The Lower Indus Platform Basin is bounded to the north by the Central Indus Basin, to the northwest by the

Sulaiman Foldbelt Basin and the Kirthar Fold Belt Basin in the south west. The main tectonic events which have controlled the structures and sedimentology of the Lower Indus Basin are rifting of the Indian Plate from Gondwanaland (Jurassic or Early Cretaceous which probably created NE-SW to N-S rift systems, isostatic uplift or ridge-push at the margins of the newly developed ocean that caused uplift and eastwards tilting at the start of the Cretaceous. SOURCE ROCKS Early Cretaceous rocks are considered to be the potential source rocks for the hydrocarbon generation in the Lower Indus Platform basin. Trap formation coincides with peak stages of oil and gas generation. RESERVOIR ROCKS Cretaceous to Eocene clastics and carbonates are the proven reservoirs in the basin. SEAL ROCKS Sealing intervals are present for all potential reservoirs in the platform area, especially intra-formational shale for Lower Cretaceous reservoirs. TRAPPING MECHANISM Trapping mechanism in the southern Lower Indus Basin and in the Jacobabad-Mari-Kandkot High areas, consists of the tilted fault blocks, faulted gentle role-overs. Stratigraphic traps are also present. ________________________________________________________________________ LOWER OFF-SHORE BASIN With a coast line of about 990 km (615 miles), the EEZ for Pakistan extends over an area almost 240,000 sq km (69,960 sq nautical miles), or 40% of the land sedimentary area, in which two distinct geological provinces, the Indus Offshore and the Makran Offshore, have been defined. The provinces are separated by the Murray ridge. The Indus Offshore basin straddles the continental crust of the extension of Sind platform and Karachi trough and oceanic crust of the Arabian Sea east of Murray ridge-Owen fracture zone plate boundary. The continental shelf between Murray ridge and the Indo-Pak marine border is 120-150 km wide, cut in the southeastern corner by the submarine canyon of the Indus river. The structural pattern is comprised of three parts: A platform, west and south-southwest of Dabbo Creek of 1,304,800 hectares at CretaceousTertiary level. A shelf margin basin that changes from north-west to north-south orientation with southwestern margin bounded by gentle uplift of 1,323,200 hectares. Shale-diapiric regions in the northwestern and western-southwestern parts of approximately 4,356,600 hec- tares in deepwater area. The whole area is superimposed by the intricate drainage pattern of many mouths of present and proto-Indus, with extension of new and paleocanyons, channels, and deepsea alluvial fans into the Arabian Sea. Time stratigraphic records, based on drilled wells

Tectonics, structure

The structural elements of the region are the culmination of 225 million years of geologic history. There was a rifting phase from Triassic to Early Jurassic, and a later drifting stage, probably beginning in early Cretaceous, involving the subsidence of the northwestern margin of the Indo-Pak subcontinent, followed by a Tertiary age compression. In the onshore Badin trough/Sind platform the intra-Cretaceous extension faults and associated folds responsible for petroleum traps are products of cover rock shearing above crustal tear zones. These are probably linked through the Kutch and Cambay rifts to the Bombay rifts, and other crustal extension zones to the south. The Sind platform extensional tectonics created traps of Cretaceous-Sembar and Lower Goru reservoirs in tilted fault blocks, juxtaposed to marine Sembar shale source rocks. These appear to extend into the offshore, providing ground for other favorable overlying plays. Many oil and gas fields are producing in this basin. The Kutch basin of India is separated from the Lower Indus basin of Pakistan by an east-west running basement high. It is an extra-continental downwarp (small ocean basin). A complete sequence of Mesozoic rocks is exposed in the uplifted part of the basin. Paleocene to Pleistocene unconformably overlie the Deccan Trap basalts. They thicken offshore and are represented mainly in a carbonate facies. The Bombay Offshore basin is the southerly extension of the Cambay basin and is on a broad shelf believed to be the largest continental shelf in the world and site of Bombay High, a giant oil field. Nearly half of India's oil reserves are located in this field. The major producing horizons are of Middle Miocene age. Eocene, Oligo- cene, and early Miocene sequences are also oil/gas bearing in many structures.

Three possible source rocks are: Pre-Middle Miocene shales in the Surat depression. Shales in the shelf margin basin. Shales alternating with limestones of the Bombay platform.

REFERENCES: Viqar un Nisa Quadri S.M.G.J. Quadri Exploration consultants Riyadh