conversely, Triassic normal
faults of the Berkine Fairway show minor evidences of inversion.
They show vertical displacements of over 100–150 m, and are
typically basement-involved high-angle planar normal faults
sealed by the Liassic salt formations. Prolific structural traps in the
Berkine Fairway include faulted tilted blocks and horst where fault
closure is assured by juxtaposition of Triassic reservoir with shale-
prone Carboniferous or Triassic/Early Jurassic rocks. In addition the
thick Lias salt provides a very efficient regional ultimate top seal.
Triassic extensional deformation was associated with Carnian
and Norian andesitic volcanism in the Berkine and Oued Mya basins
(Fig. 13). Thermal and/or geomorphologic uplift of the volcanic
areas locally controlled Triassic sedimentation and sandstone
distribution, so that volcanic areas are typically poor in sandy
facies.
Triassic faulting was followed by subtle but more gener-
alised thermal subsidence throughout the northern Berkine
and Oued–Mya basins. The basin broadened progressively to
169
the south, west and east during the Lias, as evidenced by
onlap pattern of Early Mesozoic over the Hercynian Uncon-
formity. This change may have been accompanied by the
closing or a partial closing of a seaward connection with
the Tethys Ocean. A thick salt series was deposited during the
entire Lias until Late Toarcian (Plate 4). Loci of subsidence
areas remained constant during the Jurassic and most of the
Neocomian.
The Late Triassic depocentres do not coincide with Palaeozoic
depressions but are located in areas of maximum normal
faulting, along the central El Biod area and the northern Berkine
region (Fig. 11), defining the ‘Triassic basin’ of the Algerian
literature (Fabre, 1976). Triassic normal faulting in the eastern
Algerian basins is associated with the rifting and opening of the
Tethys Ocean. Stampfli et al. (2001) describe a two-phased
extensional process in the Djeffara basin in Tunisia and NE
Libya, with Carboniferous and Late Permian–Triassic rifting. This
rifting extended throughout the Mediterranean and Middle–
Eastern region, and culminated in the Late Permian–Early
Triassic with the separation of the Cimmerian continent from
Gondwana and the creation of the Tethys Ocean (Stampfli et al.,
2001). In this context, the Triassic basins in Algeria would
correspond to the hinterland of the Tethys passive margin. The
Late Palaeozoic–Triassic Djeffara faults make up a major E–W
trending rift-bounding fault system. Late Permian–Triassic
sediments in the Djeffara (Tripolitana) basin reach thickness of
over 8000 m (Busson and Burollet, 1973). This fault system
extended into the Algerian interior where extensional
170 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
deformation propagated along numerous NE and N–S oriented
pre-existing basement faults, which show much less displace-
ment than the rift-boundary faults in Tunisia and Libya. The
shoulder uplift associated with the main rift-bounding faults
may have acted as a topographic barrier that isolated the
Algerian basins from open ocean waters. This resulted in
deposition in isolated internally drained basins characterised by
playa-lake and extensive salt deposits. The rift-shoulder uplift is
documented by Stampfli et al. (2001), who estimate up to
1.7 km footwall uplift in the Djeffara region (Plate 2), which as
mentioned before, seems to continue into eastern Algeria along
the Talemzane–Dahar high.
Makhous and Galushkin (2003) interpret an elevated thermal
reactivation of the lithosphere in the Dahar area during the
Permian–Jurassic times with respect to other ‘internal’ areas of the
Saharan Platform, based on source rock maturation profiles and
basin modelling. They estimate that in the Dahar region, the Late
Palaeozoic–Early Mesozoic ‘. erosion reached over 3500 m, the
thickness of the lithosphere decreased to as much as 25–35 km,
and surface heat-flow exceeded 100 mW/m2’. These values are
close to those observed in continental rifts. This supports the
interpretation that the Late Palaeozoic–Early Mesozoic uplift of
the Dahar high was related to Tethys rifting rather than Hercynian
compression, explaining its odd orientation with respect to the
Hercynian structural grain. The elevated heat-flow during the
rifting event had an important impact in source rock maturation
in the Berkine area.
Fig. 15. Hercynian–Aptian isopach map, showing the thickness pattern associated with syn-sedimentary transpressional activity along the Amguid–El Biod fault trend during the
Late Neocomian. Some minor fault reactivation is probably seen in the Berkine basin. Some Illizi faults show clear post-Hercynian reactivation, but lack of sedimentary record does
not allow determination of the reactivation as Early Cretaceous and/or Atlasic in age.
4.3. Jurassic–Cretaceous: epicontinetal clastic to carbonatic,
continental and marine sedimentation
The Jurassic–Cretaceous interval represents the bulk of the
Tethys Supersequence in the Saharan Platform. It is well
developed in the Berkine and Oued Mya basins (Plate 1),
where it reaches over 4000 m in thickness, while it thins
southward mostly due to erosion associated with the uplift of
the Hoggar Massif, and less importantly to depositional thin-
ning (Plate 3). These deposits comprise the lateral epiconti-
nental encroachment of the thicker and more open marine
Tethys series, developed in the ‘Berber’ area, i.e. the Atlas
Domain (Busson, 1998).
The Jurassic and Cretaceous series evolve from largely evaporitic
sequences in the Lias, to fine-grained clastics during the Dogger and
Malm, followed by coarse-grained clastic succession during the
Early Cretaceous, and capped by carbonate–evaporitic sequences
during the Late Cretaceous.
From an economic point of view, the Jurassic–Cretaceous
interval in the area represents the overburden of the
Palaeozoic and Palaeozoic–Triassic petroleum systems. While
the series has no importance in terms of oil-reservoirs, its
sealing capacity is a key component of both petroleum
systems. In addition it records the Mesozoic tectonic evolu-
tion of the Saharan Platform, which has a major role on
determining the timing and location of hydrocarbon gener-
ation and migration.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178 171

