HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body ...
Basin (
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: آبخیز خلیج فارس,
Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
: حوض الخليج العربي) is found between the
Eurasian Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago a ...
and the
Arabian Plate The Arabian Plate is a minor tectonic plate in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres. It is one of the three continental plates (along with the African and the Indian Plates) that have been moving northward in geological history and collidi ...
. The Persian Gulf is described as a shallow
marginal sea This is a list of seas of the World Ocean, including marginal seas, areas of water, various gulfs, bights, bays, and straits. Terminology * Ocean – the four to seven largest named bodies of water in the World Ocean, all of which have "Ocean ...
of the
Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...
that is located between the south western side of
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...
and the
Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...
and south and southeastern side of
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
and the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
. Other countries that border the Persian Gulf basin include;
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries by area, fifth-largest country in Asia ...
,
Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it s ...
,
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
,
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an a ...
and
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. The Persian Gulf extends a distance of with an area of . The Persian Gulf basin is a wedge-shaped
foreland basin A foreland basin is a structural basin that develops adjacent and parallel to a mountain belt. Foreland basins form because the immense mass created by crustal thickening associated with the evolution of a mountain belt causes the lithospher ...
which lies beneath the western
Zagros The Zagros Mountains ( ar, جبال زاغروس, translit=Jibal Zaghrus; fa, کوه‌های زاگرس, Kuh hā-ye Zāgros; ku, چیاکانی زاگرۆس, translit=Çiyakani Zagros; Turkish: ''Zagros Dağları''; Luri: ''Kuh hā-ye Zāgr ...
thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...
and was created as a result of the collision between the Arabian and Eurasian plates.. A Brief Tectonic History of the Arabian basin. Retrieved from the website: http://www.sepmstrata.org/page.aspx?pageid=133


Persian Gulf Basin and the Middle East

A collection of these countries is commonly referred to as the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europea ...
which is the oil-rich location in the south western side of the
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
continent. A review of the world's energy with different estimates indicates that the Middle East holds 55% to 68% of the world's oil deposits and more than 40% of the world's recoverable natural gas reserves. Worldwide, it is the richest side of the world in terms of
hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ...
resources, both oil and gas reserves with an area of approximately 93000 square miles. The name Persian Gulf in most cases refers not only to the Persian Gulf but also the
Gulf of Bahrain The Gulf of Bahrain is an inlet of the Persian Gulf on the east coast of Saudi Arabia, separated from the main body of water by the peninsula of Qatar. It surrounds the islands of Bahrain. The King Fahd Causeway crosses the western section of th ...
, the Gulf of Oman, and the
Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...
as well as various outlets that are linked to the
Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel a ...
.


Tectonic evolution

The Arabian Plate tectonic origin is grouped into six phases which contributed to its current geology:


Precambrian phase

The early
Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the P ...
(from 800 to 650 Ma) is a compressional phase where a series of islands-arcs and micro-continent terrane accreted to form the oldest portions of the Arabian Plate (
Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
). The development of Hormuz saltbasin was a consequence of the last Precambrian orogenic event.


Ordovician-Silurian glaciations

An expanding of polar glaciation in Gondwana occurred in the Late
Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. The ...
, and later sea level rose in the Early Silurian was as a result of the deglaciation which led to extensive deposition of organic-rich
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially ...
that corresponds to a maximum flooding surface. This hot shale is considered the major source of Paleozoic hydrocarbon in Saudi Arabia.. Total Petroleum Systems of the Paleozoic and Jurassic, Greater Ghawar Uplift and Adjoining Provinces of Central Saudi Arabia and Northern Arabian-Persian Gulf. Retrieved from the website: http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2202-h/b2202-h.pdf


Carboniferous phase

During the Late
Devonian The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, whe ...
, the plate was located in a back-arc-setting. The initiation of the
Hercynian The Variscan or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. Nomenclature The name ''Variscan'', comes f ...
Orogeny Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted ...
led to the uplift of the central Arabian plate and tilted it eastward, which resulted in a basement tectonism and extensive erosion. The Arabian Plate underwent many compressional phases during this period.


Early Triassic

Thermal
subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...
and Arabian plate stretching (that resulted from the fragmentation of Gondwana in the Late Permian) resulted in extensional faulting and the early rifting of Zagros that opened the Neo-Tethys Sea.


Late Cretaceous phase (early Alpine orogeny)

This period was where the Alpine Orogeny started to form as a result of compression, which resulted in major uplifts and erosions, in addition to the closure of Neo-Tethys Sea.


Tertiary phase (late Alpine orogeny)

During this period there was the second Alpine
Orogeny Orogeny is a mountain building process. An orogeny is an event that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An ''orogenic belt'' or ''orogen'' develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted ...
, which was as a result of the collision the Arabian and the Eurasian plates at the
Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
and
Cenozoic The Cenozoic ( ; ) is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66million years of Earth's history. It is characterised by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configurat ...
border and this resulted in the formation of the Zagros Fold Belt together with the extensive
Mesopotamian Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
Foredeep A foreland basin is a structural basin that develops adjacent and parallel to a mountain belt. Foreland basins form because the immense mass created by crustal thickening associated with the evolution of a mountain belt causes the lithospher ...
and thus the formation of the foreland Persian basin. In addition to the opening of the
Red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondary ...
Sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...
about ~25 Ma, which resulted in the separation of the African and the Arabian plates.


