High-resolution Sequence Stratigraphy and Reservoir Characterization of Upper Thamama (Lower Cretaceous) Reservoirs of a Giant Abu Dhabi Oil Field, United Arab Emirates

Strohmenger, Christian J.; Weber, L.; Ghani, Ahmed; Al-Mehsin, Khalil; Al-Jeelani, Omar; Al‐Mansoori, Abdulla; Al-Dayyani, Taha; Vaughan, Lee; Khan, Sameer A.; Mitchell, John C.

doi:10.1306/1215876m883271

Cited by 31 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…This is also confirmed by recent studies (e.g. Droste, 2013;Razin et al, 2013) in sub-surface Oman and UAE (Strohmenger et al, 2006). It comprises five formations, from the base the Rayda, Salil/ Habshan, Lekhwair, Kharaib and Shu'aiba.…”

Section: Musandam Shelf Carbonatessupporting

confidence: 86%

Tectonics of the Musandam Peninsula and northern Oman Mountains: From ophiolite obduction to continental collision

Searle¹,

Cherry²,

Ali³

et al. 2014

GeoArabia

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The tectonics of the Musandam Peninsula in northern Oman shows a transition between the Late Cretaceous ophiolite emplacement related tectonics recorded along the Oman Mountains and Dibba Zone to the SE and the Late Cenozoic continent-continent collision tectonics along the Zagros Mountains in Iran to the northwest. Three stages in the continental collision process have been recognized. Stage one involves the emplacement of the Semail Ophiolite from NE to SW onto the Mid-Permian–Mesozoic passive continental margin of Arabia. The Semail Ophiolite shows a lower ocean ridge axis suite of gabbros, tonalites, trondhjemites and lavas (Geotimes V1 unit) dated by U-Pb zircon between 96.4–95.4 Ma overlain by a post-ridge suite including island-arc related volcanics including boninites formed between 95.4–94.7 Ma (Lasail, V2 unit). The ophiolite obduction process began at 96 Ma with subduction of Triassic–Jurassic oceanic crust to depths of > 40 km to form the amphibolite/granulite facies metamorphic sole along an ENE-dipping subduction zone. U-Pb ages of partial melts in the sole amphibolites (95.6– 94.5 Ma) overlap precisely in age with the ophiolite crustal sequence, implying that subduction was occurring at the same time as the ophiolite was forming. The ophiolite, together with the underlying Haybi and Hawasina thrust sheets, were thrust southwest on top of the Permian–Mesozoic shelf carbonate sequence during the Late Cenomanian–Campanian. Subduction ended as unsubductable cherts and limestones (Oman Exotics) jammed at depths of 25–30 km. The Bani Hamid quartzites and calc-silicates associated with amphibolites derived from alkali basalt show high-temperature granulite facies mineral assemblages and represent lower crust material exhumed by late-stage out-of-sequence thrusting. Ophiolite obduction ended at ca. 70 Ma (Maastrichtian) with deposition of shallow-marine limestones transgressing all underlying thrust sheets. Stable shallow-marine conditions followed for at least 30 million years (from 65–35 Ma) along the WSW and ENE flanks of the mountain belt. Stage two occurred during the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene when a second phase of compression occurred in Musandam as the Arabian Plate began to collide with the Iran-western Makran continental margin. The Middle Permian to Cenomanian shelf carbonates, up to 4 km thick, together with pre-Permian basement rocks were thrust westwards along the Hagab Thrust for a minimum of 15 km. Early Miocene out-of-sequence thrusts cut through the shelf carbonates and overlying Pabdeh foreland basin in the subsurface offshore Ras al Khaimah and Musandam. This phase of crustal compression followed deposition of the Eocene Dammam and Oligocene Asmari formations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but ended by the mid-Miocene as thrust tip lines are all truncated along a regional unconformity at the base of the Upper Miocene Mishan Formation. The Oligocene–Early Miocene culmination of Musandam and late Cenozoic folding along the UAE foreland marks the initiation of the collision of Arabia with Central Iran in the Strait of Hormuz region. Stage three involved collision of Arabia and the Central Iran Plate during the Pliocene, with ca. 50 km of NE-SW shortening across the Zagros Fold Belt. Related deformation in the Musandam Peninsula is largely limited to north and eastward tilting of the peninsula to create a deeply indented coastline of drowned valleys (rias).

