Neoproterozoic Petroleum Systems of Oman

The South Oman Salt Basin (map of Oman, map of basin) is host to the worlds oldest known commercial deposits of petroleum. The organic rich rocks from which they arise were deposited sometime following the last of the “Snowball Earth” episodes of extreme climate and display many interesting geochemical features that appear to be of global occurrence. The unusual abundances of organic compounds such as steroids may reflect rapid evolution of complex organisms in the period just prior to the start of the Cambrian animal radiation approximately 542 million years ago. This period of Earth history also saw dramatic environmental change including a rise in the concentration of atmospheric oxygen and ventilation of the deep ocean for the first time. The abundance of oxygen and wide distribution of oxygenated waters created the environments necessary for the radiation of motile animals. There was also a reorganization of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, sulfur and oxygen.

Petroleum prospectivity in Oman could be improved if we were able to:

(*) Enhance correlation between organic rich rocks and reservoir fluids
(*) Establish a detailed chemostratigraphy of biomarkers and individual compound isotopic compositions through organic rich intervals and analysis of these attributes in petroleum samples
(*) Establish a useful scheme for temporal and spatial correlation of reservoir and source rock intervals

These objectives are being addressed by integration of chemostratigraphies (del13Ccarb, del18Ocarb + del34Scarb + trace elements) and (δ13Corg and δ13Cbiomarkers) with absolute ages based on U-Pb zircon geochronology of ash beds and detrital zircons.

Calibration of biogeochemical and tectonic events in absolute time will provide a more rigorous framework for basin tectonic models and improved understanding of the petroleum systems.