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PAKISTAN OFFSHORE
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INTRODUCTION
GENERAL GEOLOGY
SUBMARINE MORPHOLOGY
INDUS OFFSHORE REGION
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INDUS DELTA
SUBMARINE FAN SYSTEM
INDUS CANYON
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CHANNEL-LEVEE SYSTEM
INDUS OFFSHORE SYSTEM FIGURE
MAKRAN OFFSHORE REGION
MAKRAN TRENCH
MAKRAN ACCRETIONARY PRISM
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OMAN ABYSSAL PLAIN
GAS HYDRATES AT MAKRAN OFFSHORE
MURRAY RIDGE
MINERAL POTENTIONAL IN PAKISTAN OFFSHORE
PHOSPHORATE
PLACER MINERALS
METALLIC DEPOSITS
OIL & GAS
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INDUS OFFSHORE REGION
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MAKRAN OFFSHORE REGION
CONCLUSION
REFERENCES
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PAKISTAN OFFSHORE
INTRODUCTION:
Pakistan coast is about 900 km long from east to west. Its Exclusive Economic Zone
(EEZ) is about the 240,000 sq. km which is Extended for 50000 sq. km, which makes it
an EEZ of 290000 sq. km. The coastal and offshore geology of Pakistan tectonically
exhibit both active and passive margin features. The two different types of margins
are formed from two separate crustal plates. Geological and marine processes are
different on these continental margins. The Makran coast and Makran continental
margin are active whereas the Indus coast and offshore Indus basin are geologically
passive. The geological features of the Pakistan EEZ are very promising for exploration
of non-living marine resources.
OF
The Arabian Sea is a geological young feature. It was produced in the last 65 million
years after the closing of a shallow sea known as Tethys. The northward migrating
Indian plate collided with Eurasia some 50 million years ago. The continued northward
movement of the Indian plate closed the Tethys sea and the Arabian Sea developed in
its present shape. The Arabian Sea is bounded by three different plates, i.e. Arabian,
Eurasian and Indian plates (Fig.2).
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Along the north western side there is convergence (Makran convergence) between the
oceanic part of the Arabian plate and the continental Eurasian plate. In the west near
the strait of Hormuz the convergence changes. The Arabian and Eurasian plates
change from ocean-continent in the Gulf of Oman to continent -continent in the
Persian Gulf. The structural feature that separates the two plates boundary is
commonly called the Oman line. Toward the east, the Makran convergence zone
meets in a triple junction near Karachi. In the southeast, the Murray Ridge separates
the passive continental margin from the active margin of Makran. The important
geological features of the Arabian Sea include the Indus Fan, the Murray Ridge, the
Owen Ridge, the Owen basin, the Oman basin and the Arabian margin off Oman.
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SUBMARINE MORPHOLOGY:
The bottom features of the northern Arabian Sea are shown in Figure.3. An
outstanding feature of the seafloor is the northeast -southwest trending graben and
ridge system. This is comprised of the Owen Fracture Zone and Murray Ridge. This
asymmetric ridge system divides the northern Arabian Sea in to two main depositional
basins: The Oman basin in the west and the Arabian basin towards the east. The
Murray Ridge separates the Indus basin from the Oman basin which starts from south
of Karachi and has maximum relief ranges from 1500-2000 meters. This ridge has
more rugged relief in the south as compared to that of the northward relief. South of
Murray Ridge is the Owen Fracture Zone.
The continental shelf of the Arabian Sea shows variation in both width and depth. To
the east, it has a monotonous width of about 100-150 Km. The shelf break occurs at a
depth of about 100 meters off the Gulf of Kutch: Indus delta. The most pronounced
bathymetric feature of the shelf -slope is the Indus canyon. This has an average width
of 8 km and depth of 800 m. The canyon is 170 km long, commences around 20-30m
water depth on the shelf and ends at 1400 m depths at the continental slope. At the
foot of the continental slope the canyon widens to 20 km and merges in the Indus fan.
