Phanerozoic Regional Cycle Chart of Sea Level Changes for the Arabian Platform

By

Bilal U Haq¹, A/Motaleb Al-Qahtani²

(1) Washington, DC, US, Washington, DC (2) Saudi Aramco, Regional Mapping and Special Studies, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

 The global eustatic Cycle Chart continues to be an important first-order tool in exploration geology. In addition to being a chronostratigraphic correlation tool, the relative magnitude and frequency of sea-level rises and falls and the duration of subaerial exposure are valuable exploration criteria. The Arabian Plate has had a complex tectonic history, in addition to being influenced by broad eustatic changes. Tectonic events led to changes in the direction, rate, and/or locus of subsidence that created major accommodation for sediment deposition, while causing erosional hiatuses elsewhere. Consequently, both eustasy and tectonics play important roles in the development of sedimentary sequences and in determining the characteristics of the reservoir, source and seal facies on the Platform. A regional cycle chart of relative sea-level changes based on the Arabian Platform that is compared to the eustatic Cycle Chart could enhance the usefulness of this exploration tool for this region. A new Regional Cycle Chart for the Phanerozoic of the Arabian Platform is presented that ties the regional events on the Platform with global cyclicity. Hence, comparisons for any given interval can reveal when tectonic influences were predominant, or conversely, when eustasy was prevalent. The comparison of the two curves will also yield better chronostratigraphic estimates and assure improved global correlations. The Regional Cycle Chart will also be an ideal accompaniment for sequence-stratigraphic studies on the Platform.