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New insights into the structure of the South Caspian Basin from seismic reflection data, Gorgan Plain, Iran

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Abstract

This research presents an integrated study of 2D seismic reflections and calibrated well data to outline the structural development of the Gorgan Plain on the border of the South Caspian hydrocarbon basin, in the Alborz and Kopeh-dagh ranges of northeast Iran. Eight seismic horizons, including two unconformities, have been identified, ranging in age from Early Jurassic to Quaternary. Analysis and interpretation of geophysical data provide an understanding of the structural geology of the Gorgan Plain, crucial for investigation of structural traps. Seismic interpretation indicates structural features such as deep reverse listric faults (inverted normal faults) for older formations; strike-slip and normal faults in younger sequences; dome and basin interference patterns of folding for all the top formations. Well data demonstrate the occurrence of a disconformity at the base of Upper Cretaceous beds and an angular unconformity at the base of Paleogene. Evidence identified in well and seismic-reflection data proves a complex pattern of tectonic phases since the Early Jurassic. It seems reasonable to suppose that these structural patterns are related to a change in direction of tectonic compression, which in turn has produced structural hydrocarbon traps in crests of domes in the Gorgan area.

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Modified from unpublished well reports of the Khazar Exploration and Production Company (KEPCO)

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Acknowledgements

This research was derived from the Ph.D thesis of the first author and supported by the Khazar Exploration and Production Company (KEPCO). Our special thanks go to the authorities of KEPCO, especially the exploration directorate, for their generous collaboration and furnishing of technical support. The authors also are very grateful to Prof. Ali Asghar Calagari and Dr. Alan Boyle for critical reading of the early draft of our manuscript. The critical and thoughtful reviews of the manuscript by Dr. Andrea Zanchi and Prof. Mark Allen are highly appreciated. Our thanks are further extended to Prof. Wolf-Christian Dullo for editorial handling of the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Golestan University, Shahid Beheshti Street, 49138-15759, Gorgan, Iran

    Ali Radfar & Aziz Rahimi Chakdel

  2. Faculty of Mining, Petroleum and Geophysics, Shahrood University of technology, 7th Tir Square, Shahrood, Iran

    Ali Nejati & Mehrdad Soleimani

  3. Khazar Exploration and Production Company (KEPCO), NO. 19, 11th Alley, Vozara Street, Tehran, Iran

    FaridTaati

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  1. Ali Radfar
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Correspondence to Aziz Rahimi Chakdel.

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Radfar, A., Chakdel, A.R., Nejati, A. et al. New insights into the structure of the South Caspian Basin from seismic reflection data, Gorgan Plain, Iran. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 108, 379–402 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-018-1659-x

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