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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 102, No. 3 (March 2018), P. 509-543.

Copyright ©2018. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI: 10.1306/04201715239

Seismic stratigraphy of a Lower Cretaceous prograding carbonate platform (Oman) and implications for the eustatic sea-level curve

Emmanuel Dujoncquoy,1 Carine Grélaud,2 Philippe Razin,3 Patrice Imbert,4 Frans van Buchem,5 Gérard Dupont,6 and Arnaud Le Bec7

1École Nationale Supérieure en Environnement, Géoressources et Ingénierie du Développement Durable, Institut National Polytechnique de Bordeaux (ENSEGID-INP), 1 Allée Daguin, 33607 Pessac Cedex, France; Total S.A. Centre Scientifique et Technique Jean Féger, Avenue Larribau, 64000 Pau, France; present address: Applied Geology and Sedimentology (AGeoS), 2 avenue Henry Russel, 64000 Pau, France; [email protected]
2École Nationale Supérieure en Environnement, Géoressources et Ingénierie du Développement Durable, Institut National Polytechnique de Bordeaux (ENSEGID-INP), 1 Allée Daguin, 33607 Pessac Cedex, France; [email protected]
3École Nationale Supérieure en Environnement, Géoressources et Ingénierie du Développement Durable, Institut National Polytechnique de Bordeaux (ENSEGID-INP), 1 Allée Daguin, 33607 Pessac Cedex, France; [email protected]
4Total S.A. Centre Scientifique et Technique Jean Féger, Avenue Larribau, 64000 Pau, France; [email protected]
5Maersk Oil, Esplanaden 50, 1263 Copenhagen K, Denmark; present address: Halliburton–Neftex, 97 Park Drive, Milton, Abingdon OX14 4RY, United Kingdom; [email protected]
6Total S.A. Centre Scientifique et Technique Jean Féger, Avenue Larribau, 64000 Pau, France; [email protected]
7Omya, 6 Rue Pierre Semard, 51240 Omey, France; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The Lower Cretaceous of northern Oman consists of a large carbonate platform that prograded over a distance of 280 km (174 mi) in approximately 23 m.y. The seismic stratigraphic interpretation of this system, based on a regional three-dimensional survey (40,000 km2 [15,400 mi2]), revealed a complicated organization of nested clinoforms with changing depositional dips. The tectonic setting and stratal patterns suggest that different orders of sea-level fluctuations, ranging from 20 to 150 m (66–492 ft) in amplitude, have controlled the overall sedimentation. The Lower Cretaceous Lekhwair, Habshan, and Salil Formations form the lithofacies of this carbonate platform that prograded in a northeastward direction from the United Arab Emirates and Oman to northern Oman, filling in the Rayda Basin. The majority of this system is documented in seismic and well data, whereas the final part of the progradation is visible on outcrops in the Oman Mountains. Cored wells and outcrops have been dated with calpionellids, echinoids, and calcareous algae biostratigraphy; 14 sequences have been identified and are grouped into four sequence sets based on their seismic stratigraphic organization. The differences in stratal patterns between the sets are interpreted to be caused by variations in the amplitude of sea-level fluctuations. The sequence sets indicate a general increase of the amplitude of sea-level fluctuations to a maximum of 150 m (492 ft) in the early Valanginian, followed by a general highstand and low-amplitude fluctuations (20 m [66 ft]) in the late Valanginian. The Oman relative-sea-level curve shows similarities with the one proposed for the Vocontian Basin in France, providing strong evidence for the eustatic nature of these fluctuations. A glacio-eustatic control is invoked to explain this global trend.

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