Previously published studies revealed diapirs in the American Chukchi Sea sedimentary cover. Similar diapirs were identified within the rifted margin in the Russian Chukchi Sea during exploration activity of the Rosneft Oil Company across the “Severo-Vrangelevsky-1” license block. Several stratigraphic intervals of the growth strata adjacent to the diapirs and normal faults converging to diapirs were observed on seismic. Density modeling reveals that diapirs require low densities. The Wrangel Island field studies encounter outcropping in-situ Lower Carboniferous gypsum rocks serving as an important argument to the diapirs’ evaporitic composition. The Sverdrup basin containing known Carboniferous evaporates is the paleogeographically closest basin to the modern Chukchi Sea. Numerous oil and gas discoveries in the Sverdrup basin are associated with salt diapirs underline the need for detailed examination of the Chukchi Sea salt tectonics and related plays. The sub-salt, lateral and supra-salt plays were distinguished. The lateral play may be the most promising as it likely contains numerous carbonate and terrigenous reservoirs and source rocks intervals in a wide stratigraphic range, analogues to prolific hydrocarbon-bearing strata in the Alaska North Slope basins. Results of the current study reveal new plays, contribute toward resources growth and decrease risks in the frontier region exploration held by the Rosneft Oil Company.
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