The tectonic development of south-central Asia and the paleogeographic setting of its hydrocarbon resources

Conference · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:6916963

Scotese, C R ^[1]; Tyrell, Jr, W W ^[2]; Maher, K A ^[1]

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1. Shell Development Co., Houston, TX (USA)
2. Amoco Production Co., Houston, TX (USA)

The countries of south-central Asia (Afghanistan to Thailand) are made up of fragments of Gondwana that collided with the southern margin of Eurasia during the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. The Cimmerian terranes (Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Qiang Tang, and Burma-Malaya) rifted away from Gondwana beginning in the Late Carboniferous and were accreted to Asia during the Late Triassic-Jurassic. The Lhasa terrane, presumably also derived from Gondwana, was accreted during the Late Jurassic. By the Early Cretaceous, India-Madagascar had separated from Africa and from Australia-Antarctica. In the middle Cretaceous, India rapidly rifted away from Madagascar, and during the early Eocene collided with Asia giving rise to the Tibetam Plateau and the mountain belts from Afghanistan through Burma. The sedimentary basins and petroleum provinces adjacent to and south of these collision zones are best understood when viewed in the context of their tectonic history and paleogeographic setting. About 7 billion bbl of oil and 50 tcf of gas have been discovered in south-central Asia, mostly in Cenozoic deltaic sandstones or marine carbonate reservoirs in rift (Cambay), passive margin (Bombay shelf), and foreland basins (Assam, Indux, Potwar, Bengal) in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and in a fore-arc setting in Burma. Source rocks are mostly Paleogene shale, but some Paleozoic and Mesozoic sources be present in Pakistan. New exploration is underway or will begin soon in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Burma.

• OSTI ID: 6916963
• Report Number(s): CONF-900605--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA) Journal Volume: 74:5
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
AFGHANISTAN
ASIA
BURMA
CARBONATE ROCKS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
CENOZOIC ERA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GONDWANA
INDIA
IRAN
JURASSIC PERIOD
MESOZOIC ERA
MIDDLE EAST
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
PAKISTAN
PALEOZOIC ERA
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCE POTENTIAL
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SHALES
SOURCE ROCKS
TECTONICS
TERTIARY PERIOD
THAILAND
TRIASSIC PERIOD
TURKEY