Source Rock Characterization of Sediments from the Tarfaya Basin and Adjacent Areas, Morocco

The Tarfaya Basin is bounded by the Anti-Atlas, the Reguibat High / Tindouf Basin and the Mauretanides and developed since the opening of the Atlantic in the Permian to Triassic with continental extension. Little is known about source rock potential in Tarfaya Basin, excluding Cenomanian/Turonian black shales which were investigated e.g. by Kolonic et al. (1) and Kuhnt et al. (2). In general Lower Silurian, Upper Devonian, Lower Jurassic, Lower Cretaceous, Albian, Cenomanian shales as well as Lower Tertiary shales are considered as source rocks. To get more information about their potential, outcrop samples covering various stratigraphic units of the Tarfaya Basin, the Bas Draa area and the northwestern Tindouf Basin were collected. TOC/TC-measurements, sulphur measurements, Rock- Eval pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance measurements, fluorescence microscopy and organic-geochemical analyses were carried out on these samples to get basic information on their thermal maturity, the potential to generate hydrocarbons and their depositional environment.