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1. Presentation Topic:
Sedimentary Basins and their Evolution
Presented To:
Prof. Dr. Naveed Ahsan
Presented By:
M. Qasim Javed
4th Prof.
Roll # 14
Section: Structural/Petroleum Geology
Institute of Geology University of the Punjab 1

2. What is a Basin?
A large, bowl-shaped depression in the surface of the land or ocean
floor.
A low lying area in earth’s crust in which sediments have
accumulated.
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3. Types of Basin
 Rift basin: The down-dropped basin formed during
rifting because of stretching and thinning of the
continental crust. (e.g., East Africa Rift)
Types of Basin
• Passive margin basin: Subsidence along a passive margin, mostly due to long-
term accumulation of sediments on the continental shelf. (e.g., East coast of North
America)
Types of Basin
• Trench (accretionary wedge): Downward flexure of the subducting and non-
subducting plates (sites of accretionary wedges).
Types of Basin
• Foreland basin: A depression caused by the weight of a large mountain range pushing the
adjacent crust below sea level. (e.g., The sediment filled plain south of the Himalayas )
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4. Basinal Distribution of Pakistan
Pakistan is comprised of two main sedimentary basins.
1. Indus Basin
2. Baluchistan Basin
These two basins were formed during Cretaceous-Paleocene along
Chaman/Ornachnal Strike slip faults.
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5. There is an other newly discovered basin known as
Kakar Khorasan Basin (Pishin Basin).
Figure1: Sedimentary Basins of Pakistan (after Abul Farah at al, 1984)
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6. Indus Basin
Indus Basin is further divided into two main parts:
2. Lower Indus Basin
a) Central Indus Basin
b) Southern Indus Basin
1. Upper Indus Basin
a) Potwar sub-basin
b) Kohat sub-basin
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7. Two modern recognized basins are;
a) Peshawar Basin
b) Campbellpur Basin
• Upper Indus Basin is located in Northern Pakistan and is separated from
Lower Indus Basin by Sargodha High and Pezu uplift shown in figure 1.
• Northern and eastern boundaries coincide with MBT that runs through
Margalla Hills, Kala Chitta Range and Kohat Ranges.
Upper Indus Basin
Kohat-Potwar Basin
The Kohat-Potwar Basin also called Upper Indus Basin is situated in northern
Pakistan and located between lat. 32° and 34° N and, long. 70° and 74° E.
Fig 2.Location of Kohat-Potwar plateau, Pakistan (C.J.Wandrey et al, 2004)
 Sedimentation in the Kohat-Potwar area began in the Precambrian and lasted until
the Pleistocene.
 Three major unconformities in the area are Ordovician to Carboniferous , Mesozoic
to late Permian and K/T Boundary.
 Salt Range Formation which is overlain metamorphic rocks reported as the oldest
sedimentary rocks in the Kohat-Potwar Basin
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8. Lower Indus Basin
Lower Indus Basin is sub-divided into
 Central Indus Basin
 Southern Indus Basin
Central Indus Basin:
a. Punjab Platform
b. Sulaiman Depression (Zindapir Anticline and Mari Bugti Hills)
c. Sulaiman Fold Belt
Southern Indus Basin:
a. Thar Platform (Sindh Monocline)
b. Karachi Trough
c. Kirthar Foredeep and Fold Belt
Lower Indus Basin
Central Indus Basin
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9. Jacobabad and Mari Kandh-Kot High separates the Central Indus
Basin from the Southern Indus Basin also termed as Sukkur (Rift raza
et al, 1989).
Figure3: Jacobabad High dividing Southern and Central Indus Basin
Indus Basin
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10. Punjab Platform
 Marks eastern segment of Central Indus Basin with no surface outcrop.
 Tectonically, it is a broad monocline dipping towards Suleman
Depression
Figure 4:Tectonic elements of the Central Indus Basin (modified after Raza et al. 1989)
Suleman Depression
It is longitudinally oriented area of subsidence that becomes arcuate at the southern rim.
• The western part includes Zindapur Inner Folded Zone
• Mari Bugti Inner Folded Zone lies in south
• East merges into Punjab Platform
• Seismic evidence shows that the area has some buried anticlines i.e. Ramak
FIGURE 4 Formation of anticlines with buried subsurface basement faults: (A) Listric normal fault in the basement with undisrupted
sedimentary cover. Reactivation of the fault in (A) as a low angle fault in (B) and a high angle fault in (C) (Numan and Al-
Azzawi, 1993).
