Evaporite Basin Research Articles

Stratigraphic evolution of the Neoproterozoic Callison Lake Formation: Linking the break-up of Rodinia to the Islay carbon isotope excursion

The ∼780 to 540 Ma Windermere Supergroup of western North America records the protracted development of the western Laurentian passive margin and provides insights into the nature, timing, and kinematics of Rodinia9s fragmentation. Here we present a refined tectono- and chemo-stratigraphic model for circa 780 to 720 Ma sedimentation in NW Canada through a study of the Callison Lake Formation (formalized herein) of the Mount Harper Group, spectacularly exposed in the Coal Creek and Hart River inliers of the Ogilvie Mountains of Yukon, Canada. Twenty-one stratigraphic sections are integrated with geological mapping, facies analysis, carbon and oxygen isotope chemostratigraphy, and Re-Os geochronology to provide a depositional reconstruction for the Callison Lake Formation. Mixed siliciclastic, carbonate, and evaporite sediments accumulated in marginal marine embayments formed in discrete hangingwall depocenters of a prominent Windermere extensional fault zone. Deposition of the Windermere Supergroup in NW Canada post dates the eruption of the circa 780 Ma Gunbarrel Large Igneous Province by ∼30 million years, is locally associated with compressional or transpressional tectonism, and predates the successful rift-drift transition by ∼200 million years. In order to accommodate evidence for coeval extensional and compressional tectonism, abrupt facies change, and Neoproterozoic fault geometries, we propose that NW Laurentia experienced strike-slip deformation during the ∼740 to 660 Ma early fragmentation of the supercontinent Rodinia. Sequence stratigraphic data from the Callison Lake Formation and other basal Windermere successions in the northern Canadian Cordillera delineate three distinct depositional sequences, or transgressive-regressive (T-R) cycles, that are coeval with similar stratigraphic packages in the ∼780 to 720 Ma Chuar-Uinta Mountain-Pahrump basins of the western United States. The global circa 735 Ma Islay carbon isotope excursion is consistently present in carbonate strata of the third T-R cycle and is interpreted to represent a primary perturbation to the global carbon cycle, possibly driven by the uplift and weathering of extensive shallow epicontinental seaways and evaporite basins.

The nature and geochemical role of density convection in the East European evaporite basin

The role of the gravitation factor in the formation of the hydrostratisphere in the East European evaporate basin is considered. The features of Paleozoic sedimentation are characterized, as are the mechanism and litho–hydrogeochemical effects of the density concentration convection of mother brines of the Low-Permian salt-bearing basin to the underlying terrigenous–carbonate Paleozoic and Proterozoic layers. It is shown that the convection processes resulted in the formation of multicomponent calcium chloride brines prevailing in the sedimentary layer of the basis; they also caused the metasomatic dolomitization of limestones with growth of their filtration capacity.

Stratigraphic Framework and Depositional Controls on Reservoir Occurrence, Big Valley Formation, Southern Alberta

Abstract Within the past decade, the Big Valley and Exshaw formations in southern Alberta have received significant interest as a potential unconventional oil play because of the overwhelming exploration/exploitation success in the stratigraphically-equivalent Three Forks and Bakken formations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and North Dakota. Because of continuous industry hype, this upper Devonian-lower Mississippian succession came to be known as the “Alberta Bakken”. Such a term suggests potentially prolific oil production from a reservoir similar to the Bakken in Saskatchewan. In fact the term “Alberta Bakken” is misleading since to date there has been only moderate oil production from localized carbonate reservoirs in the Big Valley Formation, and from very fine-grained sandstones and siltstones of the Mississippian Lower Banff Formation. Reservoir development in the Big Valley Formation is stratigraphically and areally restricted by both depositional facies controls and post-depositional early diagenetic, subaerial and structural-collapse processes. Detailed lithofacies analysis indicates that the Big Valley Formation is divisible into two units: an upper shallow marine limestone and a lower hydrocarbon-bearing, partially dolomitized, peritidal carbonate. The peritidal unit, in turn, is divisible into four lithofacies: peloidal packstone-grainstone (the primary oil-bearing lithofacies), microbial laminite, laminated dolomudstone and intraclastic breccia-laminite. Regionally, each lithofacies is discontinuous and in the order of 0.5 to 2.0 m thick. Locally, however, the peloidal packstone-grainstone attains thicknesses of up to 8 m, forming isolated oil-producing reservoirs. These over-thickened zones correspond to specific areas of Big Valley Formation ‘thicks’, which tend to align with a NNW-SSE trending ‘basement’ lineament that underlies the study area. It is equivocal whether this structural trend is basement-controlled, or reflects dissolution of salt beds along the margin of an underlying evaporite basin. Successful exploration in the Big Valley Formation appears to depend on whether the over-thickened areas can be located.

