Title: The role of basement tectonics in the control of sedimentary facies, structural patterns and salt plug emplacements in the Zagros fold belt of southwest Iran
Abstract: Extensive field observations over a large tract of continuous rock outcrops in the Zagros Mountain Range of southwest Iran have yielded a wealth of stratigraphic and structural detail. In the region structural anomalies are frequently associated with similar facies distribution patterns. In the eastern portion of the region emergent salt plugs of infra-Cambrian age exhibit the same alignment patterns. Such trends bear no apparent genetic relationship to the Tertiary folding responsible for the present fold belt grain of the Zagros Range but rather indicate affinity with linear basement features which are readily observable on Landsat imagery and air photographs. Superimposed on the eastern region's mode of facies trends and structure are localized variations which are directly attributed to pulses of salt diapiric activity. Thus stratigraphic data acquired from deep sections associated with salt domes can lead to erroneous overviews of regional facies distributions while anomalous dome-shaped structural features associated with elongate fold, so common to the fold belt, can only be attributed to near surface diapiric structures. The recognition of features related to basement tectonics and the realization of their implication in the control and modification of geological processes is an important adjunct to the search for hydrocarbon accumulations in the region. Indeed it can be shown that renewed movements on basement trends directly affect ooil production patterns as a consequence of the enhancement of fracture porosity and permeability in Tertiary carbonate reservoir structures. These constitute some of the world's largest oil-producing fields.
Publication Year: 1991
Publication Date: 1991-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 74
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