The Indus fan is the most extensive physiographic province in the Arabian Sea,
covering 1.1 x 106 km2, it is also the second largest fan of the world.
The continental shelf in the west is narrow and steep. Along the Makran margin the
shelf width suddenly narrows to about 40 km and further decreases gradually towards
the west The continental margin off Makran illustrates striking terrace-like features.
Along the Arabian coast the shelf is generally narrow. Off the Oman coast it is only
about 10 km wide. The Continental slope in this area is steeper with a marked scarp
southwest of Oman. The average slope of the margin is 5
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The Indus offshore basin comprises approximately 20,000 sq. km. area of the
continental shelf. The shelf area consists of horst -graben complexes. Indus river
through submarine canyon and leveed channels system has been supplying
sediments since Miocene times. At the foot of the continental slope a large submarine
fan (Fig. 4) has been developed by the continuous deposition of sediments. The
Indus submarine fan is the second largest submarine fan in the world. It
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extends from the Pakistan passive continental margin on the north to the Carlsberg
ridge on the south. Owen-Murray ridge zone and Chagos-Laccadive ridge mark the
western and eastern boundary respectively and these ridges also restrict the lateral
growth of the fan. Sediments thickness is about 7 km in the Indus fan. Turbidity
currents and tractive bottom currents have been the most important in transport of
terrigenous material.
INDUS DELTA:
During the Holocene, the Indus has built an extensive lobate delta (Fig. 5). Much of
the alluvial plain from the modern delta coast to north of Sukkur was formed during
the last deglacial period and the Holocene, when the Indus River filled its own valley
system that was incised during the last sea level lowstand. The delta extends to the
east into the Great Rann of Kutch, a vast mudflat area that is invaded by storm surges
during the summer monsoon. The Rann is probably a former gulf of the Arabian Sea
that has been filled by deltaic deposition. The hills of the Kutch Mainland (Fig. 6) are
composed of Jurassic and Cretaceous rocks and border the Great Rann to the south
and several islands of similar rocks outcrop within the Rann. It is not clear if the
Rann was filled by the early Indus deltaic deposition and/or by one or several
independent river systems.
Abandoned Indus delta channels have been reworked by tides all along the coast into
dendritic tidal creeks (Fig. 6). The tidal creek network is most extensive and appears
more mature east of the present Indus mouths (Khobar, Gaghiar) towards Kutch,
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where the coast has a dissected appearance typical of tide-dominated deltas. The
wide channels of this eastern delta plain (Khar, Wari, Kajhar, Sir, and Kori) penetrate
deep inland, leading to flooding of wide areas of the lower delta plain and the Rann of
Kutch during the summer monsoon (Fig. 6). The deltaic coast from Karachi to the
active river mouths exhibits a dense, less-mature tidal channel network. A stronger
wave influence along this part of the coast compared to further east is suggested by
the development of drumstick-shaped barrier islands (Fig. 6), typical of island systems
significantly influenced by both waves and tides.
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Figure 7: Indus & Bengal Fans
INDUS
FAN
BENGAL
FAN
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Indus Canyon:
The modern Indus Canyon commences close to the delta coast, about 3.5km from
mouth of the Gaghir Creek and in the water depths approximately 20m and then
progressively deepens seaward across the continental shelf and slope region with a
maximum relief of about 1030m in the shelf break vicinity. Along its approximately
185km long traverse its average width is about 8km and it shows a broad northwestward bend in the outer shelf and slope area (von Rad and Tahir, 1997).
The Indus Canyon, like many other large riverfed canyons, is considered to have been
initiated and progressively developed by the extension of the channel of the Indus
River over the subaerial continental shelf exposed during the Quaternary low sea
levels and deposition of sediments as out shelf/upper slope where turbidity currents
and mass wasting processes eroded backward to carve the canyon during the glacial
and interglacial times/periods/events.
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Channel
Levee Systems:
At its mouth in the lower slope water depths of 1400 to 1500m the canyon widens to
20km (Coumes and Kolla, 1984) and transforms to large channel-levee systems of
predominantly depositional/aggradational character, and progressively becomes
transitional to erosional in the lower order distributary system further downfan. The
youngest large channel extends to as far as 500km up to the Upper Indus fan area
where a radian pattern of small-order distributary channel-levee systems emanate.
