Brazilian Equatorial Margin; Potiguar Basin; Sequence stratigraphy; Deep-water systems.

The Potiguar Basin originated due to distensional events during the break-up of Pangea, and is part of the set of basins formed as a result of the development of the Brazilian Equatorial Margin. The stratigraphic aim of this researched is the section limited by the lower Albian and middle Eocene discordances (sensu Pessoa Neto et al., 2007), and it was analyzed for a better understand the tectonostratigraphic evolution. This section includes all sequences of the transgressive drift phase and the two oldest of the regressive drift phases of the Potiguar Basin (Pessoa Neto et al., 2007). With the aid of wells and seismic data, the target sedimentary succession of this study was the target of this study was analyzed in order to identify sequences and their internal units, characterized based on lithofacies, seismic facies and depositional systems, as well as, by the position of the bordering chronostratigraphic surfaces. This analysis resulted in the definition of eight sequences, named S1 to S8, grouped in three seismic stratigraphic units, US1 to US3. It is important to note that the Potiguar Basin has an exploratory history for hydrocarbons, very focused on its onshore portion. However, the recent oil discoveries on its correlated basin in West Africa, signals a real possibility of discoveries of new exploratory plays in the offshore portion of this basin, notably associated with turbiditic deposits. Therefore, this study, based on model presented in Catuneanu (2020) for deep-water systems, aimed to understand the nature of sedimentation at the shelf edge and its influence on more distal sectors of the basin, as these processes influence the gravity flows responsible for sediment transport, dispersion, and deposition in these areas.