Programme

Day 1     Arrival at the Austin Hotel

Address: 58 Nizami St, Baku, Azerbaijan

Phone: +99412 598 08 12

GPS coordinates: N 40.37305°, E 49.84049°

Welcoming ice breaker and introduction of participants.

Day 2     Lectures session at the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Address: 115 Huseyn Javid ave. (Main building, 2nd floor), Baku, Azerbaijan

Day 3    Field work - "From source to surface:  source rocks, reservoir rocks and surface gas seepages"

Maikopian source rock outcrop: introduction to petroleum systems: overview of source rocks localities, reservoir outcrops and surface gas manifestations. 

The Pirekeshkyul locality sits 45 km west from Baku city, towards the Shamakha-Gobustan direction. In this area crops out the Maikopian Fm.: the organic-rich source rock extending over a large area of the Caspian and Black Sea. Reservoir outcrop: The Kirmaki Valley, located nearby Yanar Dag 70 km east of Pirekeshkyul provides excellent outcrops of the sandstone productive series. Eternal fire (Yanardag): example of surface manifestation of gas seepage. 

Day 4     Field work - Dashgil mud volcano

Moving 6.8 km west from the coast line of Cape Alyat, lies Dashgil MV whose crater is aligned with Bakhar and Bakhar Satellite MVs.  Dashgil hosts all the manifestations of surface degassing features including gryphons, seeping pools, salsa lakes, sinter cone structures and diffused miniseepage. Various sampling and mapping techniques will be discussed.

Day 5      Field work - Mud volcanoes morphologies

Various types of mud volcanoes will be visited to compare their structures and morphologies. Among these will be visited Bakhar MV (multicrater), Bakhar satellite MV (impact crater-like), Koturdag MV (growing diapir-like extrusion). Eruptive mechanisms and genesis of mud volcanoes will be discussed.

Day 6     Field work - Mud volcanism and petroleum systems

Azerbaijan is one of the countries where  the intimate connection between mud volcanism and petroleum systems is more obvious. Lokbatan MV is one of the most active volcanoes in Azerbaijan with frequent eruptions reoccurring every ca. 5 years. Lokbatan is surrounded by dozens of productions oil wells  highlighting that mud volcanism and hydrocarbon migration are usually connected. 

The location of MVs  in petroliferous basins, along anticline axes, strike slips and normal faults, and fault-related folds will be discussed. 

Besides Lokbatan, the Lokbatan-Puta anticlinal belt that curves towards the NW, hosts also other MVs (e.g. Shongar, Akhtarma Putinskaya, Kushkhana) that will be visited. Their location and geological context will be discussed.