Divergent margin basins such as the Campos Basin, Gabon Basin, and Niger Delta Basin and basins of the Northwestern Shelf of Australia contain sediment thicknesses ranging from 10 to 15 kilometers. The complete set of stratigraphic sequences that may be present in divergent margin basins include pre-rift, rift, transition-early drift, and late drift. Reservoir sandstones can be high-quality due to their origin as first cycle sediments derived from proximal quartz-rich cratonic basement. Rich source rocks are important in the rift sequence, as well as in paralic facies, coastal swamps, and shallow marine environments in deltaic sequences.

All phases in the development of divergent margin basins are dominated by gravity-driven extensional tectonics. A variety of structural traps exist. Stratigraphic trap potential was recently demonstrated by giant Tertiary turbidite discoveries in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil.

Divergent margin basins are capable of developing and preserving source rocks, reservoir rocks and traps during continuous burial in one tectono-stratigraphic megacycle. The hydrocarbon prospectivity of divergent margin basins is enhanced by these processes and by traps formed contemporaneously with sedimentation in both the rift and drift phases.

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