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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
System
, Southeast Syria
Petroleum
Geologists. All Rights Reserved
1Manuscript received July 22, 1996; revised manuscript received
May 29, 1997; final acceptance February 3, 1998.
2Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York 14853. Present address: 218 Alden Avenue,
New Haven, Connecticut 06515-2112.
3Institute for the Study of the Continents, Snee Hall, Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York 14853.
4Syrian Petroleum
Company, Ministry of
Petroleum
and Mineral
Resources, Damascus, Syria.
Seismic and well data for this study were kindly provided by the Syrian
Petroleum
Company. This research is supported by Amoco, ARCO, Exxon, Mobil,
Unocal, and Conoco. D. Seber and W. Beauchamp reviewed a draft of this
manuscript. We greatly appreciate the comments of reviewers T. Patton,
N. Gorur, P. Yilmaz, and former Elected Editor K. Biddle that helped to
improve the manuscript. Institute for the Study of the Continents contribution
number 230.
ABSTRACT
The Euphrates graben
The northwest-trending Euphrates graben system
is an aborted intracontinental
rift of Late Cretaceous age that has subsequently been hidden by Cenozoic
burial. Approximately 100 km wide, the
system
comprises an extensive network
of grabens and half grabens extending some 160 km from the Anah graben
in western Iraq to the Palmyride fold belt in central Syria, where it becomes
more subdued. The youngest prerift rocks are presently at a maximum depth
of about 5 km. Based primarily on interpretation of 1500 km of seismic
reflection profiles and data from 35 wells, we mapped a complex network
of numerous branching normal and strike-slip faults, generally striking
northwest and west-northwest. Both branched and single-strand linear normal
faults of generally steep dip, as well as positive and negative flower
structures, are manifest on seismic sections. No single rift-bounding fault
is observed; instead, a major flexure coupled with minor normal faulting
marks the southwestern edge of the basin, with considerable variation along
strike. To the northeast, deformation diminishes on the Rawda high near
the Iraqi border.
system
likely formed in a transtensional regime,
with active rifting primarily restricted to the Senonian and with an estimated
maximum extension of about 6 km. Minor Cenozoic inversion of some structures
also is evident. Approximately 30 oil fields have been discovered in the
Euphrates graben
system
since 1984. Recoverable reserves discovered to
date reportedly exceed 1 billion barrels of oil and lesser amounts of gas.
Light oil is primarily found in Lower Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs juxtaposed
by normal faulting against Upper Cretaceous synrift sources and seals.
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