Miocene to recent sediment delivery to the northwest Black Sea

The NW Black Sea harbours the basins largest clastic system, currently dominated by the Danube, and the recent success of the Domino-1 well highlights this region’s large exploration potential. Our ongoing research in the area is tailored to provide better constraints on the composition of potential clastic reservoirs in both the Romanian and Ukrainian offshore. Both literature reviews and extensive field investigations provide input for a reconstruction of the palaeogeographic evolution of the circum-NW Black Sea. Special emphasis is placed on an understanding of the spatial, temporal and compositional evolution of the different sediment supply systems. Key elements addressed are the infilling of the Dacian Basin, which controlled timing of the arrival of the Danube to the NW Black Sea, and potential clastic input from northerly sources. Extensive sampling of sands from the precursors of the present-day Danube, Prut, Dniester, South Bug and Dnieper, and subsequent compositional analysis provide a means to predict the characteristics of derived potential reservoirs and recognition of the source area of retrieved well-material. Combined results from outcrop investigations and analysis of regional cross sections furthermore illustrate what the impact of Meotian, Pontian (Messinian) and Dacian base-level falls were on the onshore part of the depositional systems of the Dacian Basin and the Moldovan and Ukrainian parts of the Scythian Platform. Our research strongly benefits from recent improvements in the bio- and chronostratigraphy of Paratethys that allow for much better regional and global correlations.