A study of the southern Kirthar fold belt in Pakistan was undertaken to elucidate the hinterland structure and hydrocarbon prospectivity. Interpretation of structure and stratigraphy is difficult because of suboptimal seismic data, a lack of hinterland well data, and a transition from shelfal to basinal stratigraphy. An interpretation of two cross sections was made using outcrop and seismic data and well data from foreland discoveries. The Institut Franais du Ptrole Thrustpack software was used to validate the structural model and provide data on the maturity of the source rock.

The Kirthar fold belt is dominated by open and symmetrical folds that are driven by inversion of basement-involved Jurassic extensional faults. Thrusts have been interpreted with two detachments, thrusts with a shallow detachment in the Eocene mudstones and thrusts with a deeper detachment in the Lower Cretaceous source rock interval that involve the reservoir during deformation.

The major mountain-building episode is interpreted as late Pliocene–Pleistocene, but there is evidence for earlier inversion dating from the late Paleocene associated with the emplacement of the Bela ophiolite and constrained by maturity data obtained from outcrop. Early inversion and uplift impacts the burial curve and, thus, the prospectivity of the area.