Holocene Sabkha and Coastal Systems of Qatar: Process Models, for the Interpretation of Ancient Arabian Plate Carbonate Evaporite Reservoirs

摘要

Facies tracts, sediment types, stacking patterns, and diagenetic histories of Holocene sabkhas and coastal systems of Qatar provide compelling analogues for the interpretation of ancient, carbonate-evaporite sequences of the Arabian Plate. The use of modern analogues to aid in the interpretation of geological and engineering data is well established in the petroleum industry. Analogue data are used in aid of recognition of time lines and depositional cycles, environmental interpretation, dimensional data, and continuity. Comparison of sabkhas from different physiographic regions of Qatar that formed during the latest Holocene cycle of sea level rise reveals new insights into the characterization of ancient rocks. These observations provide a basis for a substantial update of the definition and characteristic features of facies tracts described in the geological literature as sabkhas.