4.3.1. Jurassic: salt basin to shallow marine epeiric sea
sedimentation (JUR-2 and JUR-3 Megasequences)
The Jurassic interval is some 1500 m thick in the Berkine basin,
and thins rapidly to the south, east and west, following the thick-
ness trend of the Triassic series (Fig. 11). The lowermost sequences,
of Lias age, consist of mixed evaporite–carbonate sequences with
a minor clastic component, deposited most probably in an
episodically isolated basin. They are followed by a Dogger–Malm
interval comprising fine-grained clastics, and dolomites.
The Liassic sequences contain thick salt-prone lowstands,
covered by thin dolomite layers deposited preferably during the
transgressive and highstand systems tract. Both salt and dolomite
intervals appear to change facies laterally to fluvial and coastal
plain clastics. Salt deposits consist of up to 350 m thick halite layers
with minor anhydrite, which are interpreted as sabhka sediments
deposited in isolation from the Tethys Ocean (Fabre, 1976). On the
other hand, lacustrine and coastal dolomites deposited during
relative sea-level rise were laid-down in restrictive marine envi-
ronments, probably partially or temporally connected with open
marine waters to the north and northeast. These dolomites are 5–
20 m-thick layers of regional extent and provide useful and easily
identifiable correlation markers. Good examples are the D2 Dolo-
mite of Late Raethian Early Hettangian age, capping the S4 (Triassic)
salt layers, and the Horizon B of Sinemurian age, overlying the S3
salt layer (Plate 4). Thicker and open marine coeval deposits which
include deep marine clastics and shallow marine carbonates were
deposited in the Atlas Tethys Margin (Wildi, 1983), and in the
Tunisian Djeffara (Fabre, 1976; Boote et al., 1998; Courel et al.,
2003).

