TERTIARY OF THE ARABIAN GULF - SEDIMENTOLOGY AND HYDROCARBON POTENTIAL

The Paleogene-Neogene paleogeography of the Arabian Basin shows a chan ge from the basic continuation of the Mesozoic pattern during the Pale ogene to a new pattern of sedimentation established during the Neogene and resulting from movements in the Zagros. The Paleogene shallow-wat er carbonate-dominated lithologies in Eastern Arabia were replaced by deep-water Neogene carbonates near the Zagros and mixed carbonate and clastics in the northern Arabian Gulf. The hydrocarbon potential of th ese rocks, except locally, is low and the decreasing amplitude and fre quency of faulted and folded structures away from the Zagros front sug gests that the discovery of fields in structures such as those in Iraq -Iran is low. This poverty may however suggest that the untapped poten tial of the Mesozoic rocks may still be high.