Morphometric patterns in Modern carbonate platforms can be applied to the ancient rock record: Similarities between Modern Alacranes Reef and Upper Palaeozoic platforms of the Barents Sea

In recent years, considerable research has been undertaken in order to gain a better quantitative understanding of morphometric patterns within modern carbonate depositional systems. The industrial application of the scaling/juxtaposition relationships derived from the Modern to subsurface Cenozoic carbonate reservoirs appears relatively straightforward, given that many key biota are common to both. However, the direct application of Modern sedimentary insight further back into the geologic rock record is more controversial, given the enormous changes in the biota, climate, sea level, water chemistry and so on, that have taken place. To justify such an approach, we contend that similar morphometric patterns should be observed in both the Modern and ancient data. In the Norwegian Barents Sea, numerous seismic surveys have imaged Upper Palaeozoic carbonate buildups arranged in polygonal networks, or reticular patterns. These patterns are observed in both warm water photozoan and cool water heterozoan carbonate stratigraphies, and are developed atop platforms founded on stable shelves, in tectonically active settings and platforms developed over basinal evaporites. GIS mapping of multiple seismic horizons allows the Palaeozoic reticulated morphology to be numerically compared to that mapped in Alacranes Reef from QuickBird satellite imagery. QuickBird's metre-scale resolution allows identification of subtle cross-platform trends, such as windward-leeward differences in the packing density of ridge-and-pond complexes, which can be correlated with the kilometre-scale patterning extracted in the Barents subsurface. Despite different controls and architecture, the patterning of reticular networks is statistically inseparable between the two systems, once the metre-scale Modern dataset is down-sampled to seismic resolution. Whilst other controls cannot unequivocally be ruled out, these results suggest that biotic self-organisation is a fundamental driver of sedimentary patterns on carbonate platforms. To our knowledge, this is the first quantitative comparison of morphometric patterns from the Modern and Palaeozoic that clearly reveals similar patterns of self-organisation. For the depositional environments considered, the findings suggest that juxtaposition rules, facies proportions and scaling relationships extracted from the Modern can successfully be applied to the ancient.

Complex interplay of faulting, glacioeustatic variations and halokinesis during deposition of upper Viséan units over thick salt in the western Cumberland Basin of Atlantic Canada

AbstractThe late Palaeozoic Cumberland Basin of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (eastern Canada) developed as a strike‐slip basin in the aftermath of the Middle Devonian Acadian Orogeny. Following deposition of thick salt during the middle Viséan (middle Mississippian), this basin mainly accommodated fault‐controlled continental deposits during the late Viséan, which generated halokinesis from clastic loading. The Mississippian halokinetic history of this basin is cryptic, as it was severely distorted by subsequent tectonic and halokinetic overprints. After minor structural restoration, the study of upper Viséan minibasin units in wide coastal sections and deep wells allowed a fairly detailed reconstruction of the Mississippian halokinetic setting to be made. Paleoenvironments and depositional settings in the western part of the basin include sectors that were proximal to three fault‐bounded source areas and characterized by alluvial fan systems transitioning laterally into gravelly to sandy braidplain environments. More central areas of the basin were characterized by tidal flats transitioning laterally into shallow marine environments. Because of halokinesis, the marine body was eventually forced to subdivide into three separate salt expulsion minibasins. Although late Viséan marine incursions were short‐lived in the rest of eastern Canada due to ongoing glacioeustatic variations, there are sedimentologic and stratigraphic lines of evidence for the long‐lasting entrapment of restricted marine bodies in salt expulsion minibasins of the western Cumberland Basin. In one minibasin that was characterized by especially high accommodation rates, NE of Hopewell Cape (New Brunswick), the proximal conglomerates and marine carbonates of a fan‐delta setting transition laterally into thick sulphate over a short distance, away from freshwater inputs from the source area. The vertical continuity of the latter sulphate succession suggests that this entrapped evaporitic basin was cut‐off from significant marine influxes, even at times of glacioeustatic highstands. This is in contrast with salt expulsion minibasins in open marine shelf settings, which always remain open to global marine transgressions and regressions.

