ABSTRACT: Model for the Evolution of the Transcaucasus Region, Republic of Georgia

PATTON, D. KEITH, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, S. ADAMIA, K. AKHVLEDIANI, A. CHABUKIANI, and A. NANADZE, Georgian Academy of Sciences, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; M. GRYNBERG and A. SANISHVILI, Georgian Geophysics, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; A. CHICHINADZE, V. KILASONIA, D. PAPAVA, A. TAKAISHVILI, N. TEVZADZE, and R. TEVZADZE, Georgian Oil, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and Z. MGELADZE, Georgian Technical University, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia

The Republic of Georgia lies within the Alpine-Himalayan fold belt system that marks convergence of the Eurasian and Arabian plates. Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary sediments more than 15 km thick reflect deposition under a wide range of conditions including volcanic, evaporitic, reef, and fluviatile environments. Production of almost 200 millian barrels of oil confirms the generation, migration, and entrapment of hydrocarbons.

The Earth Sciences and Resources Institute of the University of South Carolina, the Georgian Academy of Sciences, and Georgian Oil entered into a joint research program in 1990. This cooperative effort was undertaken to assess the oil and gas potential of the Republic of Georgia on behalf of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Kerr-Mcgee Corporation, Louisiana Land and Exploration Company, and Norcen International Ltd.

Modern techniques of basin analysis were applied to a substantial geological, geochemical, and geophysical database made available by the Republic of Georgia. These data included CDP seismic data, well logs, cores and core analyses, geochemical source rock information, chemistry of fluids produced, and history of reservoir performance.

Initial efforts were directed toward reconstruction of the geologic history of this convergent margin. Based on this work, Mesozoic and Cenozoic inter-arc rifting is evident and is manifested by an Upper Jurassic evaporite basin in western Georgia and thick sequences of Mesozoic and Cenozoic volcanics throughout the Transcaucasus.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)