Impact of the Late Triassic Dashtak intermediate detachment horizon on anticline geometry in the Central Frontal Fars, SE Zagros fold belt, Iran

• Late Triassic Dashtak evaporites decouple fold geometry in Central Frontal Fars.
• Triassic detachment may significantly shift the crest of the Permo-Triassic reservoir.
• Thickness, evaporitic content and fluid pressure control the detachment efficiency.

Integration of 2-D seismic lines, well data and field studies allow us to determine the geometry variations of anticlines in the highly prolific Central Frontal Fars region in the SE Zagros fold belt. These variations are directly related to changes in thickness of the principal evaporitic intermediate detachment level, located along the Late Triassic Dashtak Formation. Anticlines of short wavelength contain a significant over-thickening of the evaporitic detachment level in their crestal domain that may reach 1900 m (from an original thickness of 550–800 m). Folds containing thick Dashtak evaporites show decoupling across the detachment level and, thus, a shift of the anticline crest in the underlying Permo-Triassic carbonates of the Dehram Group, which form the major gas reservoir in the Central Frontal Fars. Four main parameters control the extent and distribution of the decoupled anticlines in the study area: (a) original large thickness of the Late Triassic evaporitic basin; (b) coinciding larger amounts of anhydrites with increasing total thickness of formation; (c) parallel occurrences of abnormally high fluid pressures; and (d) shortening variations across, and along, the strike of specific folds. The present work relating the different parameters of the Dashtak evaporites with the anticline geometry allows a better understanding of the fold geometry variations with depth, which is applicable to oil and gas exploration in the SE Zagros and other similar hydrocarbon provinces characterised by intermediate detachment horizons.

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