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Growth and demise of a Paleogene isolated carbonate platform of the Offshore Indus Basin, Pakistan: effects of regional and local controlling factors

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Abstract

Based on high-resolution seismic and well datasets, this paper examines the evolution and drowning history of a Paleocene–Eocene carbonate platform in the Offshore Indus Basin of Pakistan. This study uses the internal seismic architecture, well log data as well as the microfauna to reconstruct factors that governed the carbonate platform growth and demise. Carbonates dominated by larger benthic foraminifera assemblages permit constraining the ages of the major evolutionary steps and show that the depositional environment was tropical within oligotrophic conditions. With the aid of seismic stratigraphy, the carbonate platform edifice is resolved into seven seismic units which in turn are grouped into three packages that reflect its evolution from platform initiation, aggradation with escarpment formation and platform drowning. The carbonate factory initiated as mounds and patches on a Cretaceous–Paleocene volcanic complex. Further, the growth history of the platform includes distinct phases of intraplatform progradation, aggradation, backstepping and partial drownings. The youngest succession as late-stage buildup records a shift from benthic to pelagic deposition and marks the final drowning in the Early Eocene. The depositional trend of the platform, controlled by the continuing thermal subsidence associated with the cooling of volcanic margin lithosphere, was the major contributor of the accommodation space which supported the vertical accumulation of shallow water carbonate succession. Other factors such as eustatic changes and changes in the carbonate producers as a response to the Paleogene climatic perturbations played secondary roles in the development and drowning of these buildups.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express sincere thanks to the Directorate General of Petroleum Concession (DGPC), Pakistan and Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) for their permission to release and publish the analyzed dataset. We would like to acknowledge the assistance of Mr. Muhammad Zafar Iqbal and Mr. Faisal Mehmood (HDIP) in the preparation of well cutting samples and thin sections. We thank Schlumberger for providing the Petrel application and dGB Netherland for providing OpendTect software. Stephan J. Jorry and Wolfgang Schlager are thanked for providing constructive reviews that greatly improved this manuscript. The University of Hamburg is gratefully acknowledged for funding and scholarship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geologie, Universität Hamburg, Bundesstraße 55, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Khurram Shahzad, Christian Betzler & Farrukh Qayyum

  2. MOL Pakistan Oil and Gas Co, B.V, Plot No. 5/A, Crown Plaza, F-7 Markaz, Islamabad, Pakistan

    Nadeem Ahmed

  3. Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Chemin Du Musée 6, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Silvia Spezzaferri

  4. Department of Geology, University of Haripur, Hattar Road, Haripur, Pakistan

    Anwar Qadir

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Shahzad, K., Betzler, C., Ahmed, N. et al. Growth and demise of a Paleogene isolated carbonate platform of the Offshore Indus Basin, Pakistan: effects of regional and local controlling factors. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 107, 481–504 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-017-1504-7

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