Sedimentological, palynostratigraphic investigation and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Chad Formation, Bornu (Chad) Basin Nigeria

Abstract

Sedimentological and palynostratigraphy studies were used to evaluate sediment-stacking patterns in a depth range between 400 and 50 m in the Kemar-1 well section, Bornu (Chad) Basin, Nigeria. The greyish-sandy claystone, rich micaceous, lithified, and unlithified greyish claystone, dark well sorted micaceous sandstone, and poorly sorted and heterolithic clayey sandstones are the major facies components recognised in the well sections. The lithofacies characteristics were used to delineate and assign depositional environments ranging from lacustrine to fluvial settings. Paleoecological results revealed that the dominant palynofloral associations are angiosperm pollen and pteridophytic spores and they were tentatively grouped under three ecological groups which include freshwater, mangrove/brackish and savannah depositional environments in wet to dry climatic conditions during sediment formation. The presence of Echitricolporites spinosus was used to define the Echitricolporites spinosus palynological zone. The basal section at 390–385 m interval in the well shows the dominance of Psilatricolporites crassus, Verrucastosporites usmensis, and Monoporites annulatus, which marked the Eocene boundary from the overlying Miocene marker bed species of Echitricolporites spinosus, Grimsdalea magnaclavata, Anthocerus sp., Nymphaea lotus, and Retistephanocolpites gracilis. The palynomorph data and lithological characteristics from the studied well section have been used to establish that the Chad Formation is of late Eocene to early Miocene age, and that it unconformably overlies the Kerri–Kerri Formation that was deposited in varying lacustrine, fluvial and prograding shoreface and deltaic settings. This study has resolved the controversy surrounding the age of the Chad Formation, the challenge in depositional environment reconstruction. Finally, the stratigraphic framework of the Chad Formation in the study area is presented.