Basin Analysis and Tectonic Evolution of the Upper Campanian- Maastrichtian Succession, Southern Iraq

Abstract

The tectonic development of the Mesopotamia basin in southern Iraq was studied by calculating subsidence and sedimentation rates for eleven wells distributed over the study area. This was done by calculating backstripping for the Upper Campanian-Maastrichtian sequence. The subsidence rates increased in the south of the region near the Su-4, Su-1, and Lu-2 wells in the Hartha Formation, while the basin of the Shiranish Formation appeared to increase towards the northwest near the Ns-2 well. Then, the subsidence rates in the next formation, Tayarat, increase towards the south, near the wells. Su-1, Su-4, Lu-2. The Hartha Basin was divided into two tectonic parts based on the above. The Shiranish Basin was affected by uplift from the northeast and southeast directions, and due to this, an extremely shallow basin formed with its northern portion exposed during the transgression. At the end of this period, it became the regression stage, where the tectonic uplift began to decrease towards the southwest, and this indicates that the tectonic movement's reactivation due to continental collision, which is evident in the next stage with the deposition of the Alaiji Formation. According to these stratigraphic features, the studied area was divided into two tectonic basins, the northeast basin (Samawa-Nasiriya Subzone) and the southwest basin (Zubair Subzone) separated by tectonic lineament extending from Nasiriya-West Qurna and Zubair oil fields.