Phanerozoic Regional Cycle
Chart of
Sea
Level
Changes for the Arabian Platform
By
Bilal U Haq1, A/Motaleb Al-Qahtani2
(1) Washington, DC, US, Washington, DC (2) Saudi Aramco, Regional Mapping and Special Studies, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
The global eustatic Cycle
Chart continues to be an important first-order
tool in exploration geology. In addition to being a chronostratigraphic
correlation tool, the relative magnitude and frequency of
sea
-
level
rises and
falls and the duration of subaerial exposure are valuable exploration criteria.
The Arabian Plate has had a complex tectonic history, in addition to being
influenced by broad eustatic changes. Tectonic events led to changes in the
direction, rate, and/or locus of subsidence that created major accommodation for
sediment deposition, while causing erosional hiatuses elsewhere. Consequently,
both eustasy and tectonics play important roles in the development of
sedimentary sequences and in determining the characteristics of the reservoir,
source and seal facies on the Platform. A regional
cycle
chart of relative
sea
-
level
changes based on the Arabian Platform that is compared to the eustatic
Cycle
Chart could enhance the usefulness of this exploration tool for this
region. A new Regional
Cycle
Chart for the Phanerozoic of the Arabian Platform
is presented that ties the regional events on the Platform with global cyclicity.
Hence, comparisons for any given interval can reveal when tectonic influences
were predominant, or conversely, when eustasy was prevalent. The comparison of
the two curves will also yield better chronostratigraphic estimates and assure
improved global correlations. The Regional
Cycle
Chart will also be an ideal
accompaniment for sequence-stratigraphic studies on the Platform.