Central Indus Basin
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11. Suleman Fold Belt
 A major tectonic feature in proximity of Collision zone with large number of disturbed
anticlines
• Decollement zone is present that is provided by shale
• Oldest unit is Wulgai Formation of Triassic age
• Lithostratigraphic variations observed in Paleocene/Eocene Period in Suleman Fold
Belt from north to south and from east to west
Central Indus Basin
Southern Indus Basin
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12. Southern Indus Basin
 Bounded by Indian Shield in east and marginal zone of Indian Plate
in west.
 Triassic is oldest unit observed in Jhat Pat and Nabisar wells.
 Khairpur-Jacobabd High separates Central and Southern Indus
Basin
 Paleocene facies are different on both northern and southern side
of high.
Thar Platform
• Gently sloping monocline analogous to Punjab Platform
• Differs from Punjab Platform in that it depicts the structures formed due to extension
resulted from clock-wise rotation of Indian Plate
• Eastern side is bounded by Indian Shield
• In west, this merges into Kirther and Karachi Trough
And
Northern margin is bonded by Mari-Bugti Inner Folded Zone
Southern Indus Basin Karachi Trough
Southern Indus Basin
• It is an embayment opening into Arabian Sea
• Trough is marked by thick early Cretaceous indicating last stage of marine
sedimentation
• Early, middle and late Cretaceous rocks are well exposed in that area
• Interesting features is continued deposition along K/T Boundary wherein
Karora Shales were deposited and the basal part represents the Danian
sediments.
Kirthar Fold Belt
Southern Indus Basin
• It is north-south trending tectonic feature quite similar to Sulaiman fold belt in
structural style and stratigraphic equivalence.
• Marks the closing of Oligocene-Miocene seas
• Western part is adjoining the Baluchistan basin that marks the western margin
of Indus Basin
• Western margin is associated with hydrothermal activities
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13. Table: Generalized Stratigraphic Column of the Northern Kirthar Range.
Figure: Structural Setting of Southern Indus Basin (nodified after Quadri & Shoaib)
Southern Indus Basin
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14. Offshore Indus Basin
 The Indus Offshore exhibit two play types i.e. Miocene & Pliocene are deltaic
sequence having source, reservoir and seal and Eocene / Oligocene
carbonate buildup/ platform remnant with Paleocene shales below (source)
and Eocene Oligocene shales above(seal).
Table: Generalized Stratigraphy of Southern Indus Basin
Table: Generalized Stratigraphy of
Central Indus Basin
Baluchistan Basin
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15. Baluchistan Basin
 This onshore—0ffshore basin, covers an area of about 300,000
sq. km, is the least explored in Pakistan.
 In the east it is separated by Chaman Transform Zone whereas
the western part extends into Iran.
From south to north this arc-trench system is divided into Makran Trench, Coastal Makran
Depression, Makran (Panjgur) Accretionary Prism,Harnun-i-Mashkel (Kharan) Fore-Arc
Basin, Ras Koh Arc, Mirjawa—Dalbandin Trough (Inter Arc region) and Chagai Arc .
Figure: Baluchistan Basin ( After Farah et al, 1984) 15

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17. References
 Quadri, V. U. N., & Shuaib, S. M. (1986). Hydrocarbon prospects of southern
Indus basin, Pakistan. AAPG bulletin, 70(6), 730-747.
 Khalid, P., Qayyum, F., & Yasin, Q. (2014). Data-driven sequence stratigraphy
of the Cretaceous depositional system, Punjab Platform, Pakistan. Surveys in
Geophysics, 35(4), 1065-1088.
 Kadri, I. B. (1995). Petroleum geology of Pakistan. Pakistan Petroleum Limited.
 Raza, H. A., Ahmed, R., & Ali, S. M. (1991). A New Concept Related to
Structural and Tectonic Behaviour of Balochistan Basin? Pakistan and Its
Implication on Hydrocarbon Prospects. Pakistan Journal of Hydrocarbon
Research, 3(1), 1-17.
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