Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

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Marine and Petroleum Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/marpetgeo

Evaporites, petroleum exploration, and the Cenozoic evolution of the Libyan

shelf margin, central North Africa
Joseph Carl Fiduk*
CGGVeritas, 10300 Town Park Drive, Houston, TX 77072, United States

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Mediterranean margin of Libya can be divided into three physiographic provinces, the Pelagian Shelf,
Received 29 April 2008 the Sirt Embayment, and Offshore Cyrenaica. The petroleum potential of the Pelagian Shelf has been
Received in revised form investigated but the Sirt Embayment and Offshore Cyrenaica are almost unexplored. During 2004–2005,
4 December 2008
new 2D pre-stack time-migrated seismic data were acquired and used to examine the large-scale
Accepted 20 April 2009
structural, depositional, and salt tectonic features of the Libyan shelf and slope. The data cover
Available online 9 June 2009
approximately 38,000 line kilometers in water depths ranging from under 50 to over 3000 m.
Cenozoic strata along much of the Libyan margin have a demonstrable progradational character
Keywords:
North Africa punctuated by surfaces of erosion and margin failure. Within the Sirt Embayment the most visible ret-
Libya rogradational surface becomes seismically coincident with the top of Messinian unconformity. This
Pelagian Shelf retrogradational surface extends for over 700 km along strike and cuts both sides of the Sirt Embayment.
Sirt Embayment Over 5000 cubic kilometers of material are missing from above this surface. There are two ideas for how
Offshore Cyrenaica retrogradation occurred. One idea relates the retrogradation to margin erosion during the Messinian
Evaporites salinity crisis. The other idea suggests that a large part of the Libyan margin experienced a cataclysmic
Salt tectonics failure during the late Miocene.
Messinian salinity crisis
Some existing models for offshore Libya have interpreted a widespread layer of halite lying within the
Margin evolution
Messinian which thickens basinward. This interpretation was probably based on the fact seismic
Offshore petroleum potential
reflection continuity was lost over much of the Sirt Embayment on older data beneath the top Messinian
unconformity. The loss of good reflection character adversely affected exploration efforts by obscuring
deep structures. Recent seismic data and a current understanding of salt behavior do not support the
interpretation of thick halite within the Messinian section. Regional observations do not indicate any
mobile halite present in the Sirt Embayment. There is a relatively thin, high amplitude and high velocity
layer of non-halite evaporites (mainly anhydrite) which caps the Messinian section. Where this high
amplitude and high velocity layer is absent or eroded, seismic continuity within the Messinian interval is
restored. Limited available well data support this interpretation.
True mobile halite is interpreted to exist in offshore Libya only in the far west of the Pelagian Shelf near
the Tunisian border. Beneath the Pelagian Shelf are a series of tight contractional folds that are inter-
preted to be salt cored. Basins adjacent to the folds display geometries characteristic of salt withdrawal.
The fold crests formed bathymetric highs which served as nucleation sites for nummulitic shoal
development. These shoals are the principal reservoirs of the Pelagian Shelf.
Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The Mediterranean waters of Libya cover in excess of 500,000
square kilometers and reach depths greater than 3000 m. The vast
majority of this area is underexplored and undrilled. It is only in the
past few years that regional seismic data covering offshore Libya
have become available. More sparse vintages of seismic coverage
* Tel.: þ1 (832) 351 8576.
E-mail address: carl.fiduk@cggveritas.com
date back to the 1980s and late 1970s. Exploration activities in Libya
were severely curtailed after the United States imposed economic
trade sanctions in 1986. The lifting of the embargo in 2004 has
allowed a resurgence of activity both onshore and offshore.
Offshore Libya can be divided into three large physiographic
regions, the Pelagian Shelf, the Sirt Embayment, and offshore
Cyrenaica (Fig. 1). All three regions show the influence of Tethyan
and Alpine tectonic deformation (Hallett, 2002). At a regional
perspective the Pelagian Shelf lies mostly west of 16 East longi-
tude, the Sirt Embayment lies mostly between 16 and 20 East
longitude, and offshore Cyrenaica lies mostly east of 20 East

0264-8172/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2009.04.006
1514 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

Fig. 1. Base map showing northern Libya and the Mediterranean Sea. The map shows CGGVeritas’ regional seismic data coverage over the Pelagian Shelf, Sirt Embayment, and
Offshore Cyrenaica. Black line across the Sirt Embayment refers to the cross-section A–A0 in Fig. 2. Bathymetry contours increase in non-linear steps from 200m, 500m, and 1000m,
then linear steps from 2000 m, 3000 m, and 4000 m. Author’s note: I have found a variety of spellings in the literature for Sirt (e.g. Sirte and Syrte). As I am unsure which is correct
I have merely tried to be consistent throughout the text of this paper in using the single form ‘‘Sirt’’. I ask for the reader’s indulgence on this matter.

longitude. But it should be understood that these boundaries are
gradational. Of the three regions the Pelagian Shelf, within Libyan
waters, has the smallest area (Fig. 1). However, at present it is the
most significant in terms of petroleum discoveries. There are over
twenty oil and gas discoveries within the Libyan Pelagian Shelf and
more exist in the Tunisian portion of the Pelagian Shelf (IHS, 2001).
The most significant of the Libyan oil fields, discovered in 1976, is
the giant Al Bouri field with an estimated five billion barrels of oil in
place and 670 million barrels recoverable (Thomas, 1995). This
makes it one of the largest offshore fields in the Mediterranean Sea.
In contrast, the Sirt Embayment and offshore Cyrenaica, each
with greater area, have no commercial production. Several small
gas pools were drilled in southernmost block NC 201 within the Sirt
Embayment that did not spark continued exploration efforts. A
1984 well just offshore from Benghazi tested oil in the Lower
Cretaceous (Hallett, 2002), but several offset wells came in dry
which curtailed further interest in the area. In fact, few wells have
been drilled in either region and most of those have been in shallow
water close to shore. Recently, in 2007, Woodside drilled four wells
in the Sirt Embayment, the A-1-35/3 spudded in April, the A-1-36/2
spudded in early June, the A-1-53/2 spudded in early July, and the
A-1-52/4 spudded in late July (Fig. 1). Each of these wells targeted
the Lower Cretaceous Sarir (Nubian) formation. Although drilled in
deeper water and testing large structures, all four wells were
plugged and abandon. Only the A-1-36/2 well found a show of oil in
the Sarir (Nubian) formation.
Petroleum systems considerations aside, the early exploration
activity on the Pelagian Shelf and lack thereof in the Sirt Embay-
ment and offshore Cyrenaica can be attributed to two factors: water
depth and seismic data quality. Early exploration efforts focused on
shallow water because it was within companies’ technical ability to
drill there and produce hydrocarbons (Fig. 1). Almost all of the
Pelagian Shelf is less than 500 m deep and where most of
the discoveries are located it is less than 250 m (Fig. 1). The shelf in
the Sirt Embayment is relatively narrow in comparison. Fewer than
twenty wells have been drilled along the Sirt shelf with no
commercial success (IHS, 2001). Beyond the shelf, water depths
quickly deepen to greater than 1000 m and in places exceed
3000 m. The northern margin of the Cyrenaica Platform is very
steep and drops off to abyssal depths in just a few 10s of kilometers.
Just a handful of wells have been drilled along this margin and only
a few of those were drilled offshore. No wells have been drilled in
deep water offshore Cyrenaica.
Seismic data quality was the other limiting factor to early
exploration activity along the Libyan margin. Data quality has
typically been good on the Pelagian Shelf, even back in the 1970s.
This allowed early explorationists to see deep structures, map
them, and drill high quality prospects. Fortunately, hydrocarbons
were also present in these structures. In the Sirt Embayment,
however, this was not the case. Below a relatively thin zone of
coherent shallow reflections data quality was poor. On seismic it
appeared as good shallow data with a wedge of distortion thick-
ening basinward into deeper water below it. Correlations to wells
showed that the coherent data ended at about the top Messinian. It
has thus been interpreted that a wedge of Messinian age salt may
exist within the Sirt Embayment (Gibbs, 2004; Fig. 2).
Data from multiple wells across offshore Libya document the
presence of evaporites (gypsum, anhydrite) within the Messinian
section (Hallett, 2002), but none documents the presence of
substantial halite. Current knowledge about salt behavior informs
us that a dipping wedge of halite within the Messinian section
could not exist for five million years without becoming highly
deformed. Modern seismic data should show this deformation but
such deformation is not seen. It is interpreted by this author that
true mobile halite only exists within the cores of folds under the
Pelagian Shelf.
2. Data
The seismic data used in this study were collected by CGG (now
CGGVeritas) in 2004–2005. A total of nearly 38,000 line kilometers
of high quality 2D seismic were acquired using two seismic vessels.
Ten seconds of data were recorded by an 8000 m Sercel streamer
with a group interval of 12.5 m and a shot interval of 25 m. This
yielded data with 162 fold. In the deepest waters of the Sirt
Embayment record lengths were increased to twelve seconds and
shot intervals to 37.5 m to produce 108 fold data. Dip lines oriented
N–S or NE–SW have a 12–13 km spacing. Strike lines oriented E-W
or NW-SE have a 25 km spacing that is increased to 50 km in the
 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527 1515

Fig. 2. Cross-section A–A0 is a south to north oriented schematic interpretation drawn across the Sirt Embayment. It shows the progradational character of Cenozoic strata along the
Sirt margin and a hypothetical wedge of halite associated with the Messinian section. The existence of the salt wedge was postulated to explain the loss of seismic reflections below
the top Messinian unconformity. A wedge of salt, as shown, would be unstable and should show significant deformation. Cross-section modified from Gibbs (2004).