Fig. 16. Main oil fields and plays of the Berkine–Illizi area. Note the geographical segregation of the main plays. Proven and probable EUR (estimated ultimate recovery; IHS
Database, 2005): 1, Hassi Messaoud (10 BBO, 8 TCF); 2, Rhourde El Baguel (1.2 BBO, 2 TCF); 3, Ourhoud (2 BBO, 500 BCF); 4, Hassi Berkine and satellites (1.3 BBO, 1 BBC, 1.5 TCF); 5, El
Borma (880 MMBO, 1.3 TCF); 6, El Merk–Mendzel Ledjmet (1 TCF, 130 MBO); 7, Gassi Touil (1.7 TCF, 600 MMBO); 8, Rhourde Nouss (4.7 TCF, 500 MMBC); 9, Tin Fouye–Tabankort (8
TCF, 840 MMBO, 270 MMBC); 10, Alrar–Al-Wafa (8.6 TCF, 450 MMBO, 350 MMBC); 11, Ohanet (2.2 TCF, 170 MMBO); 12, Zarzaitine (1.3 BBO, 3 TCF); 13, Edjeleh (300 MMBO, 50 BCF);
14, In Amenas (4.2 TCF, 240 MMBO, 88 MMBC).
172 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Dogger and Malm sequences consist of interbedded coastal
plain and deltaic sandstones, and mudstones and shallow
marine to lacustrine shales and dolomites, locally associated
with minor anhydrite layers. The section becomes more marine
dominated towards its top with the deposition of thin but
widespread marine shales during the Kimmeridgian (Marker E8
in the petroleum literature; Fabre, 1976). Facies stacking patterns
interpreted from well-log cross sections were used to recognise
various Lias and Dogger sequences. These sequences are boun-
ded by unconformities that are evidenced by abrupt facies
changes, and regional onlap pattern, but that show no evident
truncation of underlying sequences. The two main unconfor-
mities are the Lias 2-Unc (Hettangian) at the base of S2 Salt Fm
in most of the area, and the Dogger-1 Unc. The former covers
the Hettangian marine shales, and is a regional onlap surface.
The latter marks the top of the Trias3–Lias1 Megasequence
(Table 3), which includes all of the Early Mesozoic salt-prone
sequences.
4.3.2. Cretaceous: epicontinental coastal clastic sediments and
carbonate–dolomite platforms (CRET-1 to CRET-3 Megasequences)
The base of the Neocomian is marked by an unconformity
marked clearly by the direct superposition of more than 70 m of
coarse-grained continental clastics over the underlying shallow
marine Malm (and possibly Ryazanian) series. This unconformity
determines the base of the Cret-1 Megasequence, while the
tectonically enhanced Early Aptian Unconformity (locally known as
the Austrian Unconformity) determines its top. The Cret-1 Mega-
sequence is up to 500 m thick in the central portions of the Berkine
basin, but it can be severely reduced in thickness due to truncation at
the Early Aptian Unconformity in the Amguid–El Biod area (Fig. 15).
Mid Aptian transgressive deposits onlap onto the Early Aptian
Unconformity. They overlie strata of varied Mesozoic and possibly
Palaeozoic age, and pinch-out in the southern portion of the
Amguid–El Biod fault trend (Fig. 15). The CRET-2 Megasequence is
some 300–500 m thick and contains the major Albian (Vraconian)

