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STUDY OF CAMBAY BASIN

INTRODUCTION

The Cambay Basin is located in Gujarat State, on the western margin of
India. The basin lies predominantly onshore, with only the southwestern corner
offshore in the Gulf of Cambay. The Cambay rift Basin, a rich Petroleum Province
of India, is a narrow, elongated rift graben, extending from Surat in the south to
Sanchor in the north. In the north, the basin narrows, but tectonically continues
beyond Sanchor to pass into the Barmer Basin of Rajasthan. On the southern side,
the basin merges with the Bombay Offshore Basin in the Arabian Sea.
The Cambay Basin has an average width of 50 km, 450 km long and a
maximum depth of about 7 km. The maximum depth of the basin may exceed 11
km if one includes the Deccan Trap lava flows. The basin has more than 40 years
of active hydrocarbon exploration history. The total area of the basin is about
53,500 sq. km including 6,880 sq. km in the shallow waters (Gulf of Cambay). The
basin is roughly limited by latitudes 21 00 and 25 00 N and longitudes 71 30
and 73 30 E.

Age of the Basin & Sediment-thickness

The origin of the Cambay and other basins on the western margin of India
are related to the breakup of the Gondwana super-continent in the Late-Triassic to
Early-Jurassic (215 m.y.a.). As India drifted away from Africa and Madagascar,
rift grabens began to form on the west coast of India. As a result of movement, the
boundary faults of the grabens were initiated through reactivation of Pre-Cambrian
faulting. On the north-western margin of the Indian shield, three craton-margin-
embayed basins came into existence Kutch, Cambay and Narmada along three
rift systems aligned with major Pre-Cambrian tectonic trends Aravalli, Dharwar
and Satpura.

The evolution of the Cambay basin began following the extensive outpour of
Deccan Basalts (Deccan Trap) during late cretaceous covering large tracts of
western and central India. Its a narrow half graben trending roughly NNW-SSE
filled with Tertiary sedimentswithrifting due to extensional tectonics. Seismic and
drilled well data indicate a thickness of about 8 km of Tertiary sediments resting
over the Deccan volcanics.

Basin Evolution

The Early Tertiary sediments ranging in age from Paleocene to Early Eocene
represent syn-rift stage of deposition that was controlled by faults and basement
highs in an expanding rift system. These sediments are characterized by an
assortment of ill-sorted, high energy trap derived materials. Subsidence of the
basin resulted in the accumulation of a thick sequence of euxinic black shales with
subordinate coarser clastics. The Middle Eocene witnessed a regressive phase with
oscillating conditions of deposition and development of deltaic sequences in the
entire basin. There was a regional southward tilt of the entire rift basin during Late
Eocene and it is marked by a regional marine transgression extending far to the
north upto Sanchor basin. Oligocene Lower Miocene marks another phase of
tectonic activity with extensive deposition of coarser clastic sediments in the
central and southern blocks.
The Evolution of the Cambay basin can be broadly divided into two main
structural stages
(1) a lower, Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous platform stage (pre-rift) and
(2) an upper, Upper Cretaceous Tertiary composite (syn-rift/post-rift) stage.

These two main evolutionary stages have been further sub-divided into the
following multiple phases:
The Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Platform Phase-Pre-rift
The Upper Cretaceous First Rift Phase
A Paleocene Formative Phase
A Lower-Middle Eocene Second Rift Phase
An Upper Eocene-Oligocene Inversion Phase, and
A Miocene-Holocene Post-Rift Phase

Pre- Rift (Platform Phase)

The PreCambrian and Mesozoic sequence form the pre-rift evolutionary
stage for the basin. This stage is not considered here in detail, although some
important controls on basin formations have been briefly described below
The structural disposition of the Pre-Cambrian basement a complex of
igneous and metamorphic rocks exposed in the vicinity of the Cambay basin,
controls its architecture. The principal lineaments in the basin are aligned NE-SE,
ENE-WSW and NNW-SSE.
The NE-SW trending lineament, in the northern part of the basin, is related
to the AravalliDelhi fold belt. Another major lineament trending NNW-SSE is
related to the Dharwar orogenic belt. The third major lineament trending
ENEWNW is aligned to the Satpura orogenic belt, and is dominant in the Narmada
basin.
The pre-rift stage also called the lower stage, mainly appeared during Upper
JurassicLower Cretaceous time. During this period the Cambay Basin was gentle
shelf bounded on the east by the Indian shield. A thin sequence of Upper Jurassic-
Lower Cretaceous sediments was deposited on this shelf in environments
alternating between brackish, deltaic and shallow marine with sediments derived
by rivers draining the Aravalli hills and adjacent uplands. This stage is completely
masked by thick Deccan Trap volcanic flows which took place during Upper
Cretaceous. The thickness of Mesozoics varies from 20 to 30 meters on the basins
eastern margin to more than 750 meters on the western flank of the basin (between
the western margin fault and the Saurashtra craton).
The Mesozoic succession is overlain by an almost complete sequence of
Tertiary sediments with an intervening succession of thick Deccan Trap basalts of
Late Cretaceous age.

SynRift

The Late Cretaceous and Tertiary together form Synrift, the second
structural stage of the basin. During this structural stage, an intra-cratonic graben
was formed due to the reactivation of marginal faults in late Cretaceous, striking
NNW-SSE to almost N-S. These marginal faults remained active during late
Cretaceous to early Palaeogene.

The synrift stage has been further divided into two sub-rifting episodes
with intervening Formative phase and also a final inversion phase.

First Rift Phase (episode)
The first phase of rifting took place during Deccan Trap Volcanism in the
late Cretaceous. In this phase a half-graben came into existence along marginal
faults aligned NNW-SSE. In order to accommodate huge flow of Deccan Trap
basalts, it is believed that the Cambay graben might have subsided more than two
thousand meter during the firstphase of rifting.