deepest water areas (see Fig. 1). In blocks of high interest infill lines
were shot giving a tighter grid spacing.
3. Pelagian shelf
3.1. Tectonics
The Pelagian Shelf is a broad shallow region that represents the
northern extent of the African continent in western Libya (Fig. 3).
The lithology is dominantly carbonate but there is clastic input
along the margins and shale deposition in the basin center (Fig. 4A).
It is considered to be an extensional regime with a dextral strike-
slip component. During the Miocene, eastward movement of the
Calabrian Arc to the north caused the Pelagian Shelf to subside and
accumulate several thousand meters of Miocene to Recent strata
(Hallett, 2002). The Miocene to Recent section is highly faulted and
some faults show obvious inversion owing to an alternating
transtensional – transpressional regime. The Miocene interval is
less evaporitic than to the east and consequently does not distort
seismic continuity of the deeper section. Pelagian Shelf strata
mildly show the progradational character dominant in the Sirt
Embayment.
3.2. Observations and interpretation
Underlying the western Pelagian Shelf lie an important group of
structures. On seismic they appear as regularly spaced folds with
occasional interference structures (Fig. 5). They are most clearly
visible in the high amplitude reflections of the Cretaceous interval
around 2 s two-way travel time (TWT). Below the top Cretaceous
(Blue horizon) the folds are tight. Adjacent to some of the folds are
asymmetrically expanded basins. Above the Cretaceous most of the
folds broaden through the Cenozoic interval. Some of the folds
merge to form single broad structures. However, some folds persist
as individual structures all the way to the sea floor. On these folds
the entire section from below the Cretaceous to Present is elevated
above regional. Most of the folds are faulted. Inverted normal faults
suggest that some folds have been subjected to recent transpres-
sional stress (see fold at sea floor between 35 and 40 km, Fig. 5).
Fold trains from line to line can be linked to produce structures 20–
30 km long in roughly an east to west (strike) orientation. As
a group the folds extend approximately 80–100 km in a north-
south direction (Fig. 3).
Collectively, these structures are interpreted to be a contrac-
tional fold belt (Fig. 5). The folds are detached on and cored with
mobile salt thought to be Late Triassic to Early Jurassic in age. This
salt is related to the breakup of Pangaea and opening of the Tethys
Sea (Dercourt et al., 1986; Ricou, 1994). Within the limitations of the
data coverage, no diapirs are observed. Salt cored folds extend
across the border into Tunisian waters (Klett, 2001) but it is
undocumented whether there are any true diapiric structures
associated with this fold belt. Even though halite has not been
tested by the drill bit, withdrawal geometries found in basins
adjacent to folds attest to deeper salt evacuation. Reflections
elevated above regional suggest fold development was underway
during the Late Cretaceous and possibly earlier. Deformation of
these folds is ongoing as many structures have an expression on the
present-day sea floor (Fig. 5).
The presence of a contractional fold belt is extremely important
to the commercial exploration success found on the Pelagian Shelf.
Many of the large discoveries are associated with fold structures.
The lower Eocene (Ypresian) Jdeir Formation within the Farwah
1516 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

Fig. 3. Tectonics and structural elements map for Libya and surrounding offshore areas. Structural highs and lows within the Pelagian Shelf, Sirt Basin, and Sirt Embayment are
shown by lighter or darker shades respectively of the same color. Structures in subbasins of the Cyrenaica region have not been so designated and are shaded brown. Map modified
from Gibbs (2004).