Fig. 17. Silurian source rock compilation map. Maturity from (Malla, Khatir and Yahi, 1998). Thickness map refers to gross Silurian shales (not only Silurian Hot Shales). Note the
control of the structurally subtle Ahara high on source rock maturity. Dry-gas areas in the Berkine basin may have generated oil before the Hercynian Orogeny.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
transgression of the Peri–Tethys area (Busson, 1998). A Cenomanian
Unconformity marks its top. The onlapping facies of the trans-
gressive Aptian deposits are a fine-grained clastic interval, probably
representing coastal plain facies. These change laterally and
upwards in a few tens of meters to a 10–30 m thick carbonate
interval of regional extent known as the ‘Dalle Aptiene’ Fm (‘Aptian
Slab’ Fm). The Aptian carbonates consist of dolomites with a few
anhydrite layers deposited in a restricted marine environment,
which change towards the north and northeast to carbonates rich
in Orbitulinides, deposited in more open waters (Fabre, 1976). The
Aptian carbonates are followed by a 100–200 m thick fine-grained
clastic sequence of shallow marine and coal bearing coastal
deposits. This interval contains a thick sandy fluvial section at its
base, and is arranged in a fining-upward trend, culminating in open
marine shales of Vraconian age.
The Vraconian shales are followed by a thick series of shallowing
upwards Cenomanian to Maastrichtian carbonates of the CRET-3
Megasequence. This interval is some 700–800 m thick, and is
composed of dolomites occasionally interbedded anhydrite and shale
layers. A sequence boundary of possible Cenomanian age, interpreted
based on facies stacking patterns, separates the Albian from the
Cenomanian–Turonian sequences (Table 3). The Late Cretaceous
sequences are characterised by the cyclic succession of relatively thin
lowstand salt and anhydrite layers followed by thin shale intervals
and covered by thick prograding carbonate platforms deposited
during relative sea-level highstand. The basal Cenomanian and
Turonian carbonates include a rich benthos fauna containing bivalves,
brachiopods, echinoderms and gastropods evidencing an open
Fig. 18. Frasnian source rock compilation map. Maturity map from (Malla, Khatir and Yahi, 1998). Thickness map refers to gross Late Devonian shales (not only Frasnian Hot Shales).
173
shallow marine depositional environment. In addition, marine Cen-
omanian and Turonian shales include pelagic fauna, rich in ammo-
nites, which also indicate open marine conditions.
The Late Cenomanian and Turonian deposits record the deepest
and most open marine sedimentation of the Late Cretaceous. Fabre
(1976) and Guiraud and Bellion (1995) show that the widespread
Cenomanian–Turonian carbonates record the connection of the
Tethys and Atlantic oceans across the Saharan Platform and the Gulf
of Guinea, during a period of global sea-level high. Indeed, Turonian
and Cenomanian deposits record a global Phanerozoic eustatic high,
and are found onlaping over older units, even Pan-African Base-
ment, on regional long-lived highs throughout the Saharan Platform
(Fabre, 1976). This interval is characterised by the absolute absence
of clastic deposits (Busson, 1998), again documenting flooding of the
platform and the reduced drainage areas of possible fluvial systems.
The section becomes more restricted in depositional setting towards
the upper terms of the Late Cretaceous series.
4.4. Late Mesozoic–Cenozoic tectonics: transpression, inversion and
thermal uplift in the Saharan interior
Following the Triassic normal faulting and volcanism, the area
evolved during the Jurassic through a thermal contraction sag
phase, at the same time as oceanic spreading began in the western
portion of the Tethys and the Atlantic Ocean in the Early–Mid
Jurassic (Stampfli et al., 1991; Guiraud, 1998). Towards the Early
Cretaceous, the regional subsidence pattern was affected by Late
174 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178

Neocomian–Early Aptian strike-slip deformation along the
Amguid–El Biod fault trend (Fig. 15 and Plate 3). Tectonism along
fault swarms such as the Amguid–El Biod trend, seems to result
from reactivation of basement faults due to distant, plate-boundary
tectonics. This fault zone is a clear example of a long-lived intra-
plate strike-slip deformation belt, such as those described in
continental interiors throughout the world (Storti et al., 2003). This
style of fault reactivation seems to depend largely on the orienta-
tion of the pre-existing faults with respect to the stress regime
being propagated along the platform. If oblique to the main
extensional stress, transtensional deformation takes place, such as
the Triassic faulting in the Amguid–El Biod fault zone (Fig. 11). On
the contrary, the oblique orientation of compressional stresses with
respect of the cited trend repeatedly produced transpressive
deformation. Even so, the reactivation may also be due to the
relative movement of cratonic blocks along crustal faults, which
would have little to do with the local stress regime. Most of the
Mesozoic–Cenozoic reactivated faults in the area seem to be crustal,
Pan-African faults, reactivated already in Hercynian times.
The Early Cretaceous tectonic event ceased by Early Aptian
times, as it appears to be basically sealed by the tectonically
enhanced Early Aptian Unconformity (Plate 4). Guiraud and Bellion
(1995) show that this deformation consists of a short-lived event
associated with strike-slip movement along the 4 500 lithospheric
fault zone (Plate 1), which would have been reactivated due to
accommodation of cratonic blocks as a response to the break-up of
the Mid Atlantic and rifting along central African grabens.
The Late Cretaceous is characterised by uniform regional
subsidence and minor tectonic compressional tectonic activity
beginning in Late Santonian times in the Berkine basin. McKenna
and Hedley (2003) describe minor dextral strike-slip inversion with
a NW–SE compressional component in the Berkine basin.
Transects in Plate 3 clearly describe the stratal pattern and
structural styles associated with the Mesozoic tectonic evolution.
The Lias evaporitic series is therefore restricted to the early sag,
rapidly subsiding Berkine ‘salt basin’ centre, and onlaps and
changes facies to fluvial and floodplain deposits towards the south
and southeast. In addition, the Dogger and Malm sections show

