Sedimentology and Organic Geochemistry of Potential Source and Reservoir Rocks of the Central Punjab, part of the Indus Basin Dissertation Rahmat Ali Gakkhar Eingereicht am Department für Angewandte Geowissenschaften und Geophysik Lehrstuhl Prospektion und Angewandte Sedimentologie Montanuniversität Leoben Leoben, März 2010 Affidavit: I declare in lieu of oath, that I wrote this thesis and performed the associated research myself, using only literature cited in this volume. Rahmat Ali Gakkhar Acknowledgement All praise and gratitude are due to Almighty Allah alone Who created man in His own image and enjoined upon him to travel on the earth and enter into a profound and analytical study of the universe for spiritual appreciation of Allah and His attributes as well as for harnessing the material manifestations of the world to the mankind’s profitable utilization. In the first place, therefore, I express my utmost thanks to Allah, the Omnipotent and Omniscient Creator, who has endorsed me with brain and body to partake of His knowledge and accomplish my work in the form of this thesis. I do not possess the words to paint the exact of thankfulness formed in the deepest recess of my heart for my honorable supervisor Prof. Dr. Walter Vortisch, who took great pains, extending every possible facility in the office and in the laboratory and vast splendid research experience to solve various problems relating to the research work. His courteous behavior will be never forgotten. I would like to pay my heartiest tribute to Prof. Dr. Reinhard Gratzer and Prof. Dr. Achim Bechtel for their help to carry out the work for organic geochemistry. Prof. Reinhard Gratzer spent his valuable time in helping me to format this thesis. My heartiest gratitude is for Prof. Dr. Hans-Jürgen Gawlick for his guidance in carbonate microfacies analysis. Dr. Eva Wegerer help is also gratefully acknowledged. I want to pay my heartiest gratitude to Dipl.-Ing. L.E.A. Scheucher (PhD Student University of Leoben) for his help to identify minerals and their evaluation in X-Ray Diffractograms. Dipl.-Ing. O. Krische (PhD Student University of Leoben) my grateful acknowledgment for his support by the preparation of thin sections for carbonates microfacies analysis. I am also thankful to Ursula Schmid (Secretary) and Franz Seidl (Technician) for their cooperation and help. The role of the Oil and Gas Development Company (Pakistan) for providing the samples and additional Rock-Eval data, the financial support by Higher Education Commission of Pakistan and cooperation of Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH) to me is gratefully acknowledged. May God bless all those, who helped me in the completion of my educational career. Dedicated To My Family Abstract Biostratigraphy, sedimentology and hydrocarbon potential of Jurassic and Cretaceous strata of the Punjab Platform were studied, in order to enhance the success rate of hydrocarbon discovery. Two wells were investigated (Ali Sahib and Amir Wali), both drilled to 2050 m depth. The oldest stratigraphic unit in both wells is the Jurassic Datta Formation (mainly sandstone, shale, claystone), followed by the Jurassic Samana Suk Formation. Main lithologies of this formation in Ali Sahib Well: limestone, shale, claystone, sandstone; in Amir Wali Well: limestone. Intensive tropical weathering conditions (seasonal climate) in the provenance area is suggested for the (probably continental) sediments of the Datta Formation, which are comprised mainly by kaolinite-rich shales (occurrence of boehmite), and a minor portion of mature quartz arenite at the top. A fluvio-deltaic sedimentary environment is indicated by the clastic sediments of the Samana Suk Formation. The carbonate sediments of the Samana Suk Formation and the Chichali Formation were deposited in outer deeper shelf region of a carbonate ramp setting, as documented by the mixing of shallow marine carbonate clasts and deep water organisms. The Chichali Formation, which is mainly clastic in the Punjab Platform, was considered as early Cretaceous. However, Saccocoma and Nautiloculina oolithica proved late Jurassic Age of its lower part (limestone). The Cretaceous Lumshiwal Formation is represented by mixed carbonatic-siliciclastic sediments in the Ali Sahib Well, indicating shallowing upward. Goethite in the clastic sediments of this formation (Amir Wali Well) indicates weathering in the provenance area under permanently humid conditions. Deeper marine depositional environment is suggested for the (?) Paleocene Ranikot Formation. Source rock characterization was carried out by organic geochemistry, including biomarkers. Organic matter is mostly represented by Type-III kerogen, immature to marginal mature. The Chichali Formation (kerogen of algal/microbial origin) and the Datta Formation (mixed algal/bacterial and land plant origin) show in few samples relatively fair generative potential for hydrocarbons. For the Cretaceous Lumshiwal Formation and the Jurassic Samana Suk Formation, a kerogen origin is suggested as for the Datta Formation (s. above). During Cretaceous age (the Chichali Formation and the Lumshiwal Formation), the depositional environment was anoxic/reducing marine. The present data indicate an oxic to dysoxic depositional environment of the Jurassic Datta Formation and Samana Suk Formation. Content 1. INTRODUCTION AND LOCATIONS OF THE STUDIED WELLS...............................................................3 1.1 CLIMATE...........................................................................................................................................................4 1.2 CULTURE..........................................................................................................................................................4 1.3 FAUNA AND FLORA .......................................................................................................................................5 1.4 MOTIVE OF THE PRESENT WORK................................................................................................................7 1.5 OBJECTIVES.....................................................................................................................................................9 2. REGIONAL GEOLOGY AND TECTONIC FRAMEWORK OF PAKISTAN .............................................10 2.1 EMERGENCE OF THE HIMALAYAS...........................................................................................................10 2.3 TECTONIC ZONES.........................................................................................................................................13 2.4 INDUS PLATFORM ........................................................................................................................................14 2.5 BASEMENT ROCKS AND STRUCTURES ...................................................................................................17 2.6 SEDIMENTARY COVER................................................................................................................................17 3. PREVIOUS GEOLOGICAL WORK IN THE SALT RANGE REGION .......................................................19 4. GEOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY OF THE PUNJAB PLATFORM..........................................................24 4.1 GEOLOGY OF THE PUNJAB PLATFORM...................................................................................................24 4.1.2 THE INFRA-CAMBRIAN SALT BASIN CYCLE.......................................................................................26 4.1.3 THE CAMBRIAN CYCLE .........................................................................................................................27 4.1.4 THE PERMIAN RIFT BASIN CYCLE.......................................................................................................28 4.1.5 THE MESOZOIC OPEN SHELF BASIN ..................................................................................................29 4.1.6 THE TERTIARY FORELAND BASIN CYCLE..........................................................................................29 4.1.7 THE TERTIARY/QUATERNARY MOLASSE CYCLE...............................................................................30 4.1.8 STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE IN PUNJAB PLATFORM...........................................................30 4.2 STRATIGRAPHY OF THE PUNJAB PLATFORM (SALT RANGE AND ADJOINING AREAS)...............33 4.2.1 KIRANA GROUP......................................................................................................................................33 4.2.2 NILAWAHAN GROUP (CLASTICS).........................................................................................................36 4.2.3 ZALUCH GROUP.....................................................................................................................................38 4.2.4 RAWALPINDI GROUP ............................................................................................................................45 4.2.5 SIWALIK GROUP.....................................................................................................................................46 5. METHODOLOGY APPLIED TO THE PRESENT WORK ............................................................................51 5.1 METHODOLOGY FOR DITCH CUTTING SAMPLES .................................................................................51 5.2 METHODOLOGY FOR CORES SAMPLES...................................................................................................53