Discovery and significance of deep-water gravity-flow deposits of the late Barremian of Early Cretaceous in Lower Congo Basin

Taking the middle Pointe Indienne Formation of the Lower Cretaceous Barremian in the Lower Congo Basin as an example,based on the theory of deep-water sedimentology,combined with the latest research progress of gravity-flow,and with the help of the latest drilling core data and its analyzing test results in the study area,the lithology,sedimentary structure types and petrological characteristics were investigated. It is found that gravity-flow deposits were widely developed in the middle Pointe Indienne Formation of the study area. The deposition process and the conceptual model of sand-body development for the deep-water gravity-flow have also been summarized. The gravity-flow deposits are mainly composed of midium-fine grained sandstone where the flute cast,load cast,flame structure,ball and pillow structure are occurred at the bottom and the normal graded bedding,parallel bedding,climbing ripple bedding,convolute bedding,water escape structure and floating mud gravel are occurred in the internal part. The gravity flow sandstones whose transportation mechanism are dominated by suspension transport are mainly feldspathic detrital quartz sandstones which are poorly sorted,sub angular and sub rounded. Grainsize accumulation probability curve are characterized by both “one-segment” which suggests total suspension population and “two-segment” which suggests high suspension population. Five fluid types of gravity-flows including,slump,sandy debris flow,muddy debris flow and turbidity can be identified,and six styles of facies combination in vertical direction have been recognized. The gravity-flow sand-body in the study area can form large-scale oil and gas reservoir due to the better lateral continuity and the thicker vertical stack thickness.