Paleodepositional Environment and Sequence Stratigraphy of Miocene Sediments in Well TN-1, Coastal Swamp Depobelt, Niger Delta Basin, Nigeria

Abstract

This research focused on the interpretation of paleodepositional environment and development of a sequence stratigraphic framework for the well TN-1 section, located in the coastal swamp depositional belt of the Niger Delta Basin. Integration of interpreted litho- and biofacies data sets that facilitated the interpretation of the paleodepositional environment enabled the erection of a sequence-stratigraphic framework. Three lithotypes (sand, clay, and shale) distributed within fourteen facies variants were integrated with palynomorph components to delineate five paleodepositional cycles ranging from distal delta plain to bathyal. Eight systems tracts (closely related to depositional cycles, but transcended depositional boundaries in some intervals) that hosted three maximum flooding surfaces (MFS), three sequence boundaries (SBs), distributed within four third-order and three second-order sequences, were defined. Age-significant palynomorphs recovered indicated an Aquitanian to Messinian age range (with non-deposition or erosion of Burdigalian, Langhian, Serravallian Stages sediments), distributed within five pollen zones (P628–P840) that correlated with published global cycles. This study demonstrates the significance of integrated studies to erect a sequence-stratigraphic framework applicable for field and basin-scale exploration and exploitation purposes.

Keywords: Sequence stratigraphy, paleodepositional cycles, systems tract, cyclic sedimentation, lithofacies analysis, integrated studies