Oxygen isotopes in authigenic quartz from massive salt deposits

We describe a new geochemical tool that could provide temperatures of ancient basins in which massive evaporites were deposited: the oxygen isotope composition of fine crystalline quartz found in large halite bodies. Such quartz is well preserved from post-depositional alterations and it can be relatively easily separated. For the purpose of this study, five halite samples were selected from four various evaporite basins, spanning in age from the Early Cambrian to the Late Jurassic. The obtained isotope temperatures refer to locations where evaporites were deposited, i.e. in subtropical zones of the Earth, as it may be estimated from continental distribution during Phanerozoic times. Reasonable temperatures are obtained, with an assumption for the δ18O of brines ranging from −1‰ to 0‰ during halite deposition. The assumption of higher δ18O values leads to unrealistic temperatures, higher than the homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions in halite.

Integration of the Gila River drainage system through the Basin and Range province of southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico (USA)

The Gila River and its tributaries in southern Arizona and adjoining states incorporate several dozen individual extensional basins of the central Basin and Range province into a single integrated drainage network. Forty basins in the Gila domain contain more than 1000m (maximum ~3500m) of post-12Ma basin fill. Subsurface evaporites in many basins document internal drainages terminating in isolated playa lakes during early phases of basin history. The nature of intrabasinal and interbasinal divides and of eroded or sedimented stream passages through mountain ranges intervening between the basins reveal the geomorphic mechanisms that achieved drainage integration over late Miocene to early Pleistocene time. Drainage integration accompanied by headward erosion eastward toward Gila headwaters was a response to Miocene opening of the Gulf of California, into which the Gila River debouched directly before the Pliocene (<5Ma) lower course of the Colorado River was established. Residual basins of internal drainage where headward erosion has not yet penetrated into basin fill are most common in the easternmost Gila domain but also persist locally farther west. Most basin fill was dissected during drainage integration within the upstream Gila domain but continued accumulation of undissected basin fill by sediment aggradation is dominant in the downstream Gila domain. Basin dissection was initiated by Pliocene time in the central Gila domain but was delayed until Pleistocene time farther east. In the westernmost Gila domain, interaction with erosional and depositional episodes along the Colorado River influenced the development of Quaternary landscapes along the tributary Gila River. The sedimentary history of the Gila drainage network illustrates the means by which trunk rivers can establish courses across corrugated topography produced by the extensional rupture of continental blocks.

Strontium isotope composition of Middle Miocene primary gypsum (Badenian of the Polish Carpathian Foredeep Basin): evidence for continual non‐marine inflow of radiogenic strontium into evaporite basin

AbstractStrontium isotope compositions of ancient sulphate deposits not only provide chemostratigraphic information but also offer insight into the system in which the evaporites precipitated. Primary gypsum from two Middle Miocene (Badenian) sections in southern Poland shows steadily higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios than those expected from a marine‐derived formation. The ratios are interpreted as the result of increasing inflow into the basin at the time of gypsum precipitation. Palaeogeographic reconstructions suggest that riverine runoff sources were situated in the West and East European platforms (to the north and east, respectively) and the Carpathians (to the south), which are mostly composed of Mesozoic sedimentary rocks; their dissolution cannot be responsible for the higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios recorded. We conclude that Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic igneous and supracrustal rocks of the Ukrainian Shield were the source of the higher 87Sr/86Sr ratios recorded in the Badenian primary gypsum. A distinctive decreasing trend of 87Sr/86Sr ratios from western Ukraine to southern Poland is explained by a consistent direction of brine inflow during gypsum crystallization (typical cyclonic circulation controlled by the Coriolis effect).

