The Eastern Black Sea Basin and Adjacent Areas: Tectonic History and Hydrocarbon Potential

Nikishin, Anatoly M., Moscow University, Moscow, Russia

Eastern Black Sea area was a large carbonate platform during Late Jurassic to Neocomian times. This carbonate platform was affected by continental rifting during the Aptian to Albian times in a connection with arc-related volcanism. The Eastern Black Sea Basin originated as a back-arc basin during the Cretaceous times. Continental rifting took place during the Aptian to Albian. Large-scale crustal thinning and separation occurred since the Cenomanian mainly along a former Albian to Early Cenomanian volcanic arc. Both the Western and Eastern Black Sea basins have been opened nearly simultaneously during Cenomanian to Coniacian times. Since the Santonian to the Early Eocene, the Eastern Black Sea region was affected by compressional deformations; large scale compression event took place before the Middle Eocene simultaneously with main orogenic event in the Eastern Pontides. Tensional event in southeastern part of the region took place during the Middle Eocene. Since the latest Eocene to recent times, the deepening of the basinal area has been controlled by compressional deformations. The Tuapse, Guria and Sorokin basins originat­ed at the Eocene-Oligocene transition as a flexural foredeep basins. Shatsky Ridge was affected by flexural tectonics also at those times. Hydrocarbon potential of the Eastern Black Sea area is connected with carbonate Late Jurassic to Neocomian cover of the Shatsky Ridge and Oligocene to Neogene clastic deposits of the Tuapse, Guria and Sorokin foredeep flexural troughs.