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Section: Musandam Shelf Carbonatessupporting

confidence: 86%

Tectonics of the Musandam Peninsula and northern Oman Mountains: From ophiolite obduction to continental collision

Searle¹,

Cherry²,

Ali³

et al. 2014

GeoArabia

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show abstract

“…3A). The latter depositional cycles are welldocumented throughout the Arabian platform both in outcrops and in the subsurface and referred to as thirdorder sequences I (AP Bar1), II (AP Bar2) and III (AP Apt1-4) (Harris et al, 1984;Hughes-Clarke, 1988;Sharland et al, 2001;Pittet et al, 2002;van Buchem et al, 2002;Strohmenger et al, 2006;van Buchem et al, 2010). Following a revised Barremian-Aptian orbitolinid biostratigraphic zonation of the eastern Arabian Plate (Schr€ oder et al, 2010), the occurrence of the short range index fossils M. arabica (see also Simmons, 1994) and E. transiens in the transgressive deposits of the upper Lower Kharaib Member at Jabal Madar (sequence II) is indicative of an early to middle Late Barremian age, whereas the mass occurrence of P. lenticularis in the early transgressive Hawar Member points to an early Early Aptian age.…”

Section: Integrated Barremian-aptian Shallow-water Stratigraphy Of Nomentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling shallow‐water bulk carbonate carbon isotope archives with evidence for multi‐stage diagenesis: An in‐depth component‐specific petrographic and geochemical study from Oman (mid‐Cretaceous)

Huck

Wohlwend

Coimbra

et al. 2017

The Depositional Record

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Disentangling shallow-water bulk carbonate carbon isotope archives into primary and diagenetic components is a notoriously difficult task and even diagenetically screened records often provide chemostratigraphic patterns that significantly differ from global signals. This is mainly caused by the polygenetic nature of shallow-water carbonate substrates, local carbon cycle processes causing considerable neritic-pelagic isotope gradients and the presence of hiatal surfaces resulting in extremely low carbonate preservation rates. Provided here is an in-depth petrographic and geochemical evaluation of different carbonate phases of a mid-Cretaceous (Barremian-Aptian) shallow-water limestone succession (Jabal Madar section) deposited on the tropical Arabian carbonate platform in Oman. The superposition of stable isotope signatures of identified carbonate phases causes a complex and often noisy bulk carbon isotope pattern. Blocky sparite cements filling intergranular pores and bioclastic voids evidence intermediate to (arguably) deep burial diagenetic conditions during their formation, owing to different timing or differential faulting promoting the circulation of fluids from variable sources. In contrast, sparite cements filling sub-vertical veins reveal a rock-buffered diagenetic fluid composition with an intriguing moderate enrichment in 13 C, probably due to fractionation during pressure release in the context of the Miocene exhumation of the carbonate platform under study. The presence of abundant, replacive dedolomite in mudsupported limestone samples forced negative carbon and oxygen isotope changes that are either associated with the thermal breakdown of organic matter in the deep burial realm or the expulsion of buried meteoric water in the intermediate burial realm. Notwithstanding the documented stratigraphically variable and often facies-related impact of different diagenetic fluids on the bulk-rock stable isotope signature, the identification of diagenetic end-members defined d 13 C and d 18 O threshold values that allowed the most reliable 'primary' bulk carbon isotope signatures to be extracted. Most importantly, this approach exemplifies how to place regional shallow-water stable isotope patterns with evidence for a complex multi-stage diagenetic history into a supraregional or even global context.

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“…We did not find any credible lithological evidence to disprove the widely accepted sequence stratigraphic concept for the Barremian‐Aptian carbonate succession in the southern Arabian Gulf region [e.g., van Buchem et al ., ]. The sequence stratigraphic interpretation of the Hawar Member remains controversial [e.g., Strohmenger et al ., ; Granier and Busnardo , ], but the argument does not essentially influence the discussion and conclusions of Yamamoto et al . [].…”

Section: Sequence Stratigraphic Interpretation Of the Hawar Membermentioning

confidence: 99%

Reply to the comment by Granier on “Early Aptian paleoenvironmental evolution of the Bab Basin at the southern Neo‐Tethys margin: Response to global carbon‐cycle perturbations across Ocean Anoxic Event 1a”

Yamamoto

Ishibashi²,

Takayanagi

et al. 2014

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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High-resolution Sequence Stratigraphy and Reservoir Characterization of Upper Thamama (Lower Cretaceous) Reservoirs of a Giant Abu Dhabi Oil Field, United Arab Emirates

Cited by 31 publications

References 0 publications

Tectonics of the Musandam Peninsula and northern Oman Mountains: From ophiolite obduction to continental collision

Tectonics of the Musandam Peninsula and northern Oman Mountains: From ophiolite obduction to continental collision

Disentangling shallow‐water bulk carbonate carbon isotope archives with evidence for multi‐stage diagenesis: An in‐depth component‐specific petrographic and geochemical study from Oman (mid‐Cretaceous)

Reply to the comment by Granier on “Early Aptian paleoenvironmental evolution of the Bab Basin at the southern Neo‐Tethys margin: Response to global carbon‐cycle perturbations across Ocean Anoxic Event 1a”

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