North Atlantic Margins Evolution Project (NAME) 2017-2019

The NAME project focuses on the sedimentology, stratigraphy, palaeoecology and structural geology of Early Jurassic to Early Cretaceous sedimentary units deposited in North Atlantic marginal basins. The study region extends between Florida and Newfoundland in the west and Senegal and the British Isles in the east. In the current project phase, fieldwork will be undertaken in the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal) and the Senegal Basin (Senegal, Gambia and Cabo Verde), and we will produce new data on sediment provenance, biostratigraphy and salt tectonics. The techniques we will employ include petrography, heavy mineral analysis, zircon geochronology, palynology, palaeontology and restoration of structural cross sections. These results will be integrated with data collected during the 2014-2016 phase of the project to produce palaeogeographic facies maps.

Cross-bedded, well-structured, medium to coarse grade Late Cretaceous sandstone bed of the upper Carqueijo Formation. Monte Branco, Maio, Cabo Verde.
Cross-bedded, well-structured, medium to coarse grade Late Cretaceous sandstone bed of the upper Carqueijo Formation. Monte Branco, Maio, Cabo Verde.

Main Objectives

  • Salt tectonics and its influence on sediment routing and sandstone provenance in the Lusitanian Basin, Portugal.
  • Provenance signatures of modern river sands in the Senegal Basin: potential analogues for Mesozoic reservoirs.
  • Biostratigraphy, sedimentology and sandstone provenance of the Mesozoic succession on Maio, Cabo Verde Archipelago.
  • Biostratigraphy, sedimentology and sandstone provenance of key DSDP/ODP sites corresponding to onshore research areas.
  • Palaeogeographic facies maps for major source and reservoir rock intervals.
  • Mesozoic ‘Basal Complex’ on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain): analytical results.

Project length: 24 months from August 2017.

Contact(s): Simon Schneider

Reports Issued in This Project

Products