Meandering Miocene Deep Sea Channel Systems Offshore Congo, West Africa

The recently completed Congo regional seismic survey shows regional scale features in high detail. Individual channel systems have been recognized and exploited but now the regional scale extent of these systems can be clearly visualized. The hydrocarbon bearing formations of the Congo Basin were formed by the rifting of the African and South American plates during the Late Jurassic. Four distinct phases of deposition and deformation are recognized in the Congo Basin; Pre-Rift, Syn-Rift, Post-Rift deposition, and Salt Tectonic deformation and while petroleum systems are found in all phases this paper focuses on the Upper Miocene sequence comprising deeper marine turbidite systems with sediment sourced via the Congo River. Extractions of amplitude anomalies within different time intervals show the details of multiple “meander-form” channel systems traversing the deep basin and terminating in fan shaped topography. These channels systems are 1 to 2km wide and trend generally from SE to NW. The source of the sediments carried in the channels is the Congo River Delta. Viewed regionally these features may be interpreted to provide information on paleocurrent direction, flow changes over time as well as displacement of channel systems due to offset by faulting and salt domes.