The article discusses the lithological and paleogeographic conditions of the formation and location of sedimentary basins of the Caspian region. Its main feature of morphology and structure is the presence of superdeep depressions.
Non-palinspastic lithological-paleogeographic reconstructions performed using classical methods of thickness and facies analysis, showed that in the Middle-Late Triassic and Early Jurassic continental conditions prevailed in most of the Caspian region with the accumulation of terrigenous, less often carbonate, and in some places volcanogenic sedimentary strata. In the Middle Jurassic, large areas of stable subsidence and inundation appeared, and in the Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous, predominantly marine conditions were established in the region with a predominance of carbonate sedimentation in some zones. In the Late Cretaceous, the entire region was a clay-carbonate shelf, in places over-deepened. At the end of the Paleogene – Early Miocene, in the southern part of the region, the processes of arch formation and orogenesis intensified, which were accompanied by the draining of the zones of orogenesis and some areas of the Northern and Eastern Caspian Sea, and the formation of over-deepened shelf troughs ahead of the front of the zone of active orogenesis with the predominance of terrigenous sedimentation in them. Substantial drainage of the territory of the Middle and North Caspian took place in the Pliocene, when in the relict, relatively deep sea depressions of the South and Middle Caspian region south of 42 ºN lat. formed powerful delta complexes of Pliocene rivers flowing from the East European platform and, in part, from the Turan plate.
The results of the reconstructions made it possible to restore the conditions and environments of sedimentation characteristic of the Caspian region in a long historical and geological retrospective and to obtain the necessary information for the subsequent numerical modeling of sedimentary basins and evolution of their hydrocarbon systems.

 

Aliev M.M. Paleogeographic setting in the Cretaceous period in the southeast of the Greater Caucasus. In the book: Stratigraphy and paleogeography of oil and gas bearing areas of young platforms. Nauka. Moscow, 1982, pp. 6-23 (in Russian).

Atlas of lithological and paleogeographic maps of the USSR. Vol. III-IV. MG USSR, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Main Directorate of Geodesy and Cartography of the USSR Ministry of Geology. Moscow, 1967 (in Russian).

Belousov V.V. Fundamentals of geotectonics. Nedra. Moscow, 1989, 382 p. (in Russian).

Glumov I.F., Gulev V.L., Senin B.V., Karnaukhov S.M. Region-al geology and oil and gas prospects of the Black Sea deep-water depression and adjacent shelf zones. In 2 parts. Nedra publishing house. Moscow, 2014, P.I, 279 p.; P.II, 181 p. (in Russian).

Guliyev I.S., Kerimov V.Yu., Mustaev R.N., Bondarev A.V. The Estimation of the Generation Potential of the Low Permeable Shale Strata of the Maikop Caucasian Series, SOCAR Proceedings, No. 1, 2018, pp. 4-20.

Guliev I.S., Kerimov V.Yu., Mustaev R.N. Fundamental challenges of the location of oil and gas in the South Caspian basin. Doklady Earth Sciences, Vol. 471, No. 1, 2016, pp.1109-1112.

Kerimov V.Yu., Guliev I.S., Guseinov D.A., Lavrenova E.A., Mustaev R.N., Osipov A.V., Serikova U.S. Forecasting oil and gas content in regions with complex geological structure. Publishing house Nedra. Moscow, 2015, 404 p. (in Russian).

Kerimov V., Rachinsky M., Mustaev R., Serikova U. Geothermal conditions of hydrocarbon formation in the South Caspian basin. Iranian Journal of Earth Sciences, Vol. 10, No.1, 2018, pp. 78-89.

Kerimov V.Y., Mustaev R.N., Osipov A.V. Peculiarities of hydrocarbon generation at great depths in the crust. Doklady Earth sciences, Vol. 483, No. 1, 2018, pp. 1413-1417.

Kerimov V.Y., Rachinsky M.Z., Mustaev R.N., Osipov A.V. Groundwater dynamics forecasting criteria of oil and gas occurrences in alpine mobile belt basins. Doklady Earth Sciences, Vol. 476, No. 1, 2017, pр. 1066-1068.

Kerimov V.Yu., Serikova U.S., Mustayev R.N., Guliyev I.S. Deep oil-and-gas content of South Caspian Basin. Neftyanoe khozyaystvo – Oil Industry, No. 5, 2014, pp. 50-54 (in Russian).

Kholodov V.N., Turovsky D.S. On the problem of sedimentation in the Caspian Sea. Litologiya i poleznye iskopaemye, No. 1, 1985, pp. 17-34.

Lebedev L.I., Aleksina I.A., Kulakova L.S. Caspian Sea: geology and oil and gas potential. Nauka. Moscow, 1987, 296 p. (in Russian).

Leonov Yu.G. Tectonic criteria for the interpretation of seismically reflecting horizons in the lower crust of continents. Geotektonika, No. 5, 1993, pp. 4-15 (in Russian).

Levin L.E., Senin B.V. Deep structure and dynamics of sedimentary basins in the Caspian region. Doklady Akademii nauk, Vol. 338, No. 2, 2003, pp. 216-219 (in Russian).

Rachinsky M.Z., Kerimov V.Yu. Fluid dynamics of oil and gas reservoirs. Scientific Editor Gorfunkel M.V. Wiley-Scrivener Publishing. USA, 2015, 640 p.

Senin B.V. Model of regional tectonics and hydrocarbon potential offshore Russia and foreign sectors of the Black Caspian region. 5th EAGE St.Petersburg International Conference and Exhibition on Geosciences – Making the Most of the Earth’s Resources, Conference proceedings, 2012, https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.20143603