History of natural resources

The extensive
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
and
gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
reserves of the Persian Gulf basin have a connection with the stable
tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents k ...
history. Over time, the Persian Gulf basin area has experienced continuous deposition that was consistent through the
Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and '' ...
era and led to the initial accumulation of the
carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid (H2CO3), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word ''carbonate'' may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate g ...
rocks (which are excellent
reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
rocks) and
evaporites An evaporite () is a water-soluble sedimentary mineral deposit that results from concentration and crystallization by evaporation from an aqueous solution. There are two types of evaporite deposits: marine, which can also be described as ocean ...
(which play a big role as hydrocarbon seal rocks). The accumulation process was favored by the unique
landscape A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the p ...
and stable
subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...
conditions which favored extensive deposition of carbonate rocks and evaporites which resulted in a thickness of ~12 to 13 km.
Sediments Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sand a ...
and other deposits that came from the land were moved and then deposited at the bottom of the basin. Successive deposition and accumulation led to the creation of layers with an increased level of
pressure Pressure (symbol: ''p'' or ''P'') is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed. Gauge pressure (also spelled ''gage'' pressure)The preferred spelling varies by country and ...
as the processes progressed over time. After the deposition process, the increased pressure led to the breakdown of the
organic material Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...
and consequently, the formation of the organic rich residue referred to as
kerogen Kerogen is solid, insoluble organic matter in sedimentary rocks. Comprising an estimated 1016 tons of carbon, it is the most abundant source of organic compounds on earth, exceeding the total organic content of living matter 10,000-fold. It ...
. Continuous accumulation and increased pressure combined with heat are applied on the kerogen which then transforms into either oil or gas.: Cairo to Doha. Persian Gulf at 13,000 m- A flooded basin. Retrieved from the website: Most of the oil in the Persian Gulf basin is produced from the Jurassic carbonates. However, presently, the rocks rich in organic hydrocarbons exist in three major geological systems: # Paleozoic petroleum system # Jurassic petroleum system # Cretaceous petroleum system Oil and gas are formed in a
source rock In petroleum geology, source rock is rock which has generated hydrocarbons or which could generate hydrocarbons. Source rocks are one of the necessary elements of a working petroleum system. They are organic-rich sediments that may have been depos ...
(mostly shales), and then they migrate to the reservoir layer of rocks (carbonates). After that, the formation of structural folds and faults in the reservoir rocks leads to the natural creation of zones where the natural resources become trapped and stored as reserves that are commercially recoverable. Four major tectonic events resulted in the formation of structural traps: # Carboniferous Hercynian Orogeny # Early Triassic Zagros rifting # First (or early Oman) Alpine Orogeny # Second (or late) Alpine Orogeny which led to the collection and successive generations of the hydrocarbons after undergoing deformation and other processes that resulted in the final compartmentalization. In the middle Persian Gulf, large volumes of natural gas collections in Permo-Triassic accumulations have a direct link to the hot
shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especially ...
rocks found in the lower base-
Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozo ...
formation. Then the oil migrated to the carbonates reservoir rocks and finally was trapped in the four major traps, which explains why the Persian Gulf basin is one of the richest basins in terms of hydrocarbon resources.


Structural and tectonic settings

The Arabian Plate shows divergent margins around the adjacent areas of the
Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...
, Red Sea and the south western side of the Arabian plate. On the south and south eastern side of the Arabian plate lies the Owen-Sheba which is an intra-oceanic
transform fault A transform fault or transform boundary, is a fault along a plate boundary where the motion is predominantly horizontal. It ends abruptly where it connects to another plate boundary, either another transform, a spreading ridge, or a subduction ...
. Then there is convergent margin located on the north and north eastern side close to
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
and in the Zagros Mountains located on the east of Iran, where the Arabian plate is subducting underneath the Eurasian plate. Lastly the
Dead Sea The Dead Sea ( he, יַם הַמֶּלַח, ''Yam hamMelaḥ''; ar, اَلْبَحْرُ الْمَيْتُ, ''Āl-Baḥrū l-Maytū''), also known by other names, is a salt lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank t ...
, which is a transform fault zone found on the north western side of the Arabian plate. The current
deformation Deformation can refer to: * Deformation (engineering), changes in an object's shape or form due to the application of a force or forces. ** Deformation (physics), such changes considered and analyzed as displacements of continuum bodies. * Defo ...
and accumulation processes that are related to the natural structures and the subsequent compression of the layers within the Persian Gulf illustrates the origin of the various natural resources found in the place, the geologic processes and the tectonic regimes that occurred.Digital Commons: University of Nebraska, Lincolin. (2011). Late Cretaceous to Recent Deformation Related to Inherited Structures and Subsequent Compression within the Persian Gulf: 2D Seismic Case Study. Retrieved from the website: http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1294&context=geosciencefacpub The tectonic representation of the Middle East is divided into three parts that have different characteristics concerning their age, thickness and types of rocks :"Why So Much Oil in the Middle East?" GEOEXPRO2010: 20-28. Web. 10 Feb. 2015. * Stable Arabian shelf * Unstable Arabian shelf * Zagros fold-and-thrust belt The end of the Paleozoic experienced some transformations in terms of subsidence differentiations and sea level rise that led to the formation of structural elements such as the three troughs: * Arabian Trough – in the middle part of the basin which is largely covered by Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. * Gotnia Trough – in the northern side of the basin covering Iraq and Syria. * Rub-Al-Khali – in Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Most of the geological characteristics were established during the Paleozoic which were initiated by the continuous continental marine sedimentation on the north east side of
Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final stages ...
. Some complex events which were effects of the
Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferous ...
processes also affected the area through creation of regional uplift, extensive erosions some basement tectonics. Therefore, the consistent tectonic geological evolution and the structural settings that resulted thereafter formed the Arabian plate after successive tectonic regimes.


References

{{Articles Related to Persian Gulf Geology of the Middle East Persian Gulf