Distal Margin Examples from the Continental Passive Margin of Gabon

The south Atlantic passive margin formed during the Late Jurassic - Aptian due to rifting of South America and West Africa. The passive margin in offshore Gabon depicts excellent examples of structures in magma-poor passive margins. This chapter presents a map of West African passive margin near Gabon. It highlights the upper continental crust (cc), the lower continental crust (lcc), the continental upper lithospheric mantle (m), and the top of the continental basement (b). The map present in the chapter also highlights the sedimentary layers (s1-s3), the proto-oceanic crust (poc), the magmatic rock-dominated rock suites 1 and 2 (mrsl and mrs2), and the syn-rift strata (r). The chapter also presents an uninterpreted dip-oriented reflection seismic profile through the rifted continental margin of Gabon. The breakup process was delivered in the crust first-mantle second (magma-poor) scenario.