Controls on the Prevalent Occurrence of Cretaceous Oil Sands

Volume 1 - Issue 3

Dr. Timothy P Bata¹*, Ezekiel H Elijah², John Jitong Shirputda³ and Titus Adinye¹

Received: April 11, 2018;   Published: April 25, 2018

DOI: 10.32474/MAOPS.2018.01.000114

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Abstract

The widespread occurrence of Cretaceous oil sands can be attributed to various geological processes, most of which can be linked to the warm climatic conditions that prevailed globally at that time. The extreme global warmth witnessed during the Cetaceous caused a rise in global sea level, which resulted in flooding of most continental margins, depositing transgressive sands at shallow depths directly on the Precambrian basement, or much older sedimentary strata. Another important geological factor that contributed to the widespread occurrence of the Cretaceous oil sands was the availability of viable petroleum source rocks that generated oils at the time of, or shortly after, the Cretaceous oil sands were deposited. Oils migrated into the shallow Cretaceous reservoir sands through the plane of unconformity underlying them. The warm climatic conditions witnessed in the Cretaceous also implied that the reservoir had conditions that were favourable for optimum microbial activities.

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