--> Abstract: New Palaeogeographic Reconstructions Documenting the Evolution of Paleozoic Hydrocarbon Basins along the Uralian Margin of Baltica, by James P. Howard, Melise Harland, Alexander Gubanov, Olga Bogolepova, Sam Rice, and Robert Scott; #90072 (2007)

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New Palaeogeographic Reconstructions Documenting the Evolution of Paleozoic Hydrocarbon Basins along the Uralian Margin of Baltica

James P. Howard1, Melise Harland2, Alexander Gubanov2, Olga Bogolepova3, Sam Rice1, and Robert Scott4
1University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
2CASP, Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, United Kingdom
3Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
4CASP, Cambridge University, Cambridge, England

During the Palaeozoic the eastern margin of Baltica was dominated by carbonate deposition on a 3000km long shelf adjacent to the Uralian Ocean. Important hydrocarbon provinces are recognised in the Timan Pechora, Volga Urals and Pri-Caspian basins, but our understanding of how stratigraphic and tectonic events correlate along the margin is limited.
We present a new GIS database containing structural and stratigraphic data compiled from published outcrop and subsurface studies, fieldwork in the Polar Urals and satellite image interpretation. To strengthen the stratigraphic correlations between different sedimentary basins we have developed a new regional biostratigraphic framework. This database forms the basis for a series of new palaeogeographic maps depicting the progressive evolution of the Uralian margin of Baltica during the Paleozoic.
The new maps clearly illustrate the importance of understanding the temporal and spatial distribution of regional tectonic events, which culminated in the Uralian orogeny. Regional tectonic events control subsidence, sediment supply and the distribution of depositional environments across the Uralian margin and consequently exert strong controls on the composition and lateral extent of source and reservoir units as well as contributing to trap formation.
These new maps, along with the GIS database, provide a new tool for integrating the large volumes of existing data for different areas in order to understand the evolution of the Uralian margin as a whole.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece