TERTIARY OF THE ARABIAN GULF - SEDIMENTOLOGY AND HYDROCARBON POTENTIAL

The Paleogene-Neogene paleogeography of the Arabian Basin shows a change from the basic continuation of the Mesozoic pattern during the Paleogene to a new pattern of sedimentation established during the Neogene and resulting from movements in the Zagros. The Paleogene shallow-water carbonate-dominated lithologies in Eastern Arabia were replaced by deep-water Neogene carbonates near the Zagros and mixed carbonate and clastics in the northern Arabian Gulf. The hydrocarbon potential of these rocks, except locally, is low and the decreasing amplitude and frequency of faulted and folded structures away from the Zagros front suggests that the discovery of fields in structures such as those in Iraq-Iran is low. This poverty may however suggest that the untapped potential of the Mesozoic rocks may still be high.