The large channels are typically 300-400m deep and 6-10km wide near the foot of the
continental slope, where they start, and decrease both in depth (100 120m) and
width (<2km) in the distal part in the upper fan, between 2900 and 3300m water
depth. These are characterized by 10-30km wide and up to 1100m thick individual
levee (overbank) deposits which attain a relief upto 800m from the surrounding fan
surface.
The average dimensions of small channels also progressively decrease downfan. The
channel depths vary from 80 20m and with become less than 2km. The widths of
individual levee deposits range from 20km to 5km and the height of levees from 60m
to about 5m; In the extreme lower reaches, the small channels are devoid of levees
and are entrenched below the fan surface. All the channels higher and smaller order
systems meander with variable sinuosity along their respective courses.
The turbidity currents are considered the main process of transporting the terrestrial
sediments of the Indus River through this intricate and vast network of canyonchannel levee complexes, to the farthest parts of the Indus Fan. There were at least
two other complexes active earlier during the late Miocene and Pliocene times that
are comparable with the modern Indus Canyon-channel-levee complex of Pleistocene
age, but only one canyon-large channel system was active at a time (Kenyon et all,
1995).
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The Makran coast occupies nearly 670 km of the 990 km long coastline of Pakistan. It
is located along an active plate boundary lying in the offshore region where Arabian
plate is being actively subducted northwards beneath Afghan and Lut blocks of the
Eurasian Plate at a rate of 50mm/year. The subduction zone is about 900 km long,
stretching from near the Straits of Hormuz in the west to Karachi in the east. The
Makran continental margin forms the seaward part of a folded accretionary prism that
extends several hundred kilometers inland across the Makran.
There is a wide diversity of processes expected to occur in Makran active margin.
Among these processes the tilting of oceanic lithosphere supporting the prism, the
deposition of turbiditic systems and their rapid incorporation in the compressive
deformation and the formation of deep piggy-back basins showing deformed internal
sequences are common.
Because of active margin the Makran coast has been experiencing earthquakes.
Epicenters of these earthquakes occur in the Makran offshore areas. This tectonic
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activity has produced many mud volcanoes along the coast as a result of gas-charged
water escaping to the surface. A noteworthy geological activity on the Makran coast is
uplifting at rates of 1.5 to 2 mm year (Page et al, 1979; Vita-Finzi, 1979) and local
normal faulting. This has resulted in beaches raised up to 500m and several large
normal faults with displacements of as much as 2000 m with extensions in offshore
regions.
The infrequent large events occurred all along the Makran coast. The event of 1945
(magnitude 8. I) with shallow depth of 25 km located near Pasni caused ground
ruptures, modification of landscape, rock falls, liquefactions, Fire and 5 to 10 m high
tsunami.
Figure 11: Makran Low angle subduction, Evident by the Chaghai Volcanic Arc at such a distance
Multi-channel seismic reflection lines show the deformation of ocean floor sediments
forming a, sometimes complex, network of ridges with a conspicuous surface
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expression. Such deformation results from the activity of north dipping thrusts
arranged in an imbricate fashion allowing for the thickening of the sediment pile
toward the continental platform (north). An irregular deformation front is identified on
both seismic lines and bathymetry as well as important lateral variations on thrusts
continuity. Piggy-back basins have developed northerly of most of the ridges showing
multiple sedimentation-deformation events.
A north-south seismic line has been chosen among all to illustrate several aspects
observed in the Makran accretionary prism (Fig. 14). At the foot of the deformation
front an active channel can be recognized (on both seismic and bathymetry data)
showing an onlap filling over an erosive surface. The deformation front, highly variable
laterally, shows in this section an asymmetric fold that can be modelled as a structure
of dominant northward vergence. The imbricate system observed north of the front
allows for the formation of several piggy-back basins. To the south, these basins are
small and of limited depth. On the contrary, to the north two wide basins are present
showing a history of multiple deformation pulses with several onlap surfaces
indicating their progressive tilting.
