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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

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Abstract


AAPG Memoir 116: Siliciclastic Previous HitReservoirsNext Hit of the Arabian Plate, 2019
Pages 103-139
DOI: 10.1306/13642165M1183798

Regional Controls on Siliciclastic Input into Previous HitMesozoicNext Hit Depositional Systems of the Arabian Plate and Their Petroleum Significance

R. B. Davies, M. D. Simmons, T. O. Jewell, J. Collins

Abstract

During the Previous HitMesozoicNext Hit Era, episodes of siliciclastic input onto the dominantly carbonate Arabian shelf form important elements of petroleum plays, forming proven and potential Previous HitreservoirsNext Hit, Previous HitsourceNext Hit Previous HitrocksNext Hit, and seals. This chapter examines the temporal and spatial extent of these siliciclastic episodes. It then compares them against known tectonic, climatic, and eustatic events affecting the Arabian plate that may have been acting independently or coincidently to control siliciclastic input by means of hinterland uplift, influence on denudation and run off, incision, and creation of sediment pathways and accommodation space.

Particularly important phases of siliciclastic input occur in (1) the Early Triassic (Olenekian Sudair shale) coincident with major eustatic lowering, an episode of humid climate and rifting on the northern part of the Arabian plate; (2) Late Triassic (late Norian initial Minjur Sandstone) coincident with East Mediterranean rifting, a humid episode and a major eustatic sea-level fall; (3) Previous HitMiddleNext Hit Jurassic (early Bajocian initial Dhruma Sandstone) coincident with localized uplift and a humid climate and immediately postdating a eustatic sea-level fall in the Aalenian; (4) Early Cretaceous (late Valanginian–Barremian Zubair sandstone) postdating a Valanginian eustatic lowering and coincident with humid climate and uplift in northern and western Arabia; (5) Mid-Cretaceous (latest Aptian–Previous HitmiddleNext Hit Albian Burgan Sandstone) coincident with Arabian shield uplift, humid climate, and a eustatic low. Other episodes of siliciclastic input also occur, although they tend to be more localized.

Important seals are formed during the progradation of siliciclastic systems “poisoning” carbonate shelves or during transgression when distal pro-delta siliciclastic systems retreat back across the shelf, capping up-systems tract fluvial or shelfal sandstones, or when they are located above major unconformities, capping carbonate Previous HitreservoirsNext Hit.

Siliciclastic Previous HitreservoirsNext Hit include the well-known and prolific fluvial and paralic sandstones that contribute, for example, to the Burgan field in Kuwait and to the Zubair and Nahr Umr Previous HitreservoirsNext Hit of the northern Gulf. Lowstand sands (both lowstand deltas and slope and basin gravity flow deposits) form viable, but underexplored, reservoir targets.

Previous HitSourceNext Hit Previous HitrocksNext Hit may be deposited in front of prograding delta systems linked to high nutrient supply and water stratification caused by freshwater overhang, leading to anoxia and preservation of organic matter. A well-known example is the Kazhdumi Formation of the Iranian Zagros.

A better understanding of the fundamental controls on siliciclastic input onto the Arabian plate will enable better predictions of these key petroleum play elements and a better understanding of the subsurface risk associated with their occurrence.


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