Group is the primary hydrocarbon reservoir in the region (Ham-
muda et al., 1985; El Ghoul, 1991). It is a highly fossiliferous lime-
stone composed of calcareous algae, gastropods, pelecypods,
ostracods, and the abundant coiled benthic foraminifera Nummu-
lites. Subtle bathymetric highs over fold crests were key nucleation
sites for Nummulites dominated shoals (Bernasconi et al., 1991).
Shoals may repeatedly occupy the same fold crest creating stacked
reservoirs. Stacked shoals of the Jdeir Formation in well B2-NC 41
(Al Bouri field) contribute to a reservoir zone 214 m thick (Hallett,
2002). On some data the lower Eocene interval displays a rapid
seismic character change with adjacent carbonates giving a bank or
reef-like appearance (Fig. 6). This type of feature is imaged on
several lines but precisely coincides with just one of the known
discoveries, NC 41-A, on our data grid. It may be a rare morphology
or possibly one difficult to image unless the stacking velocities and
line orientation are precisely correct. However, Loucks et al. (1998)
has argued based on facies relationships that nummulite accumu-
lations are not mounds at all during deposition and that there is
‘‘negligible relief’’ to these deposits. Their study, based on outcrop,
core, and thin section analysis, concluded the regional depositional
setting to be a gently basinward dipping carbonate ramp. The main
reservoir interval corresponds to thick but low-relief nummulites
banks in the middle ramp environment. Their study did not include
seismic data and their discussion did not mention the underlying
fold belt. Additional research is required to resolve this apparent
conflict.
4. Sirt Embayment
4.1. Tectonics
The Sirt Embayment is the offshore extension of the Sirt Basin
onshore (Fig. 3). Rifting of the Late Paleozoic age Sirt Arch begin-
ning in the Triassic led to its collapse in the Middle to Late Creta-
ceous, forming the Sirt Basin (Dercourt et al., 1986; Anketell, 1996).
Coincident with the collapse, northward movement of the Apulia
plate commenced the opening of the Mediterranean Sea and Sirt
Embayment. This origin gives the Sirt Embayment a more typical
passive margin profile of shelf to slope to deep basin (Fig. 2). The
Sirt Basin petroleum province is ranked 13th in the world with
proven reserves of 43.1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (Alhbrandt,
2001). Onshore structural trends of horsts and grabens are inter-
preted to continue offshore into the Sirt Embayment (Finetti, 1982;
 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527
Fig. 4. Generalized stratigraphic columns for (A) the Pelagian Shelf, (B) the Sirt Embayment, and (C) the Cyrenaica Offshore areas. Filled or open diamonds indicate proven or
potential source zones respectively. Filled or open circles indicate proven or potential reservoir zones respectively. Columns modified from Gibbs (2004).
Jongsma et al., 1985; Anketell, 1996). It is hoped that the prolific oil
production found onshore in the Sirt Basin also continues offshore.
Structurally, the Sirt Embayment descends from shoreline
across a series of platforms, troughs, ridges, and slopes into deep
water (Figs. 2 and 3). From an exploration perspective this setting is
advantageous in that it places trapping structures adjacent to
deeper source kitchens. The most important of these features is the
Sirt Trough (Fig. 3). It is here that key possible source beds,
equivalent to the Upper Cretaceous Sirt shale in the Sirt Basin, may
have reached the oil window. The Sirt Embayment terminates to
the north where the lower Sirt slope, underlain by extended African
continental crust, meets the Ionian Abyssal Plain, underlain by
Jurassic oceanic crust (Figs. 1 and 3). Water depths in this area are
greater than 3000 m.
4.2. Observations
The shelf margin around the Sirt Embayment has a demon-
strably progradational character to it and this has been the case
throughout most of the Cenozoic. Early systems during the Paleo-
cene and Eocene advanced the margin 10s of kilometers into the
embayment (Fig. 7). These carbonate sequences (Fig. 4B) sit just
above the top Cretaceous unconformity and deeper rift geometries.
They are time equivalent to the major reservoirs found to the south
in the Sirt Basin. Oligocene to Miocene progradation advanced the
margin considerably farther into the Sirt Embayment. Multiple
progradational systems built the margin out into deep water
increasing the steepness of the margin (Fig. 8). This was accom-
panied by a change from carbonate to clastic dominated sequences
(Fig. 4B). The shelf margin section culminates in a thoroughly clastic
Plio-Pleistocene deltaic system.
The Plio-Pleistocene deltaic system is quite extensive occupying
the entire shelf margin of the Sirt Embayment along more than
1517
700 km of coastline. However, it was not the first deltaic system to
occupy this position on the Libyan margin. A late Miocene deltaic
system previously occupied this margin but is now almost
completely missing (Fig. 9). Deltaic progradation is a self-limiting
autocyclic process and some signs of abandonment, lobe switching,
or retrogradation are expected. However, the scale of retrograda-
tion documented here is immense and suggests possible allocyclic
controls. This will be discussed in more detail once some obser-
vations are presented.
Removal of the older delta has left an erosionally based
container wherein sits the younger delta system (Fig. 10). At the
southwest (updip) end of the profile the erosional surface (purple),
hereafter called the retrogradational surface, curves up to the sea
floor where it is bound by two main faults and truncates hori-
zontal reflections. The two main faults offset the sea floor and
several smaller faults penetrate the retrogradational surface
attesting to continued fault activity. Moving northeast along the
retrogradational surface, underlying reflections and some small
faults are truncated as the surface turns sub-horizontal. The ret-
rogradational surface continues to the northeast until about the
43 km mark. Between 35 and 43 km the retrogradational surface
truncates some reflections dipping steeply basinward. These are
the distal clinoforms of the now missing late Miocene deltaic
system. They constitute direct seismic evidence of the older sys-
tem’s existence. For comparison, distal clinoforms of the younger
Plio-Pleistocene deltaic system lie almost directly above. Beyond
the 43 km mark the interpreted retrogradational surface ends as
there is no further evidence for missing section above. Continuing
northeast from the end of the retrogradational surface is a high
amplitude reflection that is the top Messinian unconformity.
Below the top Messinian unconformity is a faint reflection which
also appears to cut section. This reflection could be the basal
Messinian unconformity (Fig. 10).
1518 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

Fig. 5. Seismic profile showing a salt-cored contractional fold belt underlying the Pelagian Shelf. Faulting is pervasive through the section and only a few have been interpreted for
clarity. The top Cretaceous (TK) is interpreted in dark blue. Salt withdrawal basins are highlighted in light blue. Deformation of the folds has continued up to the present as
evidenced by the sea floor expression of some folds. The horizontal and vertical scales for all seismic data will be in kilometers (Km) and two-way travel time (TWT) respectively.

