Barremian – Aptian Stratigraphy and Hydrocarbon Habitat of the Eastern Arabian Plate

Barremian – Aptian stratigraphy and hydrocarbon habitat of the eastern Arabian Plate comprises 18 papers covering one of the most hydrocarbon-rich stratigraphic intervals in the Middle East. They were written over a period of two and a half years by more than 60 authors and co-authors from industry, academia, geological surveys and research organisations, and reviewed by 34 experts and the four editors (F.S.P. van Buchem, .M.I. Al-Husseini, F. Maurer and H.J. Droste).

The two volumes are the fourth of the series of GeoArabia Special Publications. They are presented in 614 pages including more than 300 graphics and several large enclosures, which illustrate a vast array of new multi-disciplinary data and interpretations in high-resolution, color-matched designs. The graphics illustrate fossils, chemostratigraphic curves, 2-D and 3-D seismic, well logs, core, outcrop photos, maps and much more. Every paper starts with a figure showing its study area on a common late Early Aptian palaeogeographic basemap, followed by a stratigraphic figure comparing the local stratigraphy to that of the Arabian Plate synthesis; and in the GTS 2004 time scale. These two figures carry the reader’s eyes effortlessly across all the papers.

The major improvement of our understanding of the Barremian – Aptian carbonate strata can be directly applied by petroleum geoscientist and engineers, both at the reservoir and exploration scales. It sets an example for an integrated approach that is equally applicable to other stratigraphic intervals.

The glacio-eustatic, sea-level fluctuations recorded in the Arabian Plate are believed to have a global expression which suggests the here presented conceptual models can be extrapolated to other plates and basins.

Barremian – Aptian stratigraphy and hydrocarbon habitat of the eastern Arabian Plate papers are sequentially presented from regional synthesis to field-scale case study.

Contents: Volume 1; 5 Acknowledgements; 6-7 Preface; 9-48 Sequence-stratigraphic synthesis of the Barremian – Aptian of the eastern Arabian Plate and implications for the petroleum habitat F.S.P. van Buchem, M.I. Al-Husseini, F. Maurer, H.J. Droste and L.A. Yose; 49-96 Revised orbitolinid biostratigraphic zonation for the Barremian – Aptian of the eastern Arabian Plate and implications for regional stratigraphic correlations R. Schroeder, F.S.P. van Buchem, A. Cherchi, D. Baghbani, B. Vincent, A. Immenhauser and B. Granier; 97-106 Aptian ammonite of the Sallah Formation, Central Saudi Arabia Y.-M. Le Nindre, D. Vaslet and R. Busnardo; 107-137 Chemostratigraphy of the Lower Cretaceous Shu’aiba Formation: A d13C reference profile for the Aptian Stage from the southern Neo-Tethys Ocean V.C. Vahrenkamp; 139-197 Carbon-isotope stratigraphy, biostratigraphy and organic matter distribution in the Aptian – Lower Albian successions of southwest Iran (Dariyan and Kazhdumi formations) B. Vincent, F.S.P. van Buchem, L.G. Bulot, A. Immenhauser, M. Caron, D. Baghbani and A.Y. Huc; 199-228 Tuning Late Barremian – Aptian Arabian Plate and global sequences with orbital periods M.I. Al-Husseini and R.K. Matthews; 229-283 Sequence-stratigraphic framework of the Aptian Shu’aiba Formation in the Sultanate of Oman H.J. Droste; 285-300 Anatomy of a microbially constructed, high-energy, ocean-facing carbonate platform margin (earliest Aptian, northern Oman Mountains) H. Hillgärtner; 301 About the Editors; 302-307 About the Referees; 308 GeoArabia’s Team Pocket Enclosure I (van Buchem et al., p. 9-48); Enclosures I-1 and I-2 (Vincent et al., p. 139-197); Figure 17 (Droste, p. 229-283); Volume 2; 309-340 Sequence-stratigraphic evolution of an Aptian carbonate platform (Shu’aiba Formation), eastern Arabian Plate, onshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates L.A. Yose, C.J. Strohmenger, I. Al-Hosani, G. Bloch and Y. Al-Mehairi; 341-365 Sedimentology and chemostratigraphy of the Hawar and Shu’aiba depositional sequences, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates C.J. Strohmenger, T. Steuber, A. Ghani, D.G. Barwick, S.H.A. Al-Mazrooei and N.O. Al-Zaabi; 367-410 Facies-based sequence-stratigraphic framework of the Lower Cretaceous rudist platform, Shu’aiba Formation, Saudi Arabia N. Al-Ghamdi and F.J. Read; 411-444 Seismic stratigraphy and depositional history of the Upper Shu’aiba (Late Aptian) in the UAE and Oman B.J. Pierson, G.P. Eberli, K. Al-Mehsin, S. Al-Menhali, G. Warrlich, H.J. Droste, F. Maurer, J. Whitworth and D. Drysdale; 445-468 Facies characteristics and architecture of Upper Aptian Shu’aiba clinoforms in Abu Dhabi F. Maurer, K. Al-Mehsin, B.J. Pierson, G.P. Eberli, G. Warrlich, D. Drysdale and H.J. Droste; 469-502 Late Aptian incised valleys and siliciclastic infill at the top of the Shu’aiba Formation (Block 5, offshore Qatar) M.J. Raven, F.S.P. van Buchem, P.-H. Larsen, F. Surlyk, H. Steinhardt, D. Cross, N. Klem and M. Emang; 503-548 Barremian – Lower Albian sequence stratigraphy of southwest Iran (Gadvan, Dariyan and Kazhdumi formations) and its comparison with Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates F.S.P. van Buchem, D. Baghbani, L.G. Bulot, M. Caron, F. Gaumet, A. Hosseini, F. Keyvani, R. Schroeder, R. Swennen, V. Vedrenne and B. Vincent; 549-576 Reservoir characterisation of a Shu’aiba carbonate ramp-margin field, northern Oman J.E. Amthor, C. Kerans and P. Gauthier; 577-604 Reservoir characterisation of data-poor fields with regional analogues: A case study from the Lower Shu’aiba in the Sultanate of Oman. G. Warrlich, H. Hillgärtner, N. Rameil, J. Gittins, I. Mahruqi, T. Johnson, D. Alexander, B. Wassing, M. Van Steenwinkel and H.J. Droste; 605-614 4C seismic anisotropy integration for fracture characterization of carbonate reservoirs applied in Idd El Shargi fields, offshore Qatar E. Maili, K.H. Habib and J. Rush Pocket Figure 7 (Al-Ghamdi and Read, p. 367-410); Enclosures I-1 and I-2 (van Buchem et al., p. 503-548).