What’s Next? Where is Our Industry Heading? 531 Evolution of NE Africa and the Greater Caucasus: Common Patterns and Petroleum Potential Ed Tawadros* Consultant, Calgary, Alberta, Canada tawadroe@telus.net Dmitry Ruban Researcher, Rostov-na-Donu, Russian Federation and Malahat Efendiyeva Geological Institute, National Academy of Sciences, Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan Abstract Comparative geologic studies are important both to find common patterns in the evolution of distinct regions and to reconsider their petroleum potential. We have attempted a comparison of the Phanerozoic evolution between the Northeastern African basins (NEA) and the Greater Caucasus (GC) (Fig. 1). The latter is nowadays a large elongated structure located within the Alpine Belt to the south of the Russian Platform. Several tectonic/depositional phases have been distinguished in the evolution of NEA (Table 1): 1) Magmatic Arc Phase (Precambrian-Early Cambrian), 2) Graben Phase (Middle-Late Cambrian), 3) Glacial Phase (Ordovician-Silurian), 4) Tectonic Arches Phase (Devonian- Permian), 5) Mediterranean Phase (Triassic-Early Jurassic), 6) Atlantic Phase (Late Jurassic- Early Cretaceous), 7) Alpine Phase (Late Cretaceous-Eocene), 8) Gulf of Suez Phase (Oligocene- Miocene), and 9) Nile Phase (Pliocene-Recent) (Tawadros, 2001, Tawadros, 2003). The Magmatic Arc Phase was dominated by the Pan-African Orogeny which led to the formation of Gondwana. Gneisses, granites, migmatites, volcanics, and metasedimentary rocks dominate the Precambrian-Early Cambrian succession. In the Graben Phase extensional tectonics, accompanied by volcanic activities, formed a series of horsts and graben which were filled by shallow marine sandstones and red beds. The Cambrian fractured quartzites form reservoirs at the Attahaddy Field in Libya and the Hassi Massaoud Field in Algeria. The Glacial Phase was accompanied by a drop in sea level in the Caradocian that led to the formation of incised valleys. In the Caradocian/Ashgillian, peri-glacial sediments filled these valleys. The rise of sea level in the early Silurian Ruddanian stage and the occurrence of an oceanic anoxic event led to the deposition of “Hot Shales” in West Libya, Tunisia, and Algeria. Peri-glacial reservoirs and Hot Shale source rocks form the hydrocarbon system in a number of oil fields in these three countries.