Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences

The Development of the Southern Tethyan Margin in Iran After the Break-up of Gondwana - Implications for the Zagros Hydrocarbon Province

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors
Robert J. Hooper 1
Ian Baron 1
Jr. Robert D. Hatcher 2
Syamak Agah 1
1 Conco Inc., Geoscience, P. O. Box 2197, Houston, TX. U. S. A.
2 Department of Geological Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1410, U. S. A.
Abstract
Foreland fold-thrust belts are an integral component of orogenic belts worldwide. They form outboard of an orogenic core and separate undeformed cratonic sequences of the foreland from more inboard crystalline thrust sheets of the orogenic interior. Foreland fold thrust belts are, however, only one component of orogenic belts. When trying to understand the development of a fold- belt hydrocarbon- system, such as the Zagros hydrocarbon province, care must be taken not to view it in isolation; it needs to be considered from the standpoint of the orogen as a whole. When the Zagros FFTB is viewed in the context of the Zagros orogen as a whole, it becomes apparent that the hydrocarbon system is considerably more complicated than generally recognized. Imbrication and overthrusting within the FFTB, beginning in the late Cretaceous, led to progressive trap formation, multi- stage hydrocarbon generation, and complex migration, remigration, accumulation, and reaccumulation of hydrocarbons.
Subjects
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Scientific Quarterly Journal of Geosciences
Volume 4, Issue 13
Autumn 1994, Vol. 4, No. 13
Autumn 1994
Pages 72-85