The physical relationships and observations made on Fig. 10 are
consistent across the seismic data in the Sirt Embayment. The one
notable difference is that faults at the updip end of the missing
delta are limited to a 65 km stretch of margin centered in Block 53.
In this area the retrogradational surface sits in the hanging wall of
the major bounding faults. The close proximity of bounding faults
and missing delta complex could lead one to speculate that failure/
collapse of the margin had a tectonic trigger. If one uses minimum
values for thickness (500 m), width (500 km), and dip length
(20 km) to calculate the missing sediment volume, it yields a value
of 5000 cubic kilometers. The volume could easily be twice this
value. If margin failure were to happen as one single event, the
effects would be felt catastrophically around the entire Mediter-
ranean basin.
Alternatively, margin retrogradation could be largely related to
drawdown of the Mediterranean Sea during the Messinian salinity
crisis (MSC). A discussion of the various MSC theories is beyond the
scope of this paper. Fortunately, a recent paper by Rouchy and
Caruso (2006) summarizes the main theories and integrates the
key elements into a single consistent scenario. This will be pre-
sented after the remaining observations.
The top Messinian unconformity over much of the Sirt Embay-
ment is a single, high amplitude, positive (peak) reflection. Above
the unconformity seismic reflections are clearly visible and below
the unconformity seismic reflections are highly degraded or
completely wiped out (Fig. 11). This is probably the main reason
some previous workers associated a wedge of salt with the Mes-
sinian interval in the Sirt Embayment. However, it is known from
the B1 NC 35A well that 10 m of anhydrite lie at the top Messinian
unconformity (Hallett, 2002). Though it lies outside the Sirt
Embayment, seismic data at this location has the same single, high
amplitude, positive (peak) reflection seen on Fig. 11. Also, at various
locations throughout the embayment the Messinian surface can be
faulted or incised by channels/canyons providing narrow windows
of illumination below. This would not occur if a thick wedge of salt
were causing the disruption. In the shallowest areas along the
margin the high amplitude reflection at the top Messinian uncon-
formity is completely eroded/missing. This allows a clear window
into the deeper section reveling the older prograding margins (Figs.
7, 8, and 10).
Fig. 12 emphasizes the empirical relationship between the
presence of the high amplitude peak reflection (interpreted as
anhydrite) at the top Messinian unconformity and the loss of data
underneath. On the right half of the image the high amplitude peak
reflection is clearly visible as is the loss of seismic resolution below
it. On the left half of the image data quality is very good. The change
occurs at the precise location where the high amplitude peak
reflection terminates. The top Messinian unconformity continues
past this point climbing section on the left half of the image. What
is missing is the high amplitude peak reflection at the unconfor-
mity. Either the conditions necessary for anhydrite deposition were
missing at this shallower level or it was subsequently removed by
erosion. Below the top Messinian unconformity is a faint reflection
which appears to cut the deeper section. This reflection could be
the basal Messinian unconformity. It also disappears at the same
location where the high amplitude peak reflection terminates.
Some readers may notice a subtle vertical and lateral change in
seismic character of reflections overlying the high amplitude peak
 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527 1519

Fig. 6. Uninterpreted (A) and interpreted (B) seismic profile showing the seismic expression of a well imaged nummulitic carbonate bank (shown in green). The bank is early Eocene
(Ypresian) in age and sits above the crest of a salt-cored fold. Fold crests were bathymetric highs during the Eocene and possibly preferred sites for Nummulities shoal development.
The top Cretaceous (TK) is interpreted in dark blue.
1520 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

Fig. 7. Seismic profile showing Paleocene (Pal) and Eocene (Eo) age shelf margins prograding into the Sirt Embayment from the northeast (near the city of Benghazi). These margins
directly overlie faulted, tilted, and eroded basement blocks created by extension during Cretaceous rifting. The purple horizon identifies the top Messinian unconformity surface
now overlain by a Plio-Pleistocene clastic deltaic complex.

reflection of the top Messinian unconformity. This is real and
corresponds to a change in seismic facies, seen in strike orientation,
from prograding clinoforms immediately above the peak reflection
to discontinuous erosional deposits at the prodelta toe higher up
(see dashed box on Fig. 9 for a dip section through these seismic
facies).
A regional line across the Sirt embayment shows the effect of
seismic disruption at the top Messinian unconformity (Fig. 13).
Most of the reflections and seismic character between the top
Messinian unconformity and the top Cretaceous has been wiped
out. The rifted basement and Mesozoic section are visible only
because of modern processing techniques and an 8000 m cable.
Older data shot with short cables saw little of the deeper section
and nothing just below the top Messinian unconformity. This
problem would have seriously limited exploration efforts and
contributed to the idea of a thick salt wedge associated with the
Messinian interval.
Modern ideas concerning salt behavior and observations visible
on Fig. 13 (and all the seismic data in the basin) argue against the
presence of thick mobile salt at/below the top Messinian uncon-
formity. The first observation is the pronounced regional dip into
the basin. A salt layer deposited with such a dip would have
inherent instabilities. Those instabilities would cause salt to begin
moving relatively soon after deposition. The second observation
from Fig. 13 is the presence of a sediment interval onlapping the top
Messinian unconformity starting at 81 km and thickening basin-
ward. This differential load would also cause underlying salt to
move relatively soon after its deposition. If mobile salt were
present, we should expect to find deformation or structures related
to salt movement and withdrawal basins created by salt evacuation
(similar to those seen on the Pelagian Shelf). Where thick Messinian
halite has been found in other Mediterranean basins seismic data
shows deformational structures and withdrawal geometries (Lofi,
2002; Rouchy and Caruso, 2006; Roberts and Peace, 2007). Another

Fig. 8. Seismic profile showing one Oligocene (Olig) and three Miocene (Mio) shelf margin systems prograding into the Sirt Embayment from the southwest. Miocene pro-
gradational system #3 is truncated by the Messinian erosion. The gold horizon is the interpreted top Oligocene. The purple horizon identifies the top Messinian unconformity
surface now overlain by a Plio-Pleistocene clastic deltaic complex.
 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527 1521

Fig. 9. Map showing the extent of late Miocene shelf margin retrogradation. Brown shading highlights the area where stratigraphic terminations indicate missing section. The width
of the brown shading serves as a good measure of how far the shelf edge retreated.