Evaporite Basin Reservoir Formation

1 Introduction Today,Industrial value of oil and gas basin in the world for a total of more than 120,which contain lamellar or lenticular evaporite a total of 66,about 55%of the basin.According to statistics,in the basin of oil,salt,symbiosis,46%of the oil and gas layer in the basin was

Stratigraphic variations control deformation patterns in evaporite basins: Messinian examples, onshore and offshore Sicily (Italy)

Three-dimensional seismic data are increasingly resolving original compositional heterogeneity and structural complexity in evaporitic successions within sedimentary basins. The relationship between basin structure, evaporite composition and its influence on subsequent deformation are investigated here using Messinian examples from the Maghrebian thrust system of Sicily and applied to the adjacent Ionian sea-bed. By integrating outcrop and onshore subsurface data, we demonstrate variations in evaporite stratigraphies deposited across thrust-top basins, and how these variations have controlled subsequent deformation of these basins. Gypsum and carbonate units develop broad single-layer buckle fold trains, with wavelengths reflecting layer thickness. The development of deformation appears limited by bending resistance at fold hinges, which can be overcome by syntectonic erosion. In contrast, the thick halite and K-salt accumulations in growth synclines have deformed with short-wavelength folds and distributed strain. These structures can display rapid lateral variations (on a scale of hundreds of metres). Similar structural styles, with buckle fold trains passing laterally into more homogeneously shortened, short-wavelength folding, are evident on seismic data from the buried Messinian interval beneath the Ionian Sea. Using the Sicilian outcrop as analogues, the structural styles for the Ionian may be used to infer evaporite type in these subsurface examples.

Record of the Messinian Salinity Crisis in the SW Mallorca area (Balearic Promontory, Spain)

The current interpretation of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) involves the deposition of the so-called “peripheral or marginal” evaporites in onshore basins, as well as the erosion of the margins and the formation of thick evaporites in the deep parts of the basins. The present study focuses on intermediate depth basins, i.e. located between the onshore outcrops and the deep basins. Indeed, the Balearic Promontory shows small stepped basins filled with MSC deposits between its western extremity on the Alicante shelf and its eastern end around the Menorca block. New and already available seismic reflection profiles and onshore data allow us to investigate the nature and geometrical relationships of these deposits in the area between the islands of Ibiza and Mallorca. Our observations suggest the existence of three MSC-related units in this area. The lowermost transparent seismic unit can be interpreted as a 100 to 200-m-thick salt layer deposited in the deepest part of the Central Mallorca Depression. These evaporites pass laterally and upward into a thin-bedded seismic unit, which could be lithologically equivalent to the Upper Evaporites of the deep basins. All around the borders of the Central Mallorca Depression, this bedded seismic unit onlaps a Slope Unit which shows bedded to chaotic and rafted facies. The Messinian continental shelf is eroded and incised by a valley extending from the Palma onshore area to the Mallorca downslope domain. Our results suggest the presence offshore of at least two generations of diachronous MSC deposits. The observation of salt on a continental high and the widespread MSC deposits on the margins of the Central Mallorca Depression call into question the location of halite preferentially in the deep abyssal basins and the significance of the deep basin MSC units that onlap onto the Margin Erosional Surface (MES), as observed all around the passive margins of the Northwest-Mediterranean Basin. The dual terminology used for peripheral/deep MSC evaporites cannot be applied to any of the MSC units found in the study area.

