The Middle and Upper Jurassic strata of the eastern Arabian Plate host some of the world’s most prolific hydrocarbon reservoirs and are part of one of the best studied sedimentary basins on earth. Their economic relevance led to the acquisition of extensive subsurface data sets (seismic, wells, core), whereas the presence of world-class outcrops in the surrounding mountain chains of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and Iraq provide valuable outcrop analogs. Despite this wealth of information, the tectono-stratigraphic history of the Middle and Upper Jurassic deposits at the scale of the Arabian Plate is only documented in a fragmentary way in the literature. This is due to the fact that the subsurface information has mostly remained confidential property of oil companies and state institutions, and that many of the published studies have only a limited geographical coverage, constrained to individual countries and oil company concessions. In this presentation we will bring together the information of a number of local studies published over the last 30 years, which, together, provide a robust database for a regional tectono-stratigraphic synthesis.

This synthesis documents the evolution from mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ramps to the creation and partial asymmetrical infill of large intrashelf basins along a master-transect of 2000 km from Northern Iraq to the ocean margin in Oman. It will be demonstrated how this type of regional synthesis allows to address fundamental sedimentological and stratigraphic questions such as: what were the tectonic controls? what are the drivers behind the creation of intrashelf basins? what was the composition and timing of their infill? and how did the carbonate factories evolve? In addition, since the Arabian Plate was tectonically stable for most of this time interval, these rock successions provide a good proxy for eustatic sea level fluctuations.

The Middle and Upper Jurassic strata of the eastern Arabian Plate host some of the world’s most prolific hydrocarbon reservoirs and are part of one of the best studied sedimentary basins on earth. Their economic relevance led to the acquisition of extensive subsurface data sets (seismic, wells, core), whereas the presence of world-class outcrops in the surrounding mountain chains of Saudi Arabia, Oman, Iran and Iraq provide valuable outcrop analogs. Despite this wealth of information, the tectono-stratigraphic history of the Middle and Upper Jurassic deposits at the scale of the Arabian Plate is only documented in a fragmentary way in the literature. This is due to the fact that the subsurface information has mostly remained confidential property of oil companies and state institutions, and that many of the published studies have only a limited geographical coverage, constrained to individual countries and oil company concessions. In this presentation we will bring together the information of a number of local studies published over the last 30 years, which, together, provide a robust database for a regional tectono-stratigraphic synthesis.

 This synthesis documents the evolution from mixed siliciclastic-carbonate ramps to the creation and partial asymmetrical infill of large intrashelf basins along a master-transect of 2000 km from Northern Iraq to the ocean margin in Oman. It will be demonstrated how this type of regional synthesis allows to address fundamental sedimentological and stratigraphic questions such as: what were the tectonic controls? what are the drivers behind the creation of intrashelf basins? what was the composition and timing of their infill? and how did the carbonate factories evolve? In addition, since the Arabian Plate was tectonically stable for most of this time interval, these rock successions provide a good proxy for eustatic sea level fluctuations.