Chapter 1 - Geology of Azerbaijan and the South Caspian Basin

Abstract

The chapter provides a detailed geographical account of Azerbaijan, focusing on the areas around the South Caspian Sea basin for the purpose of drilling deep oil deposits of this region. The territory of Azerbaijan is a part of the Alpine fold belt and consists of folded systems, embracing the eastern parts of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mountains, the Kura Intermontane depression separating them, and also the Middle and South Caspian basins. Thickness of the earth's crust here ranges from 38 to 55 km. The greater the thickness occurs within the Greater Caucasus, the lesser in the Talysh foothills. Jurassic and Cretaceous deposits are widespread in Azerbaijan. Lower Jurassic deposits are widely distributed in the Greater Caucasus, and are represented by slate and sometimes by sandstone, with intrusive sheets of diabase and gabbrodiabase. The deepest deposits occur within the Kura Intermontane depression that is located between the mountainous uplifts of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus mega-anticlinoria. Structurally, it is a megasynclinorium that originated during the orogenic stage of the Caucasus development. By its abyssal structure, the Kura Depression is divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower Kura troughs or sub depressions that demonstrate different mobility. Seismic, gravity, and magnetic investigations of the Earth's crust along profile that crosses the uplift in a latitudinal direction are also discussed in the chapter.