Seismic insights: Unveiling potential play types in the Andaman-Nicobar Basin via paleo-tectonic and paleo-environment analysis Available to Purchase

The Andaman-Nicobar Basin, an active margin basin in the northeastern Indian Ocean, is characterized by a rich and complex tectonic and evolutionary history. The recent acquisition of seismic data by the Indian Government has opened a unique opportunity to resolve the geological mystery of the basin evolution and envisage its potential play types. This basin is a classic example of an arc-trench system, where the Indian plate subducts beneath the Sunda plate. Paleo-tectonic and paleo-environment analysis suggests that the basin underwent a rift and extensional faulting during the late Eocene-Oligocene period. This process was driven by transtension and pull-apart tectonics, with sedimentation transitioning from fluvial-lacustrine to fluvial-marine deposits. During the early post-rift phase, the basin experienced regional post-rift thermal subsidence, leading to marine transgression and the influx of shallow marine clastic and carbonates. In the later post-rift phase, compression and inversion tectonics induced notable subsidence, driven by late Miocene rifting and seafloor spreading in the central Andaman Basin. This process led to the development of a deeper marine environment. The study anticipates four potential play types in the Andaman Basin: syn-rift clastic, early post-rift carbonate, early post-rift clastic, and late post-rift clastic. Each play type presents unique exploration opportunities in the future.