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in
geophysical,
and
geochemical studies of the
Makran zone may eventually
lead to delineating the
potential resources of
the
area
including
petroleum
Figure 16: Schematic Cross Section of Makran Accretionary Margin showing gas seeps
deposits.
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It consists of seamounts, scarps and small basins in a linear pattern. It extends from
the continental slope near Karachi over 750 km towards Southwest and joins the
Owen Fracture Zone. The Murray Ridge has a maximum relief of about 2000 m in the
middle part and a relief as large as 3500 m in its southern part. Dredge samples in the
Murray Ridge zone show tuff and variolitic or spelitic basalt fragments. West of the
Murray Ridge another ridge named as the Little Murray Ridge (Fig. 18). It is also a
volcanic ridge and largely buried beneath sediments.
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Figure 18: The buried Little Murray Ridge
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The basins associated with rift-graben style tectonic passive continental margin in the
east are. very important for hydrocarbon potential Makran active continental margin
also possess a considerable potential for accumulation of non-living marine resources.
Based on the geological knowledge of the north Arabian Sea, the occurrence of
following mineral resources in Pakistan EEZ are expected:
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Phosphorate:
Phosphorate mineral is a raw material for fertilizer. Marine Phosphorate generally
occurs on the ocean floor in the form of nodules, sands, mud and consolidated beds. It
is found in continental shelf and continental slope regions and may also be found on
submerged plateaus and guyots. Phosphorate occurrence in marine areas is related to
areas of former or recent high biological productivity.
In Pakistan EEZ Phosphorate nodules can be expected on the west of the Murray Ridge
as have been found in other oceanic regions under similar oceanic and bathymetric
settings like Chatham rise east of New Zealand. In
October 1992, during the Netherlands Indian Ocean program, rocks were collected
from the Murray Ridge complex, that contained Phosphorate coated basalt pebbles.
This suggests that phosphogenesis is occurring in Arabian Sea sediments.
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Placer Minerals:
Deposits of coarse grained tin, chromium, titanium and tungsten-bearing placer
minerals associated with coarse grained sand and gravel, all occur in shallow coastal
regions. Hinterland rocks have been an important source of the placer minerals.
Rivers transport large terrigenous material along with placer minerals and deposit
them along beaches and shelf areas.
During the last glacial stage (18000 BP) the shelf was about 100m lower than the
present depth. At that time rivers were directly emptying on the shelf and large placer
minerals brought by them may have accumulated there. Placer mineral studies
undertaken by the National Institute of Oceanography, Pakistan have shown
concentration of these minerals along the coast. These deposits, located near the
coast, may have submarine extensions. Hydrodynamical changes control the transport
of placer minerals in coastal waters. It is most likely that strong turbidity currents and
high energy conditions might have redistributed the minerals along the continental
shelf off Pakistan. In depth range of up to 1000 meters Pakistan EEZ has buried
basins. In these buried basins placer minerals and green sand might have been
deposited during the glacial and interglacial periods.
Building Material:
In the coastal areas deposits of shells and calcareous sand have been used for
construction and lime making since historical times. In shallow waters, the mechanical
action of waves and currents concentrates sand and gravel. In deep water, sediments
contain abundant calcium and silica.
Offshore sediments in Pakistan territorial waters are found rich in calcareous material
composed of recent shells. Coarse calcareous sand is a common material of the
Makran continental shelf. Similarly, towards east in the Indus offshore region relict
calcareous sand, with abundant broken shells, occurs at depth of >50m (Khan et al,
1993). Along the Makran coast, at mouths of seasonal rivers, gravel and pebbles are
found. Pebbly and conglomeratic beaches occur in the adjoining areas of the Hub,
Hingol and Dasht rivers. It is known that Indus River has been shifting its course since
geological times and has buried its many channels in the terrigenous sediments
brought from the hinterland. This suggests that the present shelf has buried coarse
sand, gravel, pebbles and other building materials.
