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Hi All,

I would appreciate information on the Petroleum geology, tectonic settings and structural styles of Potwar Plateau. Also I want to have information of previous work on that area. What types of geophysical surveys were conducted in past? I am also interested in seismic interpretation.

ALthough this is a pretty open question here's some information:

The present day geographic and physical location of the Potwar Plateau is mainly due to the Himalayan orogeny which is responsible to form Himalayan and lesser Himalayan mountain chains. The Salt range thrust forms the southern boundary whereas the northern boundary is the Margala Thrust. The eastern limit is the Jhelum Reentrant whereas the Indus River roghly forms the western limit.

The overall structural trend is east to west or northeast to southwest. The majority of the large surface anticlines are bounded by the thrust or reverse faults. Few large thrusts are exposed on surface such as Khairi Murat and Riwat fault otherwise all the key anticlinal bounded thrust faults are blind thrust which never emerged on surface. These blind thrust played role in the formation of the anticlines; many of them are petroleum bearing.

Petroleum exploration history of the Potwar Basin dates back to late 1800's when first well was drilled and Khaur oilfield was discovered in 1915. Several geophysical surveys have been carried out including gravity, 2D and 3D seismic surveys. One of the earliest known seismic survey was carried out in Balkassar area. First 3D seismic was conducted by OGDCL in Jaffer Area in 1992 whereas Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL) has conducted 3D seismic over Khaur, Pariwali and Pindori oilfields in 1994-1995. These surveys were conducted by Chinese company BGP.

Oh you may also find this link useful: http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/2078/

...and some useful references for Potwar plateau and basin

McDougall, J.W., and Hussain, Ahmad, 1991, Fold and thrust propagation in the western Himalaya based on a balanced cross section of the Surghar Range and Kohat Plateau, Pakistan: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 75, no. 3, p. 463–478.

McDougall, J.W., and Khan, S.H., 1990, Strike-slip faulting in a foreland fold-thrust belt: the Kalabagh Fault and western Salt Range, Pakistan: Tectonics, v. 9, no. 5, p. 1061–1075

Wynne, A.B., 1878, Geology of the Salt Range in the Punjab: Memoirs of the Geological Survey of India, v. 14, 313 p.

Wynne, A.B., 1881, Travelled blocks of the Punjab: Records of the Geological Survey of India, v. 14, pt. 1, p. 153–154.

Gee, E.R., 1989, Overview of the geology and structure of the Salt Range, with observations on related areas of northern Pakistan, in Malinconico, L.L., Jr., and Lillie, R.J., eds., Tectonics of the western Himalayas: Geological Society of America Special Paper 232, p. 95–112.

Gee, E.R., 1938, The economic geology of the northern Punjab, with notes on adjoining portions of the North-West Frontier Province: India Mining, Geological and Metallurgi¬cal Institute Transactions, v. 33, pt. 3, p. 263–350.

Yeats, R.S., and Hussain, A., 1987, Timing of structural events in the Himalayan foothills of northwestern Paki-stan: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 99, no. 2, p. 161–176.

Yeats, R.S., Khan, S.H., and Akhtar, M., 1984, Late Quater¬nary deformation of the Salt Range of Pakistan: Geological Society of America Bulletin, v. 95, p. 958–966.

Quittmeyer, R. C., A. Farah, and K. H. Jacob, 1979, The seismicity, of Pakistan and its relation to surface faults, in A. Farah and K. A. DeJong, eds., Geodynamics of Pakistan: Geological Survey of Pakistan, p. 271–284.

Khan, M. A., R. Ahmed, H. A. Raza, and A. Kemal, 1986, Geology of petroleum in Kohat-Potwar depression, Pakistan: AAPG Bulletin, v. 70, p. 396–414

Shah, S.M.I., 1980, Stratigraphy and economic geology of central Salt Range: Records of the Geological Survey of Pakistan, v. 52, 104 p.

Ahmed, S. N., G. J. McGann, and T. Aizad, 1993, Dhurnal oil field, Potwar basin, Pakistan: Pakistan Journal of Petroleum Technology, no. 2, p. 1–18.

Pennock, E.S., Lillie, R.J., Zaman, A.S.H., and Yousaf, M., 1989, Structural interpretation of seismic reflection data from eastern Salt Range and Potwar Plateau, Pakistan: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, v. 73, no. 7, p. 841–857.

Burbank, D.W., and Raynolds, R.G.H., 1988, Stratigraphic keys to the timing of thrusting in terrestrial foreland basins; Applications to the northwestern Himalaya, in Kleinspehn, K.L., and Paola, Chris, eds., New perspectives in basin analysis: New York, Springer-Verlag, p. 331–351.

Gee, E.R., 1980, Pakistan geological Salt Range series: Direc¬torate of Overseas Surveys, United Kingdom, for the Gov¬ernment of Pakistan, and Geological Survey of Pakistan, 6 sheets, scale 1:50,000.

Thanks!!!!
That is a lot of useful information. I will have a look at all those references!