Messinian Salinity Crisis deposits widespread over the Balearic Promontory: Insights from new high-resolution seismic data

The current interpretation of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC) involves the deposition of peripheral or marginal evaporites in onshore basins as well as the erosion of the margin and the deposition of thick evaporites in deep basins. The so-called intermediate basins are formed in domains between the onland outcrops and the deep basins. The Balearic Promontory is a bathymetric high located between the deep Algerian and Liguro-Provençal basins and the onland Spanish basin. The SIMBAD project aims to investigate the spatial variability of the MSC-related deposits and to assess the extent of post-MSC reactivation over the Balearic Promontory. We present here the first results of the SIMBAD high-resolution seismic survey (January 2013) which imaged for the first time a thin MSC-related unit widely distributed in small sub-basins over the Balearic Promontory.Borehole analyses have shown that this unit could be correlated with primary gypsum formations linked to the peripheral evaporites. Locally, in the Central Depression between Mallorca and Ibiza islands, a thicker MSC unit is observed whose lowermost transparent part could correspond to a salt layer. Geometrical relationships suggest that the MSC in the Central Depression could postdate the primary gypsum. The occurrence of a halite layer in the Central Depression, at depths of 1000 to 1500 m, favours the hypothesis that the evaporites precipitated passively in closed or partially closed perched sub-basins, possibly as a result of evaporative drawdown at different depths and possibly diachronously, at least with respect to the deep-basin evaporites.

Isotope (δ13C and δ18O) compositions of dolomites from the Permian evaporitic sequences of the Eastern Russian Plate: Evidence from the Syukeevo gypsum deposit

Carbon and oxygen isotope compositions has been studied in dolomites of the Syukeevo gypsum deposit located in the Eastern Russian Plate. Values of δ13C in the dolomites vary from 0.3 to 6.6 ‰; δ18O, from 28.0 to 36.6‰. It is shown that the dolomites were formed in the epicontinental evaporitic basin in different paleoecological settings. This led to the formation of diverse lithological types of dolomites with peculiar isotope-geochemical features.

Experimental determination of the kinetics of formation of the benzene‐ethane co‐crystal and implications for Titan

AbstractBenzene is found on Titan and is a likely constituent of the putative evaporite deposits formed around the hydrocarbon lakes. We have recently demonstrated the formation of a benzene‐ethane co‐crystal under Titan‐like surface conditions. Here we investigate the kinetics of formation of this new structure as a function of temperature. We show that the formation process would reach completion under Titan surface conditions in ~18 h and that benzene precipitates from liquid ethane as the co‐crystal. This suggests that benzene‐rich evaporite basins around ethane/methane lakes and seas may not contain pure crystalline benzene, but instead benzene‐ethane co‐crystals. This co‐crystalline form of benzene with ethane represents a new class of materials for Titan's surface, analogous to hydrated minerals on Earth. This new structure may also influence evaporite characteristics such as particle size, dissolution rate, and infrared spectral properties.

Lithological and hydrological controls on water composition: evaporite dissolution and glacial weathering in the south central Andes of Argentina (33°–34°S)

