Cenozoic

Cretaceous

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Agbada Formation

Agbada Fm

Period:

Paleogene, Neogene

Age Interval:

Eocene - Recent

Province:
Niger Delta - Offshore

Type Locality and Naming

The Cenozoic section of the Niger Delta is divided into three formations, representing prograding depositional facies that are distinguished mostly on the basis of sand-shale ratios. The type unit for the Agbada Fm of mixed sand and clay is described by the Agbada-2 well from 5760–9500 ft., that is, 3740 ft. (1122 m) drilled about 11 km north of northwest of Port Harcourt.

References: Reyment,1965; Adeleye,1975; Kogbe,1976; Dessauvagie, 1975; Petters, 1978; Offodile, 1980; Whiteman, 1982; Benkhelil,1989; Okosun, 1992; Guiraud, 1993; Akande et al., 1998; Jauro et al., 2007; Zaborski et al., 1998; Obaje,2009; Nwajide, 2013

[Fig 1. Stratigraphic successions in the Benue Trough and the Nigerian sector of the Chad Basin]

Lithology and Thickness

Composed of alternating shale and sand percentage within the Agbada Formation varies from 30 to 70%.

Lithology Pattern:

Sandy claystone

Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

Overlies the Akata Fm below

Upper contact

Overlain conformable by the Benin Fm

Regional extent

Niger Delta offshore

GeoJSON

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Fossils

fossil spores, foraminifera and calcareous nannoplankton.

Age

The formation is strongly diachronous, ranging in age from Eocene to present day. The mangrove swamp to coastal barriers and fluvio-marine zones of the present-day delta constitute the surface exposure of Recent age. The average span is put here for display purposes as base-Miocene to base-Messinian using the mid-point of the delta-facies transect of Fig.7 in the USGS report.

Age Span:

Beginning stage:

Aquitanian

Fraction up in beginning stage:

0.0

Beginning date (Ma):

23.04

Ending stage:

Tortonian

Fraction up in the ending stage:

0.0

Ending date (Ma):

11.63

Depositional setting

Deltaic to shallow marine depositional environment

Depositional pattern:

Additional Information

Compiler:

Enam O. Obiosio, Solomon Joshua Avong and Henry Nasir Suleiman (2024)- Stratigraphic Lexicon compiled from the following books:

Nigeria: Its Petroleum Geology, Resources and Potential, by Arthur Whiteman, 1982; (Volume 1) Published by Graham and Trotman Ltd.

A review of the Cretaceous System in Nigeria by P. M. Zaborski (1998) In Africa Geoscience Review, Vol.5, No.4, pp385-483

Geology and Mineral Resources of Nigeria by Nuhu George Obaje, Published by Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2009; http://www.springer.com/series/772

Geology of Nigeria Sedimentary Basins, Nwajide C. S., 2013; Published by CSS Bookshops Limited, Lagos Nigeria.