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Tectonics and subsidence evolution of the Sirt Basin, Libya

¹ Department of Earth Systems Analysis, International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Hengelosestraat 99, 7514 AE Enschede, Netherlands; present address: Eni North Africa B.V., P.O. Box 2132, Tripoli, Libya; abdulbaset.abadi{at}eninabv.eni.it
² Netherlands Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands; present address: Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research TNO, Princetonlaan 6, 3584 CB, Utrecht, Netherlands; jan_diederik.vanwees{at}tno.nl
³ Department of Earth Systems Analysis, International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Hengelosestraat 99, 7514 AE Enschede, Netherlands; vandijk{at}itc.nl
⁴ Netherlands Research Centre for Integrated Solid Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, Netherlands; sierd.cloetingh{at}falw.vu.nl

Abdulbaset M. Abadi studied geology at Al Fatah University, Tripoli, Libya. He obtained an M.S. degree in geology at ITC (Enschede, Netherlands) in 1989. From 1997 to 2002, he was engaged in a Ph.D. research on the Sirt Basin tectonics at Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, and ITC. At present, he is working at the Petroleum Research Center in Tripoli.

Jan-Diederik van Wees holds an M.S. degree in geology (1989) and a Ph.D. in tectonics from Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (1994). After various research assignments in Shell and the university, he joined TNO in 1999 and holds a part-time professorship at Vrije Universiteit. His research interests include tectonic modeling of lithosphere and basins and technoeconomic and coupled modeling for geoenergy applications.

Paul van Dijk studied in the Leiden (geology) and Utrecht (structural geology with economic geology and geophysics) universities, Netherlands. He obtained his Ph.D. at James Cook University (Australia) on a thesis on syndeformational copper mineralization in the Mount Isa region. In 1987, he joined the ITC (Enschede, Netherlands), where he is currently the program director of the applied earth science courses.

Sierd Cloetingh holds an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. in geophysics at the Universiteit Utrecht. He is the scientific director of the Netherlands Research Centre of Integrated Solid Earth Sciences (ISES). He serves in many international functions, including the president of the International Lithosphere Project. His research interests include solid earth geophysics, tectonics, intraplate deformation, lithospheric dynamics, sedimentary basin evolution, and sea level change.

A backstripping analysis of 225 wells located within the Sirt Basin, Libya, provides new constraints on the development of the Sirt Basin. Four tectonic phases are identified from Late Jurassic to present. The presentation of contour maps of subsidence and crustal stretching allows spatial and temporal variations in stretching to be visualized. A close match is observed with stretching phases documented for other African basins, consistent with discrete phases in the opening of the Tethys and Atlantic. Rifting and reactivation appear to be primarily controlled by the orientation of the basin and the underlying basement structure with respect to stress directions. The tectonic subsidence curves have also been forward modeled with an automated modeling technique to quantify the variation in timing and the magnitude of rifting. The tectonic subsidence history of the Sirt Basin is characterized by periods of stretching, alternating with periods of relative tectonic quiescence and thermal subsidence. Stretching started at the centers of the troughs and migrated toward the platform crests.