BURIAL HISTORY RECONSTRUCTION USING LATE DIAGENETIC PRODUCTS IN THE EARLY PERMIAN SILICICLASTICS OF THE FARAGHAN FORMATION, SOUTHERN ZAGROS, IRAN

S. M. Zamanzadeh*+, A. Amini* and M. R. Kamali**

* School of Geology, University College of Science, University of  Tehran, Iran.

* Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI), NIOC, PO Box 18745/43163, Tehran, Iran.

+ corresponding author, email: smzamanzadeh@gmail.com

In spite of the increasing importance to hydrocarbon exploration and production of the Palaeozoic succession in the Zagros area of SW Iran, few burial history and palaeothermal modelling studies of the interval have been carried out.  This paper attempts to assess the burial and palaeotemperature history of the Lower Permian Faraghan Formation which is composed of stromatolitic dolomites overlain by mainly cross-bedded sandstones. The formation grades up into the thick bedded carbonates of the Upper Permian Dalan Formation. The Faraghan and Dalan Formations are major hydrocarbon reservoir units in SW Iran and are time-equivalents of the Unayzah and Khuff Formations in Saudi Arabia, respectively.

The Faraghan Formation consists of shallow-marine siliciclastics and foreshore deposits, including tidal-flat and tidal-channel, estuarine, sabkha, shoreface and offshore facies. In this study, diagenetic constituents are used to evaluate the formation’s burial history in the Southern Zagros, an area for which only limited subsurface data is available. A burial history diagram for the formation was constructed for well Finu # 1 using WinBury^TM software. The diagram shows that the formation underwent progressive burial at variable rates between its deposition and the mid-Tertiary, since when it has undergone rapid uplift.

Burial diagenetic products in the Faraghan Formation comprise saddle, ferroan and zoned dolomites, together with dickite, illite/sericite and chlorite minerals. Additional burial-related features include stylolites and dissolution seams. Isotopic signatures (δ¹⁸O versus δ¹³C) of the ferroan dolomites suggest a burial trend for the formation. Reconstruction of the paragenetic sequence together with the burial history diagram suggests a maximum burial depth of about 5000 m and a wide palaeotemperature range of 80-160ºC. However considering the saddle dolomites as a palaeothermometer, the temperature range narrows to 78 to 138 ºC. The burial depth and temperature ranges closely correlate with the main stage of oil generation to the dry gas zone.

JPG Home (opens in this window)