Metallic Deposits:
Polymetallic nodules in the Indian Ocean cover an area of 10-15x106 Km2 and
reserves are estimated at
1.5x 1011 tons. Both in terms of the area covered and estimated reserve the Indian
Ocean is second to the Pacific Ocean. Murray Ridge may prove a good environment for
accumulation of polymetallic sulphide in Pakistan offshore areas. The petrology of the
basalt and tuffs samples from the Murray Ridge suggest a high degree of
hydrothermal alteration of the basaltic rocks and as such the Murray Ridge zone may
be a favourable area for occurrence of polymetallic sulphide. There is a strong
possibility of finding because of zinc and copper-rich sulphides t~eir affinity with the
submarine hot spots. Also, manganese, crustenriched in cobalt, sometimes occurs as
a coating on basal substances such as basalt in such regions. The seamount surfaces,
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with a thin cover of sediments, may prove promising spots for the accumulation of
both manganese and cobalt.
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CONCLUSION:
Offshore geology of Pakistan is characterized by active and passive continental
margins. These continental margins show very unique features such as an active
Makran subduction zone in the west anD the Indus delta and a submarine fan in the
east. The geology of these features of Pakistan EEZ is inadequately known. This is a
major obstacle in exploring mineral resources. Detailed study of coastal and shelf
geology is needed for better understanding of the geology of the area and
comprehensive evolution of its non-living resource potential. An understanding of the
geological events including tectonic movements, sedimentation processes and
geochemical history that comprise the geological history is very important to help in
identification and estimation of resources. In Pakistan EEZ applying the current
technology and undertaking research work to understand the seafloor features and
mineral deposits associated with it will be very fruitful.
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References:
Von Rad, U., Tahir, M., 1997. Late Quaternary Sedimentation On The Outer Indus Shelf
And Slope (Pakistan); Evidence From High-Resolution Seismic Data And Coring. Marine
Geology 138,
193236.
Raymi Castilla*, Nicolas Mouchot**, Nadine Ellouz* (2005) 'Morpho-Tectonic And
Sedimentary Processes Of Pakistani Makran Accretionary Prism', Thrust Belts And
Foreland Basins
N. Ellouz-Zimmermann E. Deville C. Mller S. Lallemant A.B. Subhani A.R.
Tabreez (2007) 'Impact Of Sedimentation On Convergent Margin Tectonics: Example Of
The Makran Accretionary Prism (Pakistan)', Thrust Belts And Foreland Basins, (18634621), Pp. 327-350.
H.U. Schluter , A. Prexl, Ch. Gaedicke, H. Roeser, Ch. Reichert, H. Meyer, C. Von
Daniels (2002) 'The Makran Accretionary Wedge: Sediment Thicknesses And Ages And
The Origin Of Mud Volcanoes', Marine Geology, (), Pp. 219-232.
Liviu Giosana,, Stefan Constantinescub, Peter D. Cliftc, Ali R. Tabrezd, Muhammed
Danishd, Asif Inamd (2006) 'Recent Morphodynamics Of The Indus Delta Shore And
Shelf', Continental Shelf Research, 26(), Pp. 16681684.
Athar Ali Khan (1999) 'Offshore Geology Of Pakistan And Non-Living Resource
Prospects', Pakistan Journal Of Marine Sciences, 8(), Pp. 81-97.
Asif Inam1 And M. Tahir2 (2011) 'Channel-Levee System - The Major Controlling
Mechanism For The Sediment Deposition On The Indus Fan'.
Julien Bourget1, Sbastien Zaragosi1, Nadine Ellouz-Zimmermann2, Thierry Garlan3,
N. Mouchot, Raymi A. Castilla2, Jean-Luc Schneider1, Vanessa Teles2 (2009) 'Turbidite
Sedimentation Along Topographically Complex Slopes In Convergent Margin: Example
Of The Makran Accretionary Prism (Gulf Of Oman, Nw Indian Ocean)*', Search And
Discovery Article.
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