Regional Geological Understanding of Offshore Cyprus and Lebanon from Interpretation of Dual-sensor Streamer Data

Skiple, Cecilie; Sortemos, Thore; Lie, Øystein; Lowrey, Caroline J.; Semb, Per Helge

doi:10.2118/142290-ms

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 19 publications

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“…The seismic data cover approximately 5,370 km 2 of the deep Levant basin. The data were interpreted with the Petrel E&P Software Platform from Schlumberger, and stratigraphic correlations were based on existing interpretation surveys in the basin (Bertoni & Cartwright, 2007;Cartwright, Jackson, Dooley, & Higgins, 2012;Hawie et al, 2013;Skiple, Sortemos, Lie, Lowrey, & Semb, 2011), as no public well data are available in this part of the Levant Basin. Seismic interpretation includes horizon and fault mapping and seismic attribute analysis.…”

Section: Data and Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of sea level drawdown at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis and seismic investigation of the Nahr Menashe unit in the northern Levant Basin, offshore Lebanon

2019

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Several important aspects of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC) are still subject to controversy and debate after more than 40 years of studies. Recent work from the eastern Mediterranean have provided a renewed stratigraphic framework for the basin that is inconsistent with previous interpretation studies in the area. This study presents a description of the evolution of the depositional environment in the northern Levant Basin in a time interval surrounding the end of the famous event, from Late Messinian to the Pliocene. Through seismic mapping, we have identified a sediment package overlying the intra‐Messinian truncation surface (IMTS). This package is interpreted as an axial fluvial system running along the Levant Margin in stage 3 of the salinity crisis, likely composed of redeposited evaporites and clastic material. The system was fed primarily from a large fan system building out from the basin margin during a time of sea‐level low stand following a major erosional event, and presumably also from similar systems along the Latakia Ridge and Syria. Our interpretation also lends weight to the theory of a subaerial origin for the truncation surface after a catastrophic desiccation event succeeding the deposition of the halite‐dominated Messinian evaporite succession, based on differences in maximum erosional depth throughout the basin. After the deposition of the post‐IMTS package, deep marine settings were restored in the basin, and hemipelagic sediments from the Nile Delta and the Levant Margin have dominated the sediment deposition since.

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Section: Data and Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of sea level drawdown at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis and seismic investigation of the Nahr Menashe unit in the northern Levant Basin, offshore Lebanon

2019

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Structural analogy between the “piano key faults” of deep-water Lebanon and the extensional faults of the Canyonlands grabens, Utah, United States

Kosi

Tari

Nader³

et al. 2012

The Leading Edge

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The Levant Basin is a deep-water basin in the eastern Mediterranean region. A large part of the basin contains a characteristic set of closely spaced normal faults, informally called the “piano key faults.” These normal faults trending NW-SE have a fairly high-frequency map-view spacing of approximately 3–4 km on average and tens to hundreds of meters of interpreted throw. A large part of the pre-Messinian sedimentary strata is faulted, including the entire Miocene-to-Oligocene sequence. At depth, all the faults consistently die out at the same intra-Eocene detachment level. This stratigraphic level is interpreted to have a regionally developed shale sequence acting as the basal detachment surface for the piano key faults. The amount of throw on the individual faults appears to decrease toward the basin margin and the faults do not extend into the adjacent basins of the broader eastern Mediterranean area.

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Geological structure, sedimentary environments and oil and gas potential of Oligocene-Miocene and Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits in the Levant basin

2019

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An extensive sedimentary-rock basin is located within the continental margin of the Levant, where, since 2008, numerous natural gas fields have been discovered, including Tamar, Tannin, Dalit and Leviathan in the offshore zone of Israel, and Aphrodite in the zone of economic interests of Cyprus. Deposits of biogenic methane, located in the deep-water Levantine depression, are confined to terrigenous sandstones of late Oligocene-Early Miocene age. The discovery of another gas field Zohr in 2015 in the area of the underwater uplift of Eratosthenes caused a real boom among petroleum geologists. The fact is that natural gas deposit with reserves of about 30 trillion cubic feet is not in the terrigenous, but carbonate reservoir of the reef genesis, which opens significant prospects for the discovery of new large gas accumulations in the area of this major uplift. All the above-mentioned deposits are located in the same range of sea depths (1600-2000 m) in the propagation zone of the Messinian evaporites, that serves as a regional screen. An analysis of the materials currently published suggests that in the epochs of the sediments formation in which gas deposits are located, the depths of the seabed in the southern regions of the Levant depression were significantly lower compared to modern ones. Currently, there is no doubt that in the Levant region there is the largest gas-bearing basin in the Mediterranean region, with gas reserves of several hundred trillion cubic feet.

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Regional Geological Understanding of Offshore Cyprus and Lebanon from Interpretation of Dual-sensor Streamer Data

Cited by 3 publications

References 19 publications

Evidence of sea level drawdown at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis and seismic investigation of the Nahr Menashe unit in the northern Levant Basin, offshore Lebanon

Evidence of sea level drawdown at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis and seismic investigation of the Nahr Menashe unit in the northern Levant Basin, offshore Lebanon

Structural analogy between the “piano key faults” of deep-water Lebanon and the extensional faults of the Canyonlands grabens, Utah, United States

Geological structure, sedimentary environments and oil and gas potential of Oligocene-Miocene and Pliocene-Pleistocene deposits in the Levant basin

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