Geohistory, thermal history and hydrocarbon generation history of the north-west South Caspian basin

Geothermal regime and Jurassic source rock maturity of the Junggar basin, northwest China

“…The low heat flow distribution of the Junggar Basin is similar to the South Caspian Basin. However, the borders of the South Caspian Basin are characterized by well-developed recent orogens and have thick continental crust, high heat flow and active volcanism (Tagiyev et al, 1997;Brunet et al, 2003). The high elevation changes of abnormal low heat flow in the Northern Great Plains (Gosnold, 1999) and eastern karelia, Baltic Shield (Majorowicz et al, 1999).…”

Defining the updip extent of the gas hydrate stability zone on continental margins with low geothermal gradients

“…However, it is the low geothermal gradient that is critical in allowing the bulge to form in the first place. In low heat flow sedimentary basins such as the South Caspian Basin, where the geothermal gradients are as low as 13°C/km [Tagiyev et al, 1997], such geometries will be critical in assessing the extent of shallow gas hydrate systems. However, the well-defined BSRs observed in the South Caspian Basin [Diaconescu et al, 2001] do not reach the shallow depths that would correspond to our modeled hydrate bulge.…”

“…However, anomalously low geothermal gradients have been observed or inferred in numerous sedimentary basins around the world [Gosnold, 2009], including locations on the margin of the Arctic Ocean (e.g., the Bering Sea, Baffin Island), continental margins with high subsidence and sedimentation rates (e.g., the east coast of New Zealand, the South China Sea, the Orinoco Delta), and tectonically controlled basins with high subsidence (e.g., the South Caspian Sea). In the South Caspian Basin example, geothermal gradients as low as 13°C/km have been observed corresponding to sedimentation rates of up to 1.3 km/Myr, basin thicknesses of up to 30 km, and high (up to 90% of the section) argillaceous lithologies [Tagiyev et al, 1997]. High sedimentation rates also may lead to high rates of vertical fluid flux, thereby supporting the presence of gas hydrates.…”

3D geometry of a shale-cored anticline in the western South Caspian Basin (offshore Azerbaijan)

“…Axial traces that switch from NW-SE to NNW-SSE, along the western margin of the SCB ( Fig. 1; e.g., Nadirov, 1985;Nadirov et al, 1997;Tagiyev et al, 1997;Lyberis and Manby, 1999;Jackson et al, 2002;Engdahl et al, 2006).…”