AbstractLithological and hydrological influence on fluvial physical and chemical erosion was studied in a glacierized sedimentary basin with high evaporite presence. Suspended particulate matter (SPM), total dissolved solids (TDS) and major ion concentrations were analysed for 2 years of different hydrologic condition: (i) 2009–2010, Q = 100% average; and (ii) 2010–2011, Q = 60% average. Annual hydrograph was simple regime‐type with one peak in summer related to snow melting. The intra‐annual SPM and TDS variations were directly and inversely associated to Q, respectively. Snow chemistry showed continental influence (Na+/Ca2+ = 0.17), and atmospheric input of TDS was &lt;1% of the total exported flux. River water was highly concentrated in Ca2+ and SO42− (~4 mmol l−1) and in Na+ and Cl− (~3 mmol l−1). Ca2+/SO42− and Na+/Cl− molar ratios were ~1 and related to Q, directly and inversely, respectively. Major ion relationships suggest that river chemistry is controlled by evaporite (gypsum and halite) dissolution having a summer input from sulfide oxidation and carbonate dissolution, and a winter input from subsurface flow loaded with silicate weathering products. This variation pattern resulted in nearly chemostatic behaviour for Ca+, Mg2+ and SO42−, whereas Na+, Cl− and SiO2 concentrations showed to be controlled by dilution/concentration processes.During the 2009–2010 hydrological year, the fluxes of water, SPM and TDS registered in the snow melting–high Q season were, respectively, 71%, 92% and 67% of the annual total, whereas for equal period in 2010–2011, 56% of water, 86% of SPM and 54% of TDS annual fluxes were registered. The SPM fluxes for 2009–2010 and 2010–2011 were 1.19 × 106 and 0.79 × 106 t year−1, whereas TDS fluxes were 0.68 × 106 and 0.55 × 106 t year−1, respectively. Export rates for 2009–2010 were 484 t km2 year−1 for SPM and 275 t km2 year−1 for TDS. These rates are higher than those observed in glacierized granite basins and in non‐glacierized evaporite basins, suggesting a synergistic effect of lithology and glaciers on physical and chemical erosion. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

New ophiolite slivers in the External Rif belt, and tentative restoration of a dual Tethyan suture in the western Maghrebides

AbstractOphiolite slivers have been described recently in the core of the External zones of the Central Rif belt. The present work aims at illustrating new ophiolite slivers further east and discussing the structural position and tectonic emplacement of all these oceanic floor remnants. Their basement consists of gabbros previously dated at 166±3 Ma and their cover includes mafic breccias, micrites and radiolarites. These oceanic slivers are located within the Mesorif nappe stack at the bottom of the Senhadja nappe that roots beneath the Intrarif Ketama unit and was thrust over the more external Mesorif and Prerif units during the Cenozoic inversion of the North African paleomargin. These oceanic crust (OC) slivers belong to the same Mesorif suture zone as the Beni Malek serpentinites and Ait Amrâne metabasites from eastern Rif that also include marbles with ophiolitic clasts and derive from an ocean-continent transition (OCT) domain. After examination of the varied hypotheses that have been suggested to account for the emplacement of these units in the External Rif, we propose that obduction sampled an oceanic corridor opened between the Mesorif and Intrarif domains at the emplacement of the Rif Triassic evaporite basin. The Intrarif block should have been then separated from the African passive margin and connected with the Flysch domain south of the passive margin of the Alboran domain. The pre-collision structure of the Rif transect would involve two hyper-extended passive margins separated by a narrow oceanic transform fault corridor. Therefore the Tethys suture in the western Maghrebides would be split by the Intrarif block and would involve the Flysch zone in the north and the ophiolite bearing Mesorif suture zone in the south.

Sulfur isotopes in anhydrite from Badenian (Middle Miocene) salts of the Hrynivka area (Ukrainian Carpathian Foredeep)

Ten new determinations of the stable sulphur isotope content of anhydrite from Badenian rock salt in the Hrynivka 525 borehole (Ukrainian Carpathian Foredeep) show that δ 34 S values in anhydrite range from +20.2 to +22.7‰ and the average value of δ 34 S is +21.4 ± 0.3‰. Those values are similar to those of the Neogene marine sulphates. Comparison to other geochemical data (chemical composition of the brine contained in fluid inclusions and the bromine content in halite) suggests that the Badenian Carpathian Foredeep evaporite basin was supplied predominately by seawater solutes where, at different stages of salt accumulation, the influence of continental waters with lighter isotopic compositions of dissolved sulphate was important. The isotopic composition of sulphur (δ 34 S) of Badenian seawater, calculated on the basis of sixty analyses of anhydrite related to halite of the Carpathian Region, is approximately +20.3‰, this value being similar to the sulphur isotopic composition of present-day seawater. The δ 34 S value for Badenian seawater may have been slightly higher if we consider potential changes of the brine composition of salt-bearing basins caused by inflow of continental waters enriched in light 32 S isotopes.