point worth noting is that where thick Messinian halite has been
found in other Mediterranean basins there is no trouble imaging it.
Regional observations find tectonic deformation, faulting, and
magmatism but do not find any obvious evidence for salt swells,
salt walls, diapers or related withdrawal basins on this data set. In
short, there does not appear to be any thick, mobile salt in the Sirt
Embayment. These observations do not, however, rule out possible
thin halite interbedded within the Messinian section.
4.3. Messinian salinity crisis
The summary study by Rouchy and Caruso (2006) incorporates
data and observations from numerous previous studies (Butler
et al., 1995, 1999; Clauzon et al., 1996; Riding et al., 1998; Krijgsman
et al., 1999; Rouchy, 1982; Rouchy and Saint Martin, 1992) on the
MSC and integrates these data into a consistent scenario. This
scenario follows the major ideas of the classical deep basin-shallow

Fig. 10. Seismic profile showing the modern Plio-Pleistocene delta and the remnants of the mostly missing late Miocene delta. The purple line highlights the retrogradational
surface which extends for approximately 40 Km down dip. This surface is coincident with the top Messinian unconformity. Note the degrading image at the end of the line (from 45
to 55 km) below the top Messinian unconformity where it has bright amplitude and the clear imaging (between 34 and 45 km) where the bright amplitudes are missing. Yellow
shading highlights interpreted Messinian evaporite interval. The dashed box highlights a facies change discussed in text.
1522 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

Fig. 11. Seismic profile showing typical high amplitude seismic character of the top Messinian surface in the Sirt Embayment. Wipe out of data immediately below the surface lead
some to associate a layer of salt with the Messinian section.

water model first presented by Hsu et al. (1973, 1978). It signifi-
cantly advances these earlier models by integrating glacio-eustatic
changes and tectonic controls with an increased understanding of
water exchange threshold effects between sub-basins, polyphased
erosion around the basin margin, diachronous evaporite deposi-
tion, changes in circum-Mediterranean climate, and incorporates
a new more detailed chronology. Key points from the Rouchy and
Caruso (2006) study are outlined in the following paragraphs. The
reader is referred to their paper for additional references.
The model of Rouchy and Caruso (2006) has three main phases.
Phase 1 includes isolation of the Mediterranean Sea from the
world’s ocean, evaporative draw down of the sea, and deposition of
a lower evaporite sequence. From the onset of Phase 1 (~5.96 Ma)
the margins of the Mediterranean were eroded and the climate
became increasingly cold and arid. As water levels eventually fell
more than 1000 m, erosion followed deep into the basin until
reaching the edge of brine pools in the deepest sub-basins. Evap-
orites were deposited in these deep basins with gypsum occurring
along the periphery and halite in the centers (Fig. 14A). Where
complete desiccation occurred K–Mg salts were deposited with
halite. Through time salt accretion filled the basin and forced water
levels higher (Fig. 14B). The top of these deposits is marked by
a terminal desiccation, dissolution, and erosional event. Deposition
of the lower evaporites in Phase 1 ended after the glacial maximum
TG 12 (~5.57 Ma) (Fig. 15).
Deposition of Phase 2 evaporites, dominantly gypsum, began
with an interval of global warming and sea level rise. Conditions
were quite different from Phase 1 as non-evaporitic siltstones,
marlstones, and claystones became more common than gypsum.
Incursions of marine water still occurred but there was now
a detectable influence by freshwater that increased upsection.
Sedimentation occurred under a variety of salinity conditions from
hypersaline to brackish to freshwater. The Mediterranean basin
filled as erosion of the margins fed sediments into low relief,
shallow water sub-basins where evaporite deposition was
becoming less and less common.

