Exploration efforts around the Greater Caucasus region started towards the end of the 19th century and established a wide range of petroleum play types in various basin segments around the orogen. All these plays are associated with the flanks of the inverted thrust-fold belt and the adjacent foreland basin systems, but display significant variation among the basin segments depending on the tectonostratigraphic units involved and the degree of exploration maturity. Whereas the same main source rocks have generated most of the hydrocarbons in all the basins (namely organic-rich shales in the Oligocene – Lower Miocene Maykop Group and the Eocene Kuma Formation), it is primarily the trapping style, both proven and speculative, which is responsible for the broad spectrum of play types observed. Eleven play type diagrams across six main petroleum provinces of the Greater Caucasus region are presented in this paper and summarize the current exploration understanding of the existing discoveries and potential new play targets. These play cartoons offer a prospect-scale summary of both mature producing and underexplored basin segments in a coherent visual manner, and are therefore intended to promote future exploration efforts in the Caucasus region. The testing of new play types requires the proper risking of the two most critical elements in the region: hydrocarbon kitchen effectiveness, and post-charge trap modification. The de-risking of these factors will require properly designed, fit-for-purpose acquisition of modern geological and geophysical data sets.

中文翻译：

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高加索地区的勘探活动

大高加索地区的勘探工作始于 19 世纪末，并在造山带周围的各个盆地段建立了广泛的石油勘探类型。所有这些区带都与逆冲褶皱带的侧翼和相邻的前陆盆地系统有关，但根据所涉及的构造地层单元和勘探成熟度的不同，盆地段之间表现出显着的差异。尽管所有盆地（即渐新世的富有机质页岩——下中新世 Maykop 组和始新世 Kuma 组）的大部分烃源岩都产生了相同的主要烃源岩，但主要是已证实和投机的圈闭类型，这是观察到的广泛的游戏类型的原因。本文展示了大高加索地区六个主要石油省份的 11 个远景区类型图，并总结了当前对现有发现和潜在新勘探目标的勘探理解。这些游戏卡通以连贯的视觉方式提供了成熟生产和未开发盆地段的前景规模摘要，因此旨在促进高加索地区未来的勘探工作。新游戏类型的测试需要对该地区两个最关键的要素进行适当的风险评估：碳氢化合物厨房效率和装药后陷阱改造。消除这些因素的风险需要适当设计、适合用途的现代地质和地球物理数据集。