550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 GEOLOGIC TIME
SCALE A
PALAEOZOIC MESOZOIC CEN.
PreC CAM ORD SIL DEV CARB P TR JUR CRET TERT
PETROLEUM
E M L E L E L E M L E L E L L E M L E L E OM SYSTEM EVENTS
OU

UIV
SA

FS

ROCK UNIT
F6

SOURCE ROCK
RESERVOIR ROCK
SEAL ROCK
OVERBURDE N ROCK
TRAP FORMATION

PRESERVATION
CRITICAL MOMENT

550 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 0 GEOLOGIC TIME
SCALE B
PALAEOZOIC MESOZOIC CEN.
PreC CAM ORD SIL DEV CARB P TR JUR CRET TERT PETROLEUM
E M L E L E L E M L E L E L L E M L E L E OM SYSTEM EVENTS
RKF
SA
HL

FS
F2

ROCK UNIT
SOURCE ROCK
RESERVOIR ROCK
SEAL ROCK
OVERBURDE N ROCK
TRAP FORMATION

PRESERVATION
CRITICAL MOMENT
TECTONISM
Pan-African Arenig Caledonian Hercynian Permo-Triassic Mid Cretaceous Atlasic
Orogeny Event Regime Regime Extension Tectonism Tectonism
Hoggar
Uplift