Distribution and geological control of mud volcanoes and other fluid/free gas seepage features in the Mediterranean Sea and nearby Gulf of Cadiz

Existing knowledge on the distribution of mud volcanoes (MVs) and other significant fluid/free gas-venting features (mud cones, mud pies, mud-brine pools, mud carbonate cones, gas chimneys and, in some cases, pockmark fields) discovered on the seafloor of the Mediterranean Sea and in the nearby Gulf of Cadiz has been compiled using regional geophysical information (including multibeam coverage of most deepwater areas). The resulting dataset comprises both features proven from geological sampling, or in situ observations, and many previously unrecognized MVs inferred from geophysical evidence. The synthesis reveals that MVs clearly have non-random distributions that correspond to two main geodynamic settings: (1) the vast majority occur along the various tectono-sedimentary accretionary wedges of the Africa-Eurasia subduction zone, particularly in the central and eastern Mediterranean basins (external Calabrian Arc, Mediterranean Ridge, Florence Rise) but also along its westernmost boundary in the Gulf of Cadiz; (2) other MVs characterize thick depocentres along parts of the Mesozoic passive continental margins that border Africa from eastern Tunisia to the Levantine coasts, particularly off Egypt and, locally, within some areas of the western Mediterranean back-arc basins. Meaningfully accounting for MV distribution necessitates evidence of overpressured fluids and mud-rich layers. In addition, cross-correlations between MVs and other GIS-based data, such as maps of the Messinian evaporite basins and/or active (or recently active) tectonic trends, stress the importance of assessing geological control in terms of the presence, or not, of thick seals and potential conduits. It is contended that new MV discoveries may be expected in the study region, particularly along the southern Ionian Sea continental margins.

Impact of the Late Triassic Dashtak intermediate detachment horizon on anticline geometry in the Central Frontal Fars, SE Zagros fold belt, Iran

Integration of 2-D seismic lines, well data and field studies allow us to determine the geometry variations of anticlines in the highly prolific Central Frontal Fars region in the SE Zagros fold belt. These variations are directly related to changes in thickness of the principal evaporitic intermediate detachment level, located along the Late Triassic Dashtak Formation. Anticlines of short wavelength contain a significant over-thickening of the evaporitic detachment level in their crestal domain that may reach 1900 m (from an original thickness of 550–800 m). Folds containing thick Dashtak evaporites show decoupling across the detachment level and, thus, a shift of the anticline crest in the underlying Permo-Triassic carbonates of the Dehram Group, which form the major gas reservoir in the Central Frontal Fars. Four main parameters control the extent and distribution of the decoupled anticlines in the study area: (a) original large thickness of the Late Triassic evaporitic basin; (b) coinciding larger amounts of anhydrites with increasing total thickness of formation; (c) parallel occurrences of abnormally high fluid pressures; and (d) shortening variations across, and along, the strike of specific folds. The present work relating the different parameters of the Dashtak evaporites with the anticline geometry allows a better understanding of the fold geometry variations with depth, which is applicable to oil and gas exploration in the SE Zagros and other similar hydrocarbon provinces characterised by intermediate detachment horizons.

Facies and geochemistry of non-marine gypsum, EMISAL, Egypt

Diverse gypsum facies in terms of crystal size and morphology are deposited in a shallow, non-marine, sulfate-enriched, semi-closed, perennial evaporite basin. These gypsum facies were deposited in intimate association with cyanobacterial mats. Facies analyses and geochemistry revealed two distinct primary facies, based on gypsum fabric; massive selenite, and laminated gypsum varieties. The massive selenite facies is composed of clusters of single and twinned crystals along (100), with upward pointing re-entrant angle. The laminated gypsum varies from rhythmically laminated grass-like selenite to gypsum microbialite (stromatolite). The change from massive selenite to laminated gypsum facies implies fluctuation in lateral and vertical salinity profiles, seasonal brine concentrations and wind action. Post-depositional changes in the form of dissolution, slight to moderate crystal deformation and recrystallization to anhydrite are evaluated. We develop a qualitative model for the depositional basin and facies distribution in order to simulate ancient analogues.