AfriqueDuSud

Namibia / South Africa Offshore

This Canvas autotrace illustrates the evidence of SDRs in South Namibia offshore at the limit with the South Africa offshore. The lower right corner can be differently interpreted (Page 1). It is interesting to remember that, at the beginning of my professional career, the SDRs were interpreted as rift-type basin reflectors induced by lacustrine organic rich sediments forming a potential generating petroleum sub-system similar to that occurring in northern Angola offshore, particularly in Cabinda conventional offshore. Such an interpretation was, strongly, defended by the member of National Independence Party who use it as a major argument justifying the Namibia independence (21 March 1990). However, the petroleum exploration result of the Namibia offshore were very disappointing. They corroborate the hypothesis that SDRs are associated with lava flows postdating the breakup of the Gondwana lithosphere. In this Atlantic-type divergent margin, it s easy to separate the volcanic sector (sub-aerial volcanic crust) from the clastic sector, which is, generally, associated with the post-Pangea 1^st order eustatic cycle.