GEODYNAMICS OF THE CALEDONIAN BAIKAL-PATOM FOLDED REGION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF THE PRE-PATOM PERICRATONIC TROUGH

A three-dimensional geodynamical model of the Baikal-Patom folded region and associated Pre-Patom pericratonic trough was developed using materials obtained in recent years from deep seismic observations of the CDPM along the Vitim River, results of several field seasons, involving data on the deep structure of folded belts of the world as well as the results of physical modeling. Its main characteristics are thrust-underthrust character, numerous, to varying degrees reworked duplex pileups, the Caledonian age, a very high degree of denudation in the southern part, which destroyed the upper allochthonous thrust plates in the area of Lake Baikal and exposed narrow, deep, root zones, extensive development of metagenetic processes that formed tectonoclastic strata. Analogues of hydrocarbon deposits in the southern part of the pericratonic area, including such giants as the Kovyktinskoye gas condensate field, can be found further north in autochthonous basal terrigenous Vendian productive horizons under allochthonous plates. Lateral movements of large tectonic plates, fluid migration over a distance of over 200 km allow researchers to confirm the high oil-and-gas prospects of the auto- and allochthonous intervals of the sedimentary cover of the Pre-Patom petroleum area.