The N-S aligned Gongola Basin links Nigeria＇s Benue Trough with the Bornu (Chad) Basin forming part of the West African Rift System. Its lithostratigraphical sequence begins with thick Lower Cretaceous continental clastics, the Bima Group. Basically fining-upwards, these clastics are divisible into the "Lower", "Middle" and "Upper Bima" formations. The continental to marine Yolde Formation lies above. The Pindiga Formation represents the greater part oi the dominantly marine Upper Cretaceous Series. II is divisible into three units: the Kanawa Member, Upper Cenomanian to Lower Turonian shales and limestones; the Gulani, Deba Fulani and Dumbulwa members, sands deposited during a Middle Turonian regression; and the Fika Member, marine and mainly argilllaceous, at the top. The Gombe Formation, a Maastrichtian coarsening-upward deltaic unit, which infilled a sea closed to the south, completes the Cretaceous sequence. The basin structure was controlled by NE-SW (strike-slip), N-S (strike-slip) and NW-SE (normal) trending faults. Fold axes have variable trends, dominantly N-S and E-W, resulting from stress patterns produced in association with the strike-slip movements. Major deformations occurred during the Maastrichtian. Several earlier tectonic episodes occurred locally, notably along the Gombe fault and in the positive block of the "Dumbulwa-Bage High" which forms the northern boundary of the basin. Regional compression may have occurred during the Santonian.