Fig. 19. Petroleum system event charts of the Berkine–Illizi area slightly modified from Klett, (2000a,b). A: Illizi basin; B: Berkine–Ghadames basin. Formation name abbreviations
are: A,B, Lower Carboniferous Sandstones; AZ, Argiles d’Azzel; D, D Sandstone (Early Carboniferous); EA, El Atchane; EG, El Gassi; F2, F3, F4–F6, Devonian sandstone members (F6
also Late Silurian); FS, Frasnian Shales (includes Frasnian Hot Shale); HM, Hamra Quartzite; HL, Hassi Leila; MK, M’Kratta Mb; OK, Ouan Kasa; OU Oued Saret or Ouargla Fm; RKF,
Rhourde El Khrouf (Mrar eq); SA, Silurien Argileux (Tanezzuft eq; includes Silurian Hot Shale); TAG, Triassic Argilo–Greseux; SU, Saliferous Units; UIV: Unit IV.
 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
a widespread tabular stratal pattern characteristic of regional
subsidence associated with an advanced sag phase. The Early
Cretaceous tectonic reactivation is expressed by transpressive
reactivation of NNE oriented Amguid–El Biod fault trend. Defor-
mation is particularly important along certain major faults, and
consists of positive flower structures and tight pop-up anticlines
associated with basement strike-slip faults (Plate 3). The Hercy-
nian–Aptian isopach map of Fig. 15 shows a regional thickening
towards the north, documenting the regional subsidence pattern,
and the local thickening just east of the Amguid–El Biod fault trend
and the marked thinning along the uplifted structures that resulted
from Neocomian fault activity. Regional seismic transects (Plate 3)
show that most of the thickness anomalies associated with this
tectonic event develop within the Lower Cretaceous section and are
largely related to truncation at the Early Aptian Unconformity.
Alpine tectonism in the internal Saharan foreland is, as in the
Neocomian, largely associated with strike-slip reactivation of NNE
oriented pre-existing faults along the Amguid–El Biod fault zone,
and allegedly minor folding and compressional movement along
rare NNW and NW oriented Triassic transfer zones and faults in the
Berkine Fairway (Plate 3). This tectonic phase is expressed in the
Saharan Atlas by the inversion of Triassic–Jurassic rifts and marks
the onset in the area of the Alpine Orogeny (Vially et al., 1994). The
prolonged Alpine orogeny s.l. in northern Algeria evolved through 4
main phases: Late Senonian, Mid–Late Eocene (Atlasic Phase), Mid–
Late Miocene (Tellian phase), and Late Pliocene–Quaternary (Table
1; Vially et al., 1994). These authors indicate that the most impor-
tant of all those discrete tectonic events seems to have been the
Atlasic Phase, which involved the inversion of the Atlasic Triassic–
Jurassic rifts. This is also the time of thermal uplift of the Hoggar
massif (Plate 1), which was associated with Late Eocene–Oligocene
basic volcanism.
The Hoggar continental swell is a broad 1000 km wide crustal
dome, where the Precambrian basement rocks reach altitudes of
over 2900 m. Its uplift produced the regional northerly tilting,
uplift and exhumation of the Illizi area, with profound implications
on the evolution of the local petroleum systems. Ayadi et al. (2000)
suggest, based on teleseismic experiments, that the uplift of the
Hoggar swell was associated with a now defunct mantle hot spot.
This uplift was accompanied by volcanism, which continued until
Quaternary times.
Transpressive Early Cretaceous and Tertiary deformation is
mostly associated with major pre-existing faults (Plate 3). Indeed
the Amguid–El Biod fault trend, for instance, and other major faults
seem to have been active during all major tectonic events: Hercy-
nian, Triassic, Early Cretaceous, and Atlasic. Triassic thickness
anomalies and the erosion pattern at the Early Aptian Unconfor-
mity prove that numerous faults behaved as extensional faults
during the Triassic, and were inverted during the Early Cretaceous
and Atlasic events. Clear examples are those of FM-1 and BRD-1
anticlines shown in Transect 2 of Plate 3.
5. Petroleum systems: two world-class source rocks, and
multiple petroleum systems
The Berkine–Illizi province contains various major petroleum
systems in terms of the main source rock-reservoir pairs. These are
associated with two main source rocks, the Silurian (Tanezzuft Fm)
and Frasnian Hot Shales, and numerous major reservoir intervals;
Cambrian–Ordovician, Late Silurian–Early Devonian, Carbonif-
erous, and Triassic (Plate 4). A general description of the petroleum
systems in the Berkine–Illizi Province and their regional context
can be found in Boote et al. (1998). These authors distinguish three
main classes of petroleum systems in Northern Africa, which apply
to the Berkine–Illizi area:
175
Class 1: Mesozoic to Early Tertiary charged systems with
Triassic–Lias top seal in the Mesozoic sag basins of the northern
Sahara region.
Class 2: Mesozoic to Early Tertiary charged systems with intra-
Palaeozoic shale seals to the south of the Triassic basin.
Class 3: Extinct Palaeozoic charged systems with intra-Palae-
ozoic seals in basins of southwest Algeria and Morocco.