Formative Phase
First rift phase is followed by formative syn-rift phase. During this phase
intra basinal horst and rifts formation along with deposition of trap-derived clastics
material took place. Reactivation of basement faults along NNW-SSE trend
produced considerable relief on the Deccan trap basement floor. On this uneven
basin floor a thick sedimentary section consisting of volcanic conglomerate,
sandstone, siltstone, and other trap-derived detritus material was formed. This
formation known as Olpad Formation was deposited under sub aerial to fluvial
conditions as cones, fans and gravel beds.

Second Rift Phase (episode)
Following the first rift and formative phases, the second rift phase took place
in Lower Eocene during the deposition of thick Cambay Shale. This phase
accommodated more than 1500 meters of Cambay Shale in the graben. It is during
this sub-phase that the basin showed a long history of subsidence synchronous with
marine transgression with sedimentation over a wide area. This is typical of intra-
cratonic basins and of high relevance from the hydrocarbon generation standpoint.
In this stage of rifting, the half-graben has transformed into a full graben
during subsequent periods of sedimentation. Towards the later part of this second
stage, during Middle Eocene, the regression took over in the northern part of the
basin, resulting in deltaic environments (Kadi formation). These have acted as
good reservoir facies in the area.
The early Eocene marine transgression did not reach to the extreme north of
the Cambay basin or the Patan-Tharad block. In this block, the arenaceous Tharad
Formation sediments were deposited under fluvial-lower delta plain to delta front
conditions.
In the northern part of basin, a master river flowing along the basin axis
brought in coarse clastic material and deposited a sand-shale-coal sequence coeval
with the fully marine Cambay Shale which was being deposited in the southern
part of the basin.

Inversion Phase
The succeeding syn-rift phase is termed Oscillatory or Stage of inversion.
This phase was one of regression punctuated by marine transgressive pulses during
the Upper Eocene-Oligocene. This caused widespread development of fluvial and
deltaic systems in the basin.
In the northern part of the basin, during this phase, the basin slope became
gentler and the sand-shale-coal sequences of the Kalol Formation were deposited
in a vast area extending southwards at least as far as Cambay Field (Cambay-
Tarapur block).
In the southern part of the basin, during the inversion phase, sand and shale
sequences were deposited in a deltaic to paralic facies with episodes of shallow
marine facies in an alternating transgressive-regressive environment (Ankleshvar
and Dadhar formations).

Post Rift

Post-Upper Eocene was characterized by only mild tectonic activity and this
phase of basin evolution is termed as post rift. From this period on, fault-
controlled differential subsidence essentially ceased, and the basin has since,
behaved as a single tectonic unit. Subsidence continued, but at a far slower rate;
this stage too, has major implications on evolutionary aspect of the basin.
During the Late Eocene to Early Oligocene period, in conformity with
global eustatic (sea level) changes, there was a widespread transgression, which
resulted in deposition of the Tarapur Shale. This acts regionally as a cap rock.
Towards the later part of Early Oligocene, when the sea started receding,
sedimentation took place under prograding deltaic conditions in the southern part
of the basin (Ardol and Dhadhar units).

Following this, a withdrawal of the sea during the end of early Oligocene
resulted in a basin-wide unconformity at the top of Tarapur Shale. A marine
transgression during early Miocene resulted then, in the deposition of Kathana
formation in the southern Cambay Basin. In the same period, in the northern part
of the basin, even the earlier strata of Oligocene were eroded away, and the
Miocene formations rest directly upon the Eocene shale.
During the Lower Miocene period, there was a heavy clastic influx resulting
in the deposition of the Babaguru formation. Subsequent deposition during
Miocene has resulted in fluvial clastic formations represented by Kand and
Jhagadia. Pliocene depositions are represented by Broach and Jambusar
formations, which are succeeded by Gujarat Alluvium over the entire basin.

The Cambay rift valley is bounded by well demarcated basin margin step
faults. Based on the cross trends the basin has been divided into five tectonic
blocks. From north to south, the blocks are:

Patan-Sanchor block
Mehsana-Ahmedabad block
Cambay-Tarapur block
Jambusar-Broach block
Narmada-Tapti block

Petroleum System

Source Rock
Thick Cambay Shale has been the main hydrocarbon source rock in the Cambay
Basin. In the northern part of the Ahmedabad-Mehsana Block, coal, which is well
developed within the deltaic sequence in Kalol, Sobhasan and Mehsana fields, is
also inferred to be an important hydrocarbon source rock. The total organic carbon
and maturation studies suggest that shales of the Ankleshwar/Kalol formations also
are organically rich, thermally mature and have generated oil and gas in
commercial quantities. The same is true for the Tarapur Shale. Shales within the
Miocene section in the Broach depression might have also acted as source rocks.

Reservoir Rock

There are a number of the reservoirs within the trapwacke sequence of the
Olpad Formation. These consist of sand size basalt fragments. Besides this,
localized sandstone reservoirs within the Cambay Shale as in the Unawa, Linch,
Mandhali, Mehsana, Sobhasan, fields, etc are also present.

Trap Rock

The most significant factor that controlled the accumulation of hydrocarbons in
the Olpad Formation is the favorable lithological change with structural support
and short distance migration. The lithological heterogeneity gave rise to
permeability barriers, which facilitated entrapment of hydrocarbons. The
associated unconformity also helped in the development of secondary porosity.
Transgressive shales within deltaic sequences provided a good cap rock
Timing of migration & Trap formation: The peak of oil generation and
migration is understood to have taken place during Early to Middle
Miocene.

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