Imprints of Arabia-Eurasia Plate Collision on Stratigraphy and Hydrocarbon Prospectivity of Kuwait
Husain, Riyasat 1; Rinaldi, Mulyono 1;
Al-Ammar, Nada M.1
(1)Exploration Group, Kuwait Oil Company,
Ahmadi, Kuwait.
The Arabian Plate has experienced a multiphase tectonic history
that began in the Proterozoic and continues up to the present day Zagros
Orogeny. Kuwait, located on the eastern edge of the Arabian Plate, has witnessed
these evolutionary phases and preserved their imprints into its sedimentary
record. The study focuses on the major tectonic phases since Arabia-Eurasia
plate collision and their impact on depositional history, facies development
and trap formation.
The evolutionary history of Kuwait since Arabia-Eurasia collision
is defined by three tectonic phases. During Late Cretaceous to Early Paleogene
the Arabian plate moved to the north-northeast, subducted and subsequently
collided into Eurasia. The onset of the deformation is marked by the Turonian
unconformity which down cuts progressively towards the west and south, causing
significant thinning and loss of the Late Cretaceous sediments over the Kuwait
Arch. Besides enhancing trap geometry, erosional truncation and onlaps over the
arch the event provided avenues for stratigraphic trap exploration. During the
Paleogene, the plate collision continued in the Zagros causing the Neo-Tethys
to progressively narrow. In Kuwait, the sediments were deposited on a shallow carbonate
shelf within a compressive foreland basin setting. The structuration was mainly
confined along Kuwait Arch and northern part of Kuwait. The Paleogene reservoir
facies are envisaged to be better developed in these areas. Red Sea spreading
along western margin and compression due to Zagros Orogeny in the east occurred
during latest Eocene to Present Day. The Kuwait Arch and structures in western
Kuwait were reactivated and a massive supply of continental to deltaic clastics
occurred in the rapidly subsiding Zagros foredeep. The succeeding development
and infill of the Zagros foredeep generated the regional north-easterly dip
which is a characteristic feature of the Offshore Kuwait today. The regional
tilt of the basin during this time is responsible for tilt in oil water
contacts of producing reservoirs and change in closures of prospects.
The tectonic phases have left their distinct impressions in geological record and have impacted the facies development, enhancement of reservoir properties, trap formation, maturation and migration of hydrocarbons in Kuwait. Process response models can be gainfully employed to assess the effect of tectonics on hydrocarbons prospectivity of Kuwait, especially in frontier exploration areas.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90135©2011 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Milan, Italy, 23-26 October 2011.