Class 1 petroleum systems in the Berkine and northern Amguid–
El Biod area contain EUR reserves of over 6.3 BBbls of oil and 16 TCF
of gas (IHS Database, 2008; Klett, 2000a). In addition, the Hassi
Messaoud high area, mostly a class 1 system, provides over 14 BBls
of oil 26 TCF of gas. The Illizi basin is a Class 2 Petroleum System and
contains EUR reserves of up to 5 BBbls of oil and 37 TCF of gas (HIS
Database, 2008). Klett (2000b), estimates gas EUR reserves for the
Illizi basin of over 45 TCF. Fig. 16 shows the distribution of the main
fields and plays in the study area.
Basin modelling suggests a pre-Hercynian phase of hydrocarbon
generation in some parts of the study area, namely the central
Berkine and SE Illizi basins, followed by a post-Hercynian, mostly
Cretaceous, phase. Underdown and Redfern (2008) reach the same
conclusion for the Ghadames (Berkine) basin in Algeria and Libya.
Most accumulations though, are thought to correspond to the
Mesozoic phase of oil generation, since pre-Hercynian hydrocarbon
accumulations were largely lost or remigrated due to the Late
Palaeozoic and Mesozoic tectonism. In addition, the Illizi basin
contains today a petroleum system that is partially exhumed due to
Eocene–Present uplift associated with the rise of the Hoggar Massif.
The consequent exposure of the Palaeozoic reservoirs along the
Tassilis N’Ajjers (Plates 1–3) provides an entry point for fresh water
so that hydrocarbon accumulations in the Illizi basin are currently
being flushed by aquifer water flow (Chiarelli, 1973). Evidences of
aquifer activity abound in Palaeozoic reservoirs in the Illizi basin, in
the form of tilted oil–water contacts, abnormally fresh formation
waters with clear regional salinity fresh-to-the-south trends, and
‘flushed’ dead-oil accumulations.
The regional distribution of oil and gas accumulations
suggests the existence of both vertical and lateral migration in
the region. Vertical migration prevails mainly along the main
fault trends such as the Berkine Fairway, and the El Biod fault
trend. On the other hand, lateral migration seems to play an
important role charging regional highs. The Hassi Messaoud high
was certainly laterally charged since all possible source rocks are
eroded up to a distance of over 50 km away from the Hassi
Messaoud Field. Laterally drained, regional high plays are
a recurrent and key element of the Palaeozoic petroleum systems
in North Africa. These are greatly favoured by the laterally
continuous Lower Palaeozoic reservoirs, and the presence of
long-lived highs. In addition to the Hassi Messaoud super giant,
lateral migration seems to have played an important role in
charging other major fields in the area such as the Tin Fouye–
Tabankort or the Alrar fields (Fig. 16). Similar petroleum migra-
tion patterns are described for the Silurian reservoirs in the
Ghadames basin in Libya, by Dardour et al. (2004). In addition,
but in a different structural context, Triassic carrier beds seem to
have provided a component of lateral migration to the Berkine
Fairway fields. It appears that Triassic reservoirs could have been
very effectively charged through direct contact with the sub-
cropping Frasnian source rock at the Hercynian Unc (Fig. 12). Oil
thereafter migrated up dip towards the southeast. The Aptian–
Hercynian isopach of Fig. 15 shows the regional SE upward slope
that oil within Triassic reservoirs must have found at or close to
peak oil generation times, in the Late Cretaceous. In this area
however, both lateral and vertical migration seem to coexist,
since it is also densely faulted.
176 S. Galeazzi et al. / Marine and Petroleum Geology 27 (2010) 143–178
5.1. Petroleum-system summary maps and events charts of the Illizi,
Berkine, Amguid–El Biod and Hassi Messaoud areas
Boote et al. (1998), and (Klett, 2000a,b) describe in detail the
petroleum systems if the Illizi–Berkine province. In addition,
pioneer work by Tissot et al. (1973), as well as more recent papers by
Boudjema (1987), Takherist (1990), Malla et al. (1998), Lüning et al.
(2000), Makhous and Galushkin (2003), and Underdown and Red-
fern (2008) give details on the source rocks, and basin modelling of
the area. Both Silurian and Frasnian source rocks contain a type I–II
oil-prone kerogen, and show an elevated TOC, normally between 2
and 14% for the Frasnian, and from 2 to 17% for the Silurian interval.
The main Silurian kitchen is centred in the Berkine basin and the
south-western portion of the Illizi basin, with a less mature area
around the Ahara high (Fig. 17). The Frasnian source rock is richer in
the Berkine basin, where it reaches the late gas maturation index in
its deepest buried areas (Fig.18). The overall timing of the petroleum
systems in the three most prolific areas in the region, Amguid–El
Biod Trend, Berkine basin, and Illizi basin are well summarised in the
event charts by Klett, (2000a,b) reproduced in Fig. 19.
6. Conclusions
The Berkine and Illizi basins contain a long sedimentary record
spanning throughout the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic. The overall
succession is separated by the major Late Palaeozoic Hercynian
Unconformity into the lower, Gondwana, and upper, Tethys, super-
cycles. Both 1st order units follow the same motif of extensional or
transtensional basin formation, followed by a protracted period of
regional subsidence, punctuated by minor largely transpressional
tectonic events, and finally concluding with basin inversion and
regional uplift. The latter is typically associated with a major adja-
cent orogeny linked to a major plate collision. Additionally, regional
uplift appears to be also controlled by local thermal events, such as
the major uplift of the Hoggar Massif coeval with the Alpine regime.
The basement structural grain was determined by the Late
Proterozoic Pan-African Orogeny, which created a series of NNE
oriented basement metamorphic belts that separate the Archean
west craton, from the eastern Pan-African shield. The metamorphic
belts are cut by Pan-African shear zones, which are exposed in the
Hoggar massif, and extend to the north constituting the basement
grain of the Illizi and Berkine area. The subsequent Phanerozoic
deformation and structural styles were largely dictated by the
reactivation of these basement faults as far-field intraplate defor-
mation associated with various plate-margin tectonic events such
as the Caledonian and Hercynian (Variscian) Orogenies, the
opening of the Tethys and Atlantic Oceans, and the Alpine Orogeny.
In addition, local thermal and epeirogenic uplift determined times
of overall erosion, and enhanced some of the most important
unconformities, such as the Hercynian Unconformity, probably due
to post collision uplift associated with thermal build-up of the
accreted Pangea continents. Moreover, the Cenozoic uplift of the
Hoggar Massif produced the uplift of the Illizi area, and the exhu-
mation of its petroleum systems.
The lower Palaeozoic series are characterised by sand-rich
laterally extensive coarse-grained reservoirs of shallow marine and
fluvial origin. They were deposited in shallow epeiric seas and
continental braided river and alluvial fans, and are separated by
thin but very extensive marine shales defining marked depositional
cycles due to relative sea-level variations. The coarse-grained
nature of the lower Palaeozoic seems related to the high sediment
supply from the Pan-African highlands into the Northern Gond-
wana passive margin during a time of vertically limited but laterally
widespread accommodation probably associated with the Early
Palaeozoic eustatic high. Towards the Late Ordovician, continental
ice covered the area, and produced marked scouring surfaces and
deposition of the most complex, glacial related, reservoirs in the
area. Two main hydrocarbon source rocks formed during 2nd order
peak-transgressions, in the earliest Silurian (Tanezzuft Shales), just
after Late Ordovician glaciation, and in the Early Late Devonian
(Frasnian Shales). Both were associated with eustatic highs and
global anoxic events.
Early Mesozoic sedimentation followed the Late Palaeozoic
uplift and peneplanation in the form of fluvial sandstones and
playa-lake mudstones interbedded with thin lacustrine and
shallow marine shales and dolomites. Triassic deposition was
accompanied by extensional faulting along the Berkine Fairway,
and basic volcanism. Post-rift halite of Late Triassic and Early
Jurassic age provide a thick effective seal for the northern Saharan
basins, and thus one of the key elements of the most prolific
petroleum province in the area.
Two prolific petroleum system families evolved in these basins;
1, Mesozoic to Early Tertiary charged systems with Triassic–Lias
top-seal (Berkine basin and Amguid–Al Biod Trend); 2, Mesozoic to
Early Tertiary charged systems with intra-Palaeozoic shale seals
(Illizi basin). Other petroleum systems that generated most of the
hydrocarbons in the Palaeozoic have shown limited production
potential here and prove difficult to explore and exploit elsewhere
in the Saharan Platform (Boote et al., 1998).
Acknowledgements
This paper benefited greatly from early discussions and reviews by
Bert Bally and Dave Roberts. We greatly appreciate their comments
and insights, which were very helpful to clarify various points, and
enrich the analysis of our data and interpretations. In addition, our
work was improved by long work sessions and exchange with Jean-
Loup Rubino (Total) regarding the geology of the Palaeozoic and
Triassic series, and with René Guiraud (University of Montpellier II) on
structural geology and tectonics. We also thank helpful technical
exchanges with Edmond Ousset, Christian Blanpied, Bernard Pironon,
Jean-Claude Chermette and Jean-Jacques Biteau at Total in Paris.
Moreover, this article would not have been possible without the
support of technical staff from Total, particularly Eric Penin, Benoit
Saillant, Eddy Flann and Hamish Sawyer. Finally we would like to
express our gratitude to Total SA management for encouraging our
work and granting permission for publication.
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