Hydrocarbon Habitat of the Tuz Golu Basin, Central Anatolia, Turkey

C. More, P. R. Bird, D. D. Clark-Lowes

The Tuz Golu basin (TGB) of central Anatolia has been interpreted as a northwest-southeast-aligned terraced forearc basin that accumulated a Maastrichtian to Holocene, predominantly terrigenous, sedimentary succession. Evidence is presented from an integrated study incorporating all seismic, gravity, and well data for the following basin evolution. (1) Late Cretaceous sedimentation on the west of the Kirsehir block with a diverse assemblage of facies including terrestrial, possible sabkha, shallow marine carbonate and turbidite deposits; (2) eastward subduction of Neotethys beginning in the Maastrichtian and development of the Tuz Golu as a forearc basin; (3) deposition of a thick Paleocene to Eocene flysch succession; (4) late Eocene inversion of the thick flysch section along the central axis of the basin and development of flanking shallow basins; (5) late Eocene-Oligocene emergence with deposition of evaporites and red beds in a restricted basin, followed by suturing of continental blocks, uplift, and erosion; (6) dextral displacement along the Kochisar fault; (7) Oligocene-Miocene diapirism of Eocene salt along major faults in the western shallow basin; and (8) terrestrial and lacustrine sedimentation in the neotectonic TGB.

Of the 22 wells drilled in the TGB, four contained oil or gas shows from formations of Paleocene to Miocene age. Potential shale source rocks occur in the Upper Cretaceous, Paleocene, and Eocene sections. Cretaceous rudist reefs and Paleocene/Eocene sandstones provide target reservoirs, while Eocene salt represents an ideal seal. Late Eocene deformation created the major trap-forming structures of the basin.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91032©1988 Mediterranean Basins Conference and Exhibition, Nice, France, 25-28 September 1988.