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Abstract

Stratigraphy along the Brazilian Equatorial Margin is a crucial guide to the geodynamic history of rifting of Pangea and formation of the South Atlantic Ocean. Understanding the evolution of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, which intersects the Saint Paul and Romanche Fracture Zones on the western margin of South Atlantic Ocean, is also key for reconstructing eustatic histories and natural resource exploration. In this study, we quantify the stratigraphic and subsidence histories of three sedimentary basins—Barreirinhas, Ceará, Potiguar—that sit within the margin. Stratigraphy was mapped using ca. 900-line-km of two-dimensional seismic data. Biostratigraphic and check-shot data from 23 wells drilled on the continental shelf, slope and in the distal parts of these basins were used to date and depth-convert stratigraphy. Check-shot data were also used to parameterise compaction. The mapped stratigraphy was backstripped to calculate subsidence histories for the basins. Subsidence curves were decompacted, water-loaded and corrected for palaeo-water depths using biostratigraphic data from well reports. The mapped stratigraphy of the Barreirinhas and Ceará Basins and theoretical subsidence curves indicate that stretching factors did not exceed 1.6. These values suggest that these basins can be regarded as failed rifts. In contrast, more distal stratigraphy mapped in the Potiguar Basin to the south indicates that it stretched by a factor of 5–6. Calculated subsidence histories indicate that this basin formed primarily because of Cretaceous rifting and Cretaceous to Recent post-rift thermal sag, with amplitudes governed by the amount of initial stretching.