Fig. 12. Seismic profile showing the relationship between the top Messinian surface, the high amplitude reflection typically found at the top Messinian surface, and seismic data
quality. Erosion or nondeposition of the high amplitude reflection at the top Messinian results in much improved data quality below the surface. Yellow shading highlights
interpreted Messinian evaporite interval.
 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527
Fig. 13. Seismic profile across Sirt Embayment showing regional scale relationships. Note the relatively undeformed nature of the sediment wedge onlapping the top Messinian.
Transparent zones in the wedge are canyon incisions. Yellow shading highlights interpreted Messinian evaporite interval.
Phase 3 represents the final stage of Messinian deposition.
Referred to as the Lago-Mare event, it is characterized by fresh-
water dilution of the uppermost Messinian deposits. They contain
mostly freshwater to brackish faunal assemblages but occasional
have calcareous nanoplankton and foraminifers suggesting
episodes of marine incursion. Yet at times the basin dried out
completely allowing weathering processes to develop paleosoils. It
appears that depositional conditions within the Mediterranean
basin changed quite rapidly and often as the Phase 2 and Lago-
Mare event together lasted only 240,000 years. Deposits of the
Lago-Mare event end abruptly at the Messinian/Pliocene boundary
with the restoration of fully marine deep water conditions
(~5.33 Ma).
Erosion was a widespread and continually occurring process
during the MSC. Surfaces of erosion stretched from the margins
down into the deep basins (Fig. 14C). The sedimentological
evidence indicates that the MSC was the result of not one but many
sea level fluctuations. It also indicates that much of the interbedded
sediment in Phase 2 was brought in by freshwater drainage systems
around the Mediterranean periphery. This suggests that many of
the erosional surfaces, especially those along the margins, were
activated and reactivated many times with at least three peaks
periods of enhanced activity. Thus the single seismic horizon
observed around the basin margin on modern data must be a pol-
yphased surface resulting from many erosional events (Fig. 14C).
4.4. Interpretation
Based on the Rouchy and Caruso (2006) model for the MSC,
many of the observations from the Sirt Embayment can now be
interpreted in a regional context. If we limit our observations to the
Messinian and younger section, Fig. 14C is a reasonable generic
schematic cross-section for the seismic data in Fig. 13. The data
correspond closely to the margin and peripheral basins portion of
the schematic. In the updip part of Fig. 13 (0–80 km, basin margin)
the retrogradational/top Messinian surface is equivalent to seismic
horizon M. In this position it would be interpreted as the poly-
phased surface with the accumulated effects from several main
episodes of erosion, desiccation, and possible karstification. In the
downdip part of Fig. 13 (80–150 km, peripheral basin) the contin-
uation of the top Messinian unconformity is onlapped by a sedi-
ment wedge. The alternating high and low amplitude reflections of
the sediment wedge equate to the combined Phase 2 evaporites
and Phase 3 Lago-Mare event deposits. Since the top of the Mes-
sinian section now correlates to the top of the sediment wedge, at
the point of onlap the top Messinian unconformity becomes an
1523
unconformity separating Phase 2 evaporites from pre-evaporite
strata.. The unconformity continues basinward until about the
115 km mark after which it becomes difficult to interpret. The top of
the sediment wedge (Phase 2–3 deposits) is itself an unconformity
and has been incised by several canyons of Miocene and possibly
recent origin. The Miocene canyons may reflect the terminal
desiccation and erosion event that occurred at the end of Lago-
Mare deposition. The transparent reflections above the sediment
wedge are basinal sediments deposited after restoration of normal
marine conditions and are equivalent to the Plio-Pleistocene delta
system. There are no deep basin deposits on Fig. 13.
One observation does not exactly fit the model in Fig. 14C. On
Figs. 10, 12, and 13 there is an apparent unconformity visible below
the top Messinian unconformity. If this is a basal Messinian
unconformity then there is some section equivalent to Phase 1
evaporites. Following the Rouchy and Caruso (2006) model there
should be no Phase 1 evaporites outside the deep basins. This
interval has not been mapped because the lower unconformity is
poorly/not imaged on much of the data. The interval could be
canyon fill related to Phase 1 erosion or it may predate the Messi-
nian completely. It will likely take 3-D seismic or well data to
answer this question.
Two points remain to be addressed: 1) Did the Libyan margin
suffer a catastrophic failure? and 2) Where are the sediments from
the missing Miocene delta? At present the evidence for large-scale
failure of the margin is circumstantial and speculative. The
erosional scar exists and the late Miocene delta is mostly missing.
However, no large deep water fan deposit has been traced back to
this margin and no coeval tsunami deposits have been identified of
which the author is aware. Failure of the Libyan margin in the late
Miocene remains a hypothesis.
As for the missing sediments, some, if not the majority, are
contained in the sediment wedge. The pathway from the retro-
gradational margin via the top Messinian unconformity to the
sediment wedge is straight downdip. The wetter climate after
Phase 1 would contribute to eroding the margin and transporting
sediment into the basin. Plus the majority of Phase 2 and Lago-Mare
event deposits are non-evaporite sediments. The simplest answer
is that sediment in the wedge came from the missing delta.
5. Offshore Cyrenaica
5.1. Tectonics
Offshore Cyrenaica includes all Libyan waters north of the
Cyrenaica Platform between the city of Benghazi and the Egyptian
1524 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527

Fig. 14. Schematic diagram of sedimentary, hydrological, and erosional processes in an evolving evaporitic basin. In the initial drawdown stage (A) erosion of the margin follows the
increasingly saline brine down into the basin. Once the water volume has been reduced by 80% or consentrations have increased five fold gypsum deposition commences along the
margin of deep basins. At 90% water reduction halite deposition commences in the centers of deep basins. During the second stage (B) cycles of marine influx and evaporative
drawdown lead to salt accretion. As salt deposition proceeds, halite onlaps the earlier gypsum deposits and eventually fills the deep basins. A simple schematic cross-section (C)
shows regional relationships between the three depositional phases of the MSC and important erosional surfaces. Seismic horizon M is an erosional surface seen truncating the
margins surrounding the Mediterranean. Modified from Rouchy and Caruso (2006).

boarder (Figs. 1 and 3). The shallowest strata are prograding delta
complexes like those seen in the Sirt Embayment. Deeper strata
more closely resemble the bedded carbonates of the Pelagian Shelf.
Although Offshore Cyrenaica comprises a very large area (>12,000
square kilometers), only a fairly narrow fringe along the coast is
considered immediately prospective. The continental shelf and
slope are much less extensive here than in the Sirt Embayment
(Fig. 3). The margin edge is steep and water depths rapidly change
from 100s of meters to 1000s of meters in a few 10s of kilometers.
Within 50–80 km of shore the continent ends where thrust sheets
of the Hellenic fore-arc impinge on Africa from the north. No
commercial production has been found in this region to date nor is
there any seismic evidence, structural or stratigraphic, suggesting
the presence of mobile salt.
 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527 1525

