Structural and stratigraphic evolution of the Anza rift, Kenya

Abstract

The Anza rift is a large, multi-phase continental rift basin that links the Lamu embayment of southern Kenya with the South Sudan rifts. Extension and deposition of syn-rift sediments are known to have commenced by the Neocomian. Aptian-Albian strata have, thus far, not been encountered during limited drilling campaigns and, in at least one well, are replaced by a significant unconformity. Widespread rifting occurred during the Cenomanian to Maastrichtian, and continued into the Early Tertiary. Marine waters appear to have reached the central Anza rift in the Cenomanian, and a second marine incursion may have occurred during the Campanian. As no wells have yet reached basement in the basinal deeps, the possibility exists that the Anza rift may have initiated in the Late Jurassic, in conjunction with extension to the south in the Lamu embayment and to the north in the Blue Nile rift of Sudan. Structural and stratigraphic evolution in the Anza rift followed a pattern that has now been inferred in several rift settings. Early phases of extension were accommodated by moderately dipping faults that produced large stratal rotations. Sedimentary environments were dominantly fluvial, with associated small lakes and dune fields. Volcanic activity is documented for the early Neocomian, but its extent is unknown. This initial style of deformation and sedimentation may have continued through several of the earliest pulses of rifting. By the Late Cretaceous, a new system of steeply dipping faults was established, that produced a deep basin without significant rotation of strata in the north, and only minor rotation in the south. This basin geometry favored the establishment of large, deep lakes, which occasionally were connected to the sea. The older basins were partly cannibalized during the sedimentary in-filling of these successor basins. Early Senonian volcanism was encountered in one well, and reflection seismic evidence suggests that one or more thick, regionally extensive igneous sills were intruded, probably during the Early Tertiary. The change in rift style from early, strongly rotational, shallow basins to late, non-rotational, deep basins has been observed in the southern Gulf of Suez/northern Red Sea, the Southwestern Turkana/northern Kenyan rift, and at Anza. It therefore takes place in rifts in variable tectonic settings, with a wide range of volcanic activity and, presumably, with different driving mechanisms. The shift in deposition in each case is away from early rift-bounding faults toward the half-graben flexural margins, further in-board to the upper structural plate. This suggests at least some component of regional simple shear in the deformation history of the rifted lithosphere, either via broad shear zones or at discrete detachment surfaces.