Type Locality and Naming
Melut Basin (NE South Sudan - W Ethiopia), and the Rawat Basin (SE Sudan), which are the southeastern and the northwestern basins of the greater White Nile rift basin.
Reference: Dou et al., 2007; Dou et al., 2023 (Melut Basin); Mohammed et al, 2017 (Rawat Basin)
[Fig. 1: Simplified map of the West and Central African Rift System (WCARS) showing the major features discussed in the text and the location of the Melut Basin in South Sudan (modified from Genik, 1993)]
[Fig. 2: Comprehensive stratigraphic columns in the Melut Basin (from Dou et al., 2023)]
[Fig. 3: Rawat Basin- Block 25 in southern Sudan (after Ministry of Petroleum & Gas-OEPA, 2015, Extracted from Mohammed et al., 2017).]
[Fig. 4: Summary of Tectono-stratigraphy of the Rawat Basin (from Mohammed, 2016).]
Lithology and Thickness
In the Melut Basin, it is generally 220m thick, it becomes finer-grained and less sandy upwards. It is divided into three portions; Lower portion of thick sandstones with thin claystones, Middle portion of alternating thick sandstones and claystones, and Upper portion composed of thick claystones with thin sandstones (Dou
et al., 2007). In the Rawat Basin, the formation consists of interbedded sequences of sand/sandstone and mudstone. The sandstone is clear transparent to translucent, occasionally pale green, unconsolidated to poorly consolidated and dominantly medium to very coarse grained, poorly to moderately sorted. The mudstone is dominantly brown, dark grey to greenish grey, occasionally sandy, trace silty, race waxy, trace carbonaceous material, and slightly to moderately calcareous (Mohammed, 2016). The deposits are dominated by channel sandstone, mouth bars, and crevasse-splay, which represent a reservoir in the Rawat Basin (Mohammed, 2016). The total thickness of the formation is estimated by Mohammed (2016) at 166m in well M-1, and 538m in well M-2.
GeoJSON
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Age
Late Paleocene-Eocene (assigned as only ca. mid-Selandian through Thanetian in Melut Basin, but interpreted as spanning entire Eocene in Rawat Basin)NOTE: Age span as estimated for the Melut Basin used here for graphic and paleogeographic display purposes.
Compiler:
Enam O. Obiosio, Solomon Joshua Avong and Henry Nasir Suleiman (2024) - Stratigraphic Lexicon compiled from the following publications:Dou L., Xiao K., Cheng D., Shi B., Li Z. (2007): Petroleum Geology of the Melut Basin and the Great Palogue Field, Sudan.
Marine and Petroleum Geology, 24, pp.129-144Dou L., Xiao K., Wang J. (2023): Petroleum Geology and Exploration of the Bongor Basin.
Petroleum Industry Press.Mohammed H. Z. A., Awad M. Z., Eisawi (2017): Upper Cretaceous to Neogene Palynology of the Rawat Basin, White Nile State, Sudan. Journal of Earth Science & Climatic Change. 08 (04)
Robertson Research International “RRI”, Geological Research Authority of Sudan “GRAS” (2016): The Geology and Petroleum Potential of Southern, Central, and Eastern Sudan. Unpublished Report. Vol. 1-4
