MESOZOIC BASINS OF EASTERN N. AMERICA : EXPLORATION TARGET WHOSE TIME HAS COME

Significant hydrocarbon reserves may be found in Mesozoic age rift basins of the eastern US. The Mesozoic basins of eastern North America stretch from the Labrador shelf in Nova Scotia to the Florida panhandle. In northwestern Africa, basins with stratigraphic columns of clastic rocks (sandstones, shales, and conglomerates) similar to those in eastern North America have been documented. Similar basins formed on the South American and southern African plates in response to extensional activity concurrently with the more northern basins. Only the rift basins found onshore in the US have no identified economic hydrocarbon reservoirs. The paper discusses the regional geology, production analogs, and a review of the Newark basin.