NEOGENE TECTONIC HISTORY OF THE SUB-BIBANIC AND M'SILA BASINS, NORTHERN ALGERIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR HYDROCARBON POTENTIAL

The southern Bibans region in northern Algeria is located in the external zone of the Tell fold‐and‐thrust belt. Field observations in this area together with seismic data integrated with previous studies provide evidence for a number of Tertiary deformation phases. Late Eocene Atlassic deformation was followed by Oligocene (?)‐Aquitanian‐Burdigalian compression, which was associated with the development of a foreland basin in front of a southerly‐propagating thrust system. Gravity‐driven emplacement of the Tellian nappes over the basin margin probably occurred during the Langhian‐Serravallian‐Tortonian. The Hodna Mountains structural culmination developed during the Miocene‐Pliocene. Analysis of brittle structures points to continued north‐south shortening during the Neogene, consistent with convergence between the African and Eurasian Plates. The unconformably underlying Mesozoic‐Cenozoic autochthonous sequence in this area contains two potential source rock intervals: Cenomanian‐Turonian and Eocene. Reservoir rocks include Lower Cretaceous siliciclastics and Upper Cretaceous to Palaeogene carbonates. Structural style has controlled trap types. Thus traps in the Tell fold‐and‐thrust belt are associated with folds, whereas structural traps in the Hodna area are associated with reactivated normal faults. In the latter area, there is also some evidence for base‐Miocene stratigraphic traps.