Abstract
The Paleozoic Dniepr-Donets Basin in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia forms a major hydrocarbon province. Although well- and seismic data have established a 20 km thick stratigraphy, field-studies of its sediments are scarce. The inverted Donbas segment (Ukraine) exposes the middle Carboniferous part of the basin's stratigraphy. Here, we provide detailed sedimentological data from 13 sections that cover 1.5 of the total of 5 km of the Bashkirian and Moscovian stages and assess the paleoenvironment and paleo-current directions. Middle Carboniferous deposition occurred in a shelf environment, with coal deposition, subordinate fluvial facies, and abundant lower and middle shoreface facies, comprising an intercalated package of potential source and reservoir rocks. Sedimentary facies indicate a paleodepth range from below storm wave base to near-coastal swamp environments. Sedimentation and subsidence were hence in pace, with subtle facies changes likely representing relative sea-level changes. Paleocurrent directions are remarkably consistently southeastward in time and space in the different sedimentary facies across the Donbas Fold Belt, illustrating a dominant sedimentary infill along the basin axis, with little basin margin influence. This suggests that the middle Carboniferous stratigraphy of the Dniepr-Donets basin to the northwest probably contains significant amounts of fluvial sandstones, important for assessing hydrocarbon reservoir potential.
Highlights
The Paleozoic Dniepr-Donets Basin in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia forms a major hydrocarbon province
The Donbas segment of the Dniepr-Donets Basin (DDB) formed at the southern margin of the European Craton (EEC), which belonged to Laurussia in the Late Paleozoic www.nature.com/scientificreports and was located at near-equatorial latitudes during the Early Carboniferous moving to,15u northerly latitudes in the Permian[22,23,24,25]
We report field observations and interpretations from the sedimentary geology of the middle Carboniferous stratigraphy of the Donbas Foldbelt, providing new environmental information in addition to the basin reconstructions based on previous field observations, and mostly borehole and seismic data[3,12,49,56,57,58,59]
Summary
The Paleozoic Dniepr-Donets Basin in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia forms a major hydrocarbon province. Paleocurrent directions are remarkably consistently southeastward in time and space in the different sedimentary facies across the Donbas Fold Belt, illustrating a dominant sedimentary infill along the basin axis, with little basin margin influence This suggests that the middle Carboniferous stratigraphy of the Dniepr-Donets basin to the northwest probably contains significant amounts of fluvial sandstones, important for assessing hydrocarbon reservoir potential. The Dniepr-Donets Basin (DDB) forms a major hydrocarbon and coal basin in Eastern Europe with significant commercial significance[1,2,3,4,5,6,7], forming a intra-cratonic, deep rift with up to 22 km of sediment[1,8] that underwent its main basin fill history between the late Devonian and Permian[9,10,11] It is located between the Ukrainian Shield to the south and the Voronezh Massif to the north, in the southwest of the East European Craton (EEC; Fig. 1). The Donbas Foldbelt borders the Voronezh Massif (Fig. 1) along large thrusts and reverse faults; in the south the contact of the Donbas Foldbelt with the Ukrainian Shield is formed by reverse faults[8,32]
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