Fig. 15. Seismic examples from Offshore Cyrenaica showing (A) the Marmarica Shelf, (B) the Darnah Basin, and (C) the Benghazi Basin and Mediterranean Ridge.
1526 J.C. Fiduk / Marine and Petroleum Geology 26 (2009) 1513–1527
5.2. Observations
There are three areas within Offshore Cyrenaica that have
immediate exploration potential: the Marmarica Shelf, the Darnah
Basin, and the Benghazi Basin (Figs. 1, 3 and 14A, B, C). Essentially,
all three areas must be considered rank wildcat risks because they
are virtually unexplored. Fewer than ten wells have been drilled in
these three areas combined and that includes onshore wells (IHS,
2001). The most important of these tests was AGIP’s 1984 A1-NC
120 well in the Benghazi Basin (location on Fig. 3). This well
encountered a nearly complete marine succession from middle
Jurassic to middle Miocene (Hallett, 2002). A similar stratigraphic
section is thought to exist in the other two areas. Section younger
than this is quite thin and often missing beyond the shelf edge due
to erosion or slope failure (Fig. 14A, B, C). Visible faulting and
folding along the margin have created numerous structural trap-
ping opportunities. The unstable slope and water depths will prove
a challenge to drilling these traps.
The A1-NC 120 well mentioned above encountered an impor-
tant but enigmatic show of petroleum. Out of multiple zones in
lower Cretaceous through Turonian marine carbonates the well
flowed over 5000 barrels per day of 36 API gravity oil (Duronio
et al., 1991). Disappointingly, the follow-up well B1-NC 120 drilled
along the shelf to the northeast was declared a dry hole. Another
offset well, the A1-NC 128, drilled to the southwest by Lasmo in
1996 was also declared a dry hole. The one positive point is that
there is a working petroleum system, presumably with a Jurassic to
lower Cretaceous source, in the Benghazi Basin (Fig. 4C). Continued
exploration is needed to find commercial success.
One last area of exploration potential in Offshore Cyrenaica
bears some mention. North of the deep trench separating North
Africa from the thrusted terrain of the Hellenic fore-arc lies an area
called the Mediterranean Ridge (Figs. 3 and 14C). It is an accre-
tionary wedge composed of sediment scraped from a tectonic plate
being subducted beneath Crete (Dewey et al., 1973). The ridge is
bathymetrically high compared to the sea floor to the north. The
shallowness and thickness of the wedge is attributed to the
accretion of thick North African continental margin sediments to
the wedge (Emeis et al., 1996). The entire Mediterranean Ridge has
a shallow Messinian section and its attendant data wipeout
underneath (Fig. 14C). Yet, strata below the wipeout zone are well
imaged and shows structure. Despite the deep water and poorly
known section, the Mediterranean Ridge should not be completely
overlooked. It stretches over a very large area and contains as yet
undiscovered potential.
6. Conclusions
The Libyan shelf margin can be divided into three physiographic
regions: the Pelagian Shelf, the Sirt Embayment, and Offshore
Cyrenaica. Each of these regions has a modern progradational shelf
margin but in the Sirt Embayment demonstrably extending back
over the entire Cenozoic Era. Of these regions only the Pelagian
Shelf is an established petroleum province. Production comes from
lower Eocene nummulitic carbonate reservoirs. The reservoirs
overlie a contractional fold belt detached on and cored by Late
Triassic–Early Jurassic mobile salt.
Some pre-existing models for offshore Libya have interpreted
a widespread, basinward thickening, layer of mobile salt lying
within the Messinian interval. Recent seismic data and a current
understanding of salt behavior do not support the interpretation of
thick mobile halite within the Messinian section. There is a rela-
tively thin, high amplitude and high velocity, layer of non-halite
evaporites (mainly anhydrite) associated with the top Messinian
unconformity. This surface is responsible for degrading seismic
reflection data character across much of the Sirt Embayment.
Regional observations do not indicate any mobile halite present in
the Sirt Embayment or offshore Cyrenaica.
Within the Sirt Embayment there is a major retrogradational
surface that is coeval with the Messinian section. This retrograda-
tional surface extends 700 þ kilometers along strike and cuts both
sides of the Sirt Embayment. The volume of missing shelf margin
material is a minimum of 5000 cubic kilometers. The majority of
missing sediments are thought to have been eroded during the late
Messinian and redeposited within a sediment wedge onlapping the
deep Sirt Embayment. But it is possible that this part of the Libyan
margin experienced a cataclysmic failure during the late Miocene
just prior to or during the Messinian salinity crisis.
Acknowledgements
I need to pay tribute to friends and colleagues who made
contributions to my understanding of the Libyan margin. In
alphabetical order my thanks go out to Lynn Anderson, Gene Brush,
Peter Gibbs, and Tom Schultz. I am indebted to Philip Rowell, Mark
Rowan, Steve Schulz, Gene Brush, and Gabor Tari for their critical
reviews and suggestions which greatly improved the paper. I would
also like to thank Gabor Tari for his invitation to submit this
research to Marine and Petroleum Geology. Lastly, I would like to
thank the management of CGGVeritas for their permission to
publish this manuscript. This paper is dedicated to the memory of
Lynn Anderson, my longstanding friend and mentor.
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