Paleozoic Carbonates of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS): Subsurface Reservoirs and Outcrop Analogs

For decades virtually all of the former USSR was closed to non-Soviet bloc geologists for conducting collaborative geologic studies. This was unfortunate, inasmuch as this immense territory houses much of the earth's geological history and is estimated to have approximately 22 percent of the world's known petroleum volumes. Outside of the Russian literature and a limited number of papers and books translated into non-Russian languages, details about the petroleum resources and the evolution of carbonate rock complexes in the former USSR have been infrequent. The Paleozoic carbonate systems of the CIS are scientifically important because they include many of the world stratotype localities. Moreover, Paleozoic carbonates of the CIS provide a considerable record from which to evaluate the evolution of reef-building organisms through time, variations in paleoclimate, changes is global sea level, paleotectonics, and secular variation in the composition of ancient sea water, and primary mineralogy of marine carbonate precipitates. All of these variables have a major impact on sedimentation, accumulation, and diagenesis of carbonate rocks, and thus a better understanding of carbonate systems of the CIS will advance our knowledge of carbonate sedimentology and carbonate reservoirs.

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