Geology of Libya

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The geology of

evaporites
.

Stratigraphy, tectonics & geologic history

Libya is underlain by

metamorphic basement rock, which only outcrops at a few locations. These ancient rocks include schist, gneiss, quartzite and granite
, known from boreholes.

Paleozoic (539-251 million years ago)

An angular

Early Carboniferous
.

Active subsidence continued to drive sedimentation in the Jeffara plain during the

Late Carboniferous and Permian
Along the eastern edge of the Kufra Basin, near Jebel Oweinat, the Paleozoic ended with volcanism, which intruded early Paleozoic ring dikes.[1]

Mesozoic (251-66 million years ago)

The pattern of subsidence and continental sedimentation from the Paleozoic continued into the Mesozoic, mainly in the Triassic, but also extending into the Jurassic. In fact, in the Murzuk Basin and Kufra Basin, the pattern continued into the Early Cretaceous, at which point the existing basins stabilized. However, renewed subsidence continued in the east, running parallel with the development of the Libyan tilt.

A marine transgression flooded the region in the Aptian and the Albian, reaching what is now Sirte by the Cenomanian and eastern Fezzan by the Maastrichtian.[2]

thumb

Cenozoic (66 million years ago-present)

In the

Gulf of Sirte are the result of Pliocene and Quaternary flexures in the rock. The depression by the Ionian Sea
is particularly recent, east of the stable Pelagian block.

Northern Cyrenaica is different from the rest of the country and is more closely related to the central Tunisian platforms. The zone uplifted in the Eocene and intensely deformed during the Middle Miocene. It still has some seismically active faults. Areas that had experienced volcanism in the Paleozoic, such as Jebel Oweinat, experienced renewed eruptions in the recent geologic past, along with Tibesti-Garian axis.[2] ,

Hydrogeology

Much of Libya is underlain by consolidated sedimentary rock aquifers with intergranular flow. Cyrenaica, in the northeast has consolidated fractured sedimentary units. Zones in south, central and northwest Libya have some groundwater housed in igneous rock and unconsolidated sedimentary deposits predominate along the western coast, eastern border with Egypt and in the southwest.[3]

Natural resource geology

Libya has the largest hydrocarbon reserves of any country in Africa, and these resources play a major role in the economy of Libya. The country also has phosphate, gypsum, magnetite, potash, salt and sulfur reserves.[4]

References

  1. ^ Schlüter, Thomas (2008). Geological Atlas of Africa. Springer. p. 138–139.
  2. ^ a b Schlüter 2008, p. 138.
  3. ^ "Hydrogeology of Libya". British Geological Survey.
  4. ^ Schlüter 2008, p. 140.
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