Gurpi Formation Research Articles

The Cretaceous Source Rocks in the Zagros Foothills of Iran

Almost all the oil production of Iran is concentrated in a small portion of the Zagros orogenic belt, the 40,000 Sq km Dezful Embayment of the Khuzestan province. The accumulation of oil results from a Cretaceous/Tertiary petroleum complex which includes 6 source rock layers of unequal importance, i. e. the basal part of the Garau Formation (Neocomian), the Gadvan (Barremian), the Kazhdumi (Albian), the Ahmadi (Early Cenomanian), the Gurpi (Senonian) and the Pabdeh (Eocene). These layers generated 99% of the onshore Iranian oil reserves, trapped into two main reservoirs, the Asmari (Early Miocene) and Bangestan (Cenomanian) limestones which contained 330 billions barrels of original oil in place, corresponding to more than 7% of the current global reserves. This paper discusses the distribution of Cretaceous source rocks in the Iranian Foothills and the Iranian side of the Gulf, and the geological, oceanological and climatic factors which favored dysoxic to anoxic conditions and the deposition of organic-rich sediments. The impact of each of these source rocks on oil accumulations is also briefly considered. Among Cretaceous source rocks, two of them, the Neocomian Garau deposited over Lurestan, NE Khuzestan and the northeastern part of the Gulf, and the Albian Kazhdumi, deposited in the central part of the Dezful Embayment, have excellent characteristics with initial organic carbon sometimes higher than 10%, Hydrogen Indices (HI) in the 600 g HC/kg C range and maximum thickness in excess of 300 m. Their organic matter is mainly algal with high sulfur content, qualifying them as IIs type. They were deposited in well established depressions included in an overall shallow water intracratonic basin communicating with the Southern Tethys Ocean. These depressions became anoxic as the result of a water stratification caused by the conjunction of high stand waters, humid climate and the existence of a sill separating the depression from the open sea. On the contrary, the Gadvan and Gurpi Formations were deposited in poorly defined depressions where dysoxic conditions prevailed in few limited areas only, i. e. SE Khuzestan and NW Fars for the Gadvan and in a narrow NW-SE trough extending from Lurestan to North Fars for the Gurpi. In these areas, Gadvan and Gurpi have only marginal potentials, TOC values in the 1-2% range and HI varying from 150 to 400 g HC/kg C. The impact of the various source rocks is extremely variable. In Lurestan, rich Garau potential source rocks are seldom associated with valid traps. The basinal Oligosteginatight facies of the Sarvak remains most often associated with Garau facies, and the excellent Asmari reservoir is breached in the Lurestan structures as the result of the Lurestan uplift during Pliocene. Therefore, only few small fields are related to Garau source rocks, accumulated in the Sarvalk and Ilam, when deposited under a high energy facies in SE Lurestan. In Central and Southern Dezful Embayment, very prolific thick mature Kazhdumi source rocks associated with excellent reservoirs, very large structures and the efficient Gachsaran cap rock, formed one of the most efficient Petroleum Systems, which would account for the accumulation of more than 95% of the onshore Iranian oil in place. An impressive gathering of giant fields, namely Ahwaz, Agha Jari, Bibi Hakimeh, Gachsaran, Mansuri, Marun and Rag-e Sefid, located in an area of 40 000 Sq km, are originated from the Kazhdumi source rocks. The contribution of other Cretaceous source rocks, i. e. Gadvan and Gurpi, is assumed to be negligible, because of their poor characteristics and their limited areal extent. The Gurpi is immature or marginally mature in most of the study area, with the exception of the NE Khuzestan and the deeper synclinorial areas of Central Khuzestan, where it may have generated very limited amounts of oil.

The Cretaceous Source Rocks in the Zagros Foothills of Iran: an Example of a Large Size Intracratonic Basin

The Zagros orogenic belt of Iran is one of the world most prolific petroleum producing area. However, most of the oil production is originated from a relatively small area, the 60,000 km[sup 2] wide Dezful Embayment which contains approximately 12% of the proven oil global reserves. The distribution of the oil and gas fields results from the area extent of six identified source rock layers, their thermal history and reservoir, cap rock and trap availability. In this paper, the emphasis is three of the layers of Cretaceous sources rocks. The Garau facies was deposited during the Neocomian to Albian interval over Lurestan, Northeast Khuzestan and extends over the extreme northeast part of Fars, the Kazhdumi source rock which deposited over the Dezful Embayment, and eventually the Senonian Gurpi Formation which has marginal source rock characteristics in limited areas of Khuzestan and Northern Fars. The deposition environment of these source rock layers corresponds to semipermanent depressions, included in an overall shallow water intracratonic basin communicating with the South Tethys Ocean. These depressions became anoxic when climatic oceanographical and geological conditions were adequate, i.e., humid climate, high stand water, influxes of fine grained clastics and the existence of sills separating the depressionmore » from the open sea. Distribution maps of these source rock layers resulting from extensive field work and well control are also given. The maturation history of source rocks is reconstructed from a set of isopachs. It was found that the main contributor to the oil reserves is the Kazhdumi source rock which is associated with excellent calcareous reservoirs.« less

Upper Cretaceous Brachycythere (Ostr., Crust.) from Iran

Five new species of Brachycythere (Crustacea, Ostracoda) are described and figured from the Gurpi Formation (Campanian, Upper Cretaceous). The new species are B. reymenti. B. ilamensis, B. iranensis, B. labioforma, B. posterotruncata and « Brachycythereå sp.nov.?