Stephen J. Vincent1, Mark B. Allen1, Simon Inger1, Mike D. Simmons2, David Hinds3, Larisa Voronova1, Arif Ismail-Zadeh4, Niels Hovius5, Teimuraz Barabadze6, Mohammad Ghassemi7, Rachel Flecker8, James Jackson5, Elmira Aliyeva4
(1) University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
(2) University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, United Kingdom
(3) University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen
(4) Geology Institute Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences, 370143 Baku, Azerbaijan
(5) Cambridge University, Cambridge, United Kingdom
(6) Georgian Technical University, Tbilisi, Georgia
(7) Geological Survey of Iran, Tehran, Iran
(8) Scottish Universities Research and Reactor Centre, Glasgow, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT: Arabian-Eurasia Collision and the Development of Alborz-Talysh-Caucasus Ranges; Petroleum System Implications for the South Caspian and Eastern Black Sea Basins
This paper explores the impact of the Arabian-Eurasia collision on the petroleum systems of the South Caspian and eastern Black Sea basins, based on CASP fieldwork in Azerbaijan, Iran, Georgia and Russia. Both of these basins have basement with geophysical properties characteristic of oceanic crust. Following early Tertiary rifting, the Arabian-Eurasia collision caused the deformation and initial uplift of the surrounding Alborz, Talysh and Greater Caucasus ranges during the Oligocene. Synchronous with this deformation was the deposition of a regional petroleum source rock, the Maykop Suite. Continued uplift resulted in the generation of new sediment source areas in the region, with orographic precipitation (currently marked at heights above ~1500 m in the eastern Caucasus) causing increased rates of erosion and sediment delivery to the surrounding basins. This sediment influx either resulted in the deposition of reservoir sands, or caused the dilution and degradation of reservoir quality sands derived from the Russian Platform. Compressional structures form major exploration targets in both the South Caspian and eastern Black Sea basins. Folding of reservoir units in the South Caspian began as recently as the late Pliocene, and continues at present. The pattern of neotectonic folding in the western South Caspian Basin mimics the kinematics given by seismogenic faults in the basement of adjacent regions. However, the folds are buckle structures, detached from the basement along slip planes in Maykop mudrocks and older sediments.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado