ELSEVIER Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254

A paleo-Brahmaputra? Subsurface lithofacies analysis of Miocene

deltaic sediments in the Himalayan–Bengal system, Bangladesh
Ashraf Uddin a,b,Ł , Neil Lundberg a
a Department of Geology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
b National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA
Received 30 January 1998; accepted 22 September 1998

Abstract

The Bengal foreland basin contains a succession of up to 16C km of dominantly deltaic deposits, eroded from the
eastern Himalayas and the Indo–Burman ranges and carried by major river systems similar to the present-day Ganges
and Brahmaputra. Analysis of electric logs and core descriptions acquired during oil and gas exploration in Bangladesh
allows construction of lithofacies maps, which constrain depositional patterns of Miocene strata. Compilations of sand
thickness and sand=shale ratio of the Miocene Surma Group show that Lower to Middle Miocene strata of the Bhuban
Formation accumulated in a large, elongate trough. Sand thickness and percentage both decrease markedly away from this
depocenter, which describes a large-scale bend, running initially westward from Rashidpur (northeast Bengal basin) and
curving southward toward the Bengal fan. Middle to Upper Miocene strata of the Boka Bil Formation show a similar
geographic trend in deposition of coarsest and thickest sediment, but the major depocenter had shifted northward relative
to that of the Bhuban Formation by some 30 km, passing near Beani Bazar. These trends suggest that deltaic deposits of
the Surma Group filled the Sylhet trough of the northeast Bengal basin from the east. Published seismic data from western
Bangladesh show that additional large channels also contributed materials to the Bengal basin from the northwest during
the Late Miocene, but these channels resulted in very little accumulation in the northwestern part of the basin, probably
due to restricted subsidence of underlying continental crust. This study suggests that there was a major drainage system
similar to the modern Brahmaputra River during Miocene time, which carried orogenic sediments eroded from the uplifted
terranes of the eastern Himalayas and Indo–Burman ranges to the eastern Bengal delta.  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All
rights reserved.

Keywords: Bangladesh; deltaic sedimentation; electric logging; Himalayas; lithofacies; paleogeography

1. Introduction fill that is more than 16 km thick (Hiller and Elahi,

The Bengal basin of Bangladesh includes one of
the largest delta complexes in the world, covering an
area of more than 200,000 km2 with a sedimentary
Ł Correspondingauthor. Tel.: C1 (850) 644-5860; Fax: C1 (850)
644-4214; E-mail: uddin@gly.fsu.edu
1984; Reimann, 1993). It is filled mainly by oro-
genic sediment derived from the eastern Himalayas
to the north and the Indo–Burman ranges to the east
(Fig. 1). These deposits record uplift and exhuma-
tion of mountain belts formed by the ongoing India–
Eurasia collision. The bulk of the deltaic deposits are
Miocene and younger (Fig. 2). Upper Eocene and

0037-0738/99/$ – see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 3 7 - 0 7 3 8 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 1 3 4 - 1
240 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254

Fig. 1. Map showing major tectonic elements of the Bengal basin. This map also shows location of wells for which geophysical data
were analyzed in this study, and locations of outcrop stratigraphic sections depicted in Fig. 3. Hinge zone separates shallow Indian
platform from the thick Bengal foreland basin and eastern fold belt. Abbreviations: DF D Dauki fault; IC D Indian craton; MH D Mikir
Hills.

Oligocene sediments comprise relatively thin mud- Lundberg, 1998a). Miocene sediments of the Surma
stone and quartzose sandstone units derived mainly Group, however, consisting of the Early to Middle
from cratonic sources of the Indian block (Uddin and Miocene Bhuban Formation and the Middle to Late
 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254 241

Fig. 2. Stratigraphic framework of the Bengal basin. Note that Miocene sediment thickness is considerably lower in the northwestern
part of the basin (Indian platform), which is underlain by continental crust (basement contact not exposed or penetrated in remainder of
basin). Abbreviations: CFB D Chittagong fold belts; ST D Sylhet trough. Data sources: Khan and Muminullah (1980), Ahmed (1983),
Reimann (1993), and field work by A. Uddin.

Miocene Boka Bil Formation, make up thick and
widespread accumulations of mudstone and quart-
zolithic sandstone derived from the neighboring oro-
genic belts. These units have been penetrated by
exploratory wells, mainly by Bangladesh Oil, Gas,
and Mineral Corporation (BOGMC, formerly known
as ‘Petrobangla’) and Bangladesh Petroleum Explo-
ration, Inc. (BAPEX), with assistance from various
international oil and gas agencies. Seismic reflec-
tion data have outlined the overall framework of
the delta as well (e.g., Hiller and Elahi, 1984; Salt
et al., 1986; Lindsay et al., 1991; Radovich et al.,
1995). These seismic reflection surveys have been
carried out mostly in northeastern and northwest-
ern Bangladesh. These data have refined current
understanding of the geometry, nature, and relation-
242 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254
ships between different tectonic domains. Analysis
of these seismic data has also led to interpretations
of paleogeography and sedimentation patterns of the
delta.
Despite its size and record of collisional history,
the Ganges=Bengal delta has not been studied in
detail compared to other major deltas. Even the off-
shore equivalent strata in the Bengal deep-sea fan
have been studied more intensively (e.g., Naini and
Leyden, 1973; Curray, 1994). The basin is rich in
hydrocarbons, with estimated reserves of 400 billion
m3 of natural gas and 40 million barrels of con-
densate. Studies of the Miocene deltaic sediments
to date have largely focused on hydrocarbon po-
tential (i.e., Brunnschweiler, 1980; Lietz and Kabir,
1982); in contrast, processes of deltaic sedimentation
and Miocene paleogeography have not yet been well
documented.
In this study, subsurface lithofacies maps of
the Miocene Surma Group have been constructed,
based on analysis of geophysical logs from wells
in Bangladesh. These data are used to constrain
depositional patterns of deltaic strata in the Ben-
gal basin. These data have also allowed us to trace
a Miocene major drainage system developed as a
result of orogenic uplift of the eastern Himalayas
and the Indo–Burman ranges. This paleogeographic
information, in addition to being useful for hydro-
carbon exploration, can provide constraints on the
geomorphic evolution of the developing foreland in
the least-known part of the Himalayan system.
2. Bengal basin
The Bengal basin has developed largely over a
remnant-ocean basin and the rifted eastern conti-
nental margin of India (Graham et al., 1975), with
continental crust underlying at least the northwestern
portion of Bangladesh (Khan and Agarwal, 1993).
The basin extends southward into the Bay of Ben-
gal toward the Bengal fan, and is bounded by the
Shillong Plateau, a Precambrian massif, to the im-
mediate north and by the Himalayas to the distant
north. Exposures of the Indian craton form the west-
ern boundary of the basin and the Indo–Burman
ranges form the eastern boundary (Fig. 1).
2.1. Tectonic setting
The basin has two broad tectonic provinces: (1)
thin sedimentary strata overlie rocks of the In-
dian craton in the northwest and west, in a part
of the basin known as the ‘Indian platform’; (2)
and very thick basin fill overlies deeply subsided
basement of undetermined origin in the south and
east (Bakhtine, 1966; Khandoker, 1989). These two
provinces are separated by a northeast-trending hinge
zone (Fig. 1), with Indian continental crust extending
beyond the hinge zone toward the southeast (Khan-
doker, 1989). Sediment thickness reaches more than
12 km within 200 km southeast of the hinge zone
(Paul and Lian, 1975). Thick deposits of the basin
fill have been uplifted significantly in two areas: (1)
along the north and eastern margins of the Sylhet
trough in northeastern Bangladesh; and (2) along
the Chittagong fold belts of eastern Bangladesh. The
Chittagong fold belts comprise tight NNW-trending
folds along the eastern edge of the foredeep. The
Sylhet trough, also known as the Surma basin, is
important for its hydrocarbon reserves and exhibits a
large, closed negative gravity anomaly ( 80 mGal;
Brunnschweiler, 1980; Salt et al., 1986; Johnson and
Nur Alam, 1991). In the Chittagong fold belts, com-
plexity of the folds increases eastward, merging with
the Indo–Burman ranges.
2.2. Stratigraphy
The stratigraphy of this region was initially es-
tablished by work on exposures in the eastern fold
belts, by results of exploratory drilling in the 1930s
and by lithostratigraphic correlation to type sections
in neighboring Assam, northeastern India (Fig. 1;
Evans, 1964; Holtrop and Keizer, 1970; Khan and
Muminullah, 1980). The present stratigraphic frame-
work of the Bengal basin has been refined by sub-
sequent studies of palynology (e.g., Baksi, 1962,
1972; Chowdhury, 1982; Uddin and Ahmed, 1989;
Reimann, 1993), micropaleontology (Ahmed, 1968;
Banerji, 1984), and seismic stratigraphy (Salt et al.,
1986; Lindsay et al., 1991; Radovich et al., 1995).
Because this basin has been studied far less inten-
sively than parts of the western Himalayan foreland
deposits, we provide here a relatively in-depth out-
line of stratigraphic relations.
 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254
Pre-Tertiary stratigraphic units of the Bengal
basin are known only from the northwestern part
of the basin (Fig. 2). There, a Precambrian basement
complex made up of gneisses, schists, amphibolite,
diabase, migmatite, granite, granodiorite, and quartz
diorite (Rahman and Sen Gupta, 1980; Zaher and
Rahman, 1980; Khan, 1991) makes up part of the In-
dian craton. It is overlain by an ¾1-km-thick Gond-
wanan bituminous coal formed during the Permo–
Carboniferous in intra-cratonic, fault-bounded basins
(Sengupta, 1966; Zaher and Rahman, 1980). This
coal-bearing sequence is overlain by about 500 m of
Cretaceous flood basalts, the Rajmahal=Sylhet Traps,
which are equivalent to the Deccan Traps of western
India and which are composed of hornblende basalt,
olivine basalt, and andesite (Khan and Muminullah,
1980). Associated ‘trapwash’ deposits are composed
of red ferruginous mudrock, claystone, and green
and red sandstone (Khan and Muminullah, 1980).
Paleocene to Early Eocene shallow-marine to ma-
rine deposits of the Cherra Formation have been
recovered in drill holes in the northwest platform re-
gion (Khan and Muminullah, 1980) and are exposed
at a single locality, in a south-dipping block near
the Shillong Plateau in the northwestern part of the
Sylhet trough (Zaher, 1970). The Cherra Formation,
169 m to 360 m thick, consists mainly of poorly
sorted sandstone, mudrock, and fossiliferous marl,
with some carbonaceous material and impure lime-
stones (industry data, reported by Reimann, 1993).
Overlying the Cherra Formation is the Middle
Eocene Sylhet Limestone, a 250-m-thick nummulitic
unit interbedded with minor sandstones, which is
broadly equivalent to similar shallow-marine car-
bonates that developed across much of the region
south of the present-day Himalayas (Sengupta, 1966;
Banerji, 1981). The Sylhet Limestone is overlain by
an argillaceous unit, the Upper Eocene Kopili For-
mation, which consists of dark-gray to black, fossil-
iferous, well-indurated mudstone, interbedded with
calcareous bands, fossiliferous glauconitic sand-
stones, and limestones (Figs. 2 and 3a). The Kopili
Formation ranges from 40 to 90 m thick across
most of the Bengal basin, and the lithological and
fossil content indicate paralic (brackish–marshy) de-
positional environments (Uddin and Ahmed, 1989;
Reimann, 1993). In the Shillong Plateau region, how-
ever, the Kopili Formation reaches a thickness of up
243
to about 600 m, and the lower part of the unit in this
area is partly marine (Biswas, 1961; Banerji, 1981).
The upper part of the Kopili Formation grades into
brownish siltstone and off-white sandstone with local
carbonaceous streaks.
The Oligocene Barail Formation was deposited
during a major marine regression that exposed most
of the ‘Indian platform’ of the Bengal basin. The
Barail Formation comprises a variably thick se-
quence of medium- to coarse-grained sand and
sandstone intercalated with siltstone, mudstone, and
intraformational conglomerate. Sand-rich units are
brightly colored (yellow, yellow–brown, red–brown,
light to dark pink, and cherry red), massive to thickly
bedded, and locally cross-laminated. Interbedded
siltstone is gray and compact; mudstone is gray
and locally laminated and rippled; and conglomerate
is reddish brown. Barail rocks exposed along the
northern fringe of the Sylhet trough in the foothills
of the Shillong Plateau and near the Dauki fault zone
range from 800 m (Johnson and Nur Alam, 1991)
to 1600 m (Ahmed, 1983) thick (Figs. 2 and 3a).
Thicker deposits have been encountered in boreholes
in the Chittagong Hills tracts. Barail equivalents of
the Bogra Formation (Khan and Muminullah, 1980)
have been penetrated in the northwestern (platform)
part of the Bengal basin, where they are less than
200 m thick and composed of mostly fine-grained,
light-gray to gray sandstones, alternating with silt-
stones and dark-gray calcareous and carbonaceous
mudrocks. The Barail Formation has been inter-
preted as deposited in mainly tide-dominated shelf
environments (Alam, 1991), whereas the Bogra For-
mation represents estuarine, deltaic to high-energy
coastal conditions (Banerji, 1984).
The Lower to Middle Miocene Surma Group, con-
sisting of the Bhuban Formation and the overlying
Boka Bil Formation, was deposited during repeated
transgressions and regressions. These widespread
units together reach ½4 km thick in the eastern fold
belts (Figs. 2 and 3) and the deeper part of basin, and
an equivalent unit in the northeasternmost Indian plat-
form (the Jamalganj Formation) ranges from 150 m
to 1.3 km thick (Fig. 2). Of the three units within the
Bhuban Formation, the lowermost and uppermost are
mainly light-gray to light-yellow siltstone and fine-
grained sandstone, alternating with bluish-gray, bed-
ded mudrock, whereas the middle unit is composed
244 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254

Fig. 3. Stratigraphic columns of (a) the Sylhet trough.

 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254
Fig. 3 (continued). (b) Chittagong Hills areas, representing the most complete exposed Miocene sections in the Bengal basin. Locations
shown in Fig. 1; data sources as in Fig. 2.
mainly of bluish to yellowish-gray silty and sandy
mudstone. The Boka Bil Formation is generally com-
posed of alternating mudstone, siltstone, and fine- to
medium-grained sandstones of various colors, com-
monly ripple cross-laminated. The middle part of the
Boka Bil is more arenaceous and forms natural gas
reservoirs in the Bengal basin. The top of the Boka Bil
is pelitic, and is popularly known as the ‘Upper Ma-
rine Shale’ (Holtrop and Keizer, 1970), marking the
last marine transgression in the Surma Group. John-
son and Nur Alam (1991) have interpreted Bhuban
sequences as prodelta and delta-front deposits of a
large mud-rich delta system similar to the modern
Ganges=Bengal delta (Fig. 1). Boka Bil sediments
were deposited in subaerial to brackish environments,
based on mudcracks and pollen types (Hystrichos-
phraedis; Holtrop and Keizer, 1970).
245
The Surma Group is unconformably overlain by
the Upper Miocene to Pliocene Tipam Group, com-
posed of the Tipam Sandstone and the Girujan Clay.
The Tipam Sandstone typically consists of yellowish
brown to orange, coarse-grained, cross-bedded, mas-
sive sand and sandstone with pebbles of crystalline
and sedimentary rocks, with common carbonized
wood fragments (including petrified tree trunks) and
coal interbeds. Where present, the Tipam Sandstone
ranges from 76 m to 2565 m thick, with maximum
thicknesses located in the Sylhet trough, but it is
absent in the northwestern part of the basin. The
coarse grain size, large-scale sedimentary structures,
and clay balls suggest that the Tipam Sandstone was
deposited in fluvial systems, interpreted by Johnson
and Nur Alam (1991) to have been bedload-domi-
nated braided-fluvial systems. The Girujan Clay is
246 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254
mostly composed of brown, blue, purple, and gray
mottled clay, ranging from 168 m to 1077 m thick,
with greatest thicknesses again in the Sylhet district
(Khan, 1978). The Girujan Clay accumulated in sub-
aerial conditions as lacustrine and fluvial overbank
deposits (Reimann, 1993).
The Plio–Pleistocene Dupi Tila Sandstone un-
conformably overlies the Tipam Group, and is best
represented in the Sylhet trough where it comprises
a sandy lower unit and an argillaceous upper unit
(Hiller and Elahi, 1984). The lower unit is com-
posed of gray to yellow, red, pink, purple, yellow
to off-white, medium- to coarse-grained, massive to
trough cross-bedded sandstone with pebbles of sed-
imentary and crystalline rocks. The upper unit of
the Dupi Tila Sandstone, which has not been iden-
tified elsewhere in Bangladesh, consists of fine- to
medium-grained siltstone with intercalations of mot-
tled clay horizons. Silicified wood and lignitic layers
are common in this finer unit. The thickness of the
Dupi Tila Sandstone ranges from 92 m in northwest
Bangladesh to 2393 m thick in the Sylhet trough
(Khan, 1978). The fining-upward sequences of the
Dupi Tila Sandstone, with alternating channel and
floodplain deposits, have been interpreted as mean-
dering river deposits (Johnson and Nur Alam, 1991).
Younger Pleistocene deposits have been identified
only locally as relatively thin subaerial deposits un-
conformably overlying the Dupi Tila Sandstone.
3. Methods
This study is primarily based on electric logs
(spontaneous potential and resistivity) collected dur-
ing oil and gas exploration at ten representative wells
by BOGMC (Fig. 1). These wells were selected
because they penetrate the entire Surma Group.
In general, older and younger units were either
not penetrated or not logged. Well compilation re-
ports for each well have also been consulted. These
reports include composite logs, core descriptions,
foraminiferal and palynological biostratigraphic re-
ports, and lithostratigraphy. Data from other wells
and outcrops have also been reviewed. Although
the well logs themselves, proprietary biostratigraphy,
and seismic data have not been released for publi-
cation by BOGMC and BAPEX, the data we have
collected from the well logs serve to define over-
all trends in Miocene deposition across the basin.
From the electric logs, total thicknesses have been
calculated for each formation, as well as aggregate
thicknesses of sand intervals, aggregate thicknesses
of mud intervals, and aggregate thicknesses of inter-
vals of mixed sand and mud. Calculated thicknesses
have been combined to construct thickness, percent-
age and ratio maps for paleogeographic analysis.
Intervals of mixed sand and mud are either thinly
interbedded sand and mud or intermixed sediment
(sandy mud, clayey or silty sand) that cannot be
subdivided on the basis of electric logs. Hence these
data, which make up 25% of the Bhuban Formation
and 21% of the Boka Bil Formation, respectively,
have not been used in the construction of lithofacies
maps. In northwestern Bangladesh, Miocene stratig-
raphy is not well defined because the Surma Group
is not readily differentiated in this area. Thicknesses,
however, are far less than those in the eastern and
southern parts of the basin (Fig. 2).
4. Results and discussion
The ten wells studied are from northeastern, cen-
tral, and southeastern Bangladesh (Fig. 1). Most of
these wells have proven reserves of natural gas, sev-
eral are producing gas, and one (Hazipur-1, located
on the hinge zone) exhibited an oil show (Reimann,
1993).
The most important observation drawn from the
subsurface data (Table 1) is that sand thicknesses and
percentages are consistently higher in the eastern
Sylhet trough, near Beani Bazar-1X and Rashid-
pur-2, than elsewhere in the study area. Sand per-
centages decrease away from this area in almost
all directions for both formations (Figs. 4 and 5).
The only other locality in which the Bhuban Forma-
tion has a comparably high sand content is at the
Hazipur-1 well, in the hinge zone (more than 200 km
west from the Beani Bazar-1X area. At Hazipur-1,
however, sand content in the Boka Bil Formation is
quite low, less than half of the average for the for-
mation. Although sand percentages for the Bhuban
Formation in the Beani Bazar-1X and Rashidpur-2
areas (eastern Sylhet trough) are close to the average
formation values (21%), sand content in the Boka
 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254 247

Table 1
Subsurface lithofacies data of the Miocene Bhuban and Boka Bil formations, Bengal basin, Bangladesh

Well name Total Sand Sand Shale Shale Mixed Mixed Sand=shale
thickness thickness % thickness % thickness %
(m) (m) (m) (m)
Boka Bil Formation
Hazipur-1 854 89.6 10.5 523.4 61.3 241 28.2 0.17
Chaatak-1 610 109.2 17.9 308.8 50.6 192 31.5 0.35
Atgram-1X 1171 114.8 9.8 892.9 76.3 163.3 13.9 0.13
Beani Bazar-1X 1009 538 53.3 308 30.5 163 16.2 1.75
Rashidpur-2 1424 474.2 33.3 740.8 52 209 14.7 0.64
Titas-1 1530 471.5 30.8 873.6 57.1 184.9 12.1 0.54
Kamta-1 1710 375.4 22 988 57.8 346.6 20.2 0.38
Bakhrabad-1 1210 152.5 12.6 605 50 452.5 37.4 0.25
Begumganj-1 1100 357 32.5 516 46.9 227 20.6 0.69
Semutang-1 1280 414.7 32.4 698.1 54.5 167.2 13.1 0.59
Average % 25.51 53.7 20.79 0.549
Bhuban Formation
Hazipur-1 883 218.3 24.7 474.3 53.7 190.4 21.6 0.46
Chaatak-1 1052 205.8 19.6 379.4 36.1 466.8 44.3 0.54
Atgram-1X 1920 288.9 15.1 1193.5 62.1 437.6 22.8 0.24
Beani Bazar-1X 471 111 23.6 207 43.9 153 32.5 0.54
Rashidpur-2 1680 468.9 27.9 773.2 46 437.9 26.1 0.61
Titas-1 1396 291.8 20.9 704.3 50.5 399.9 28.6 0.41
Kamta-1 874 227.3 26 472 54 174.7 20 0.48
Bakhrabad-1 1068 190.1 17.8 700.7 65.6 177.2 16.6 0.27
Begumganj-1 1076 118.4 11 637.7 59.3 319.9 29.7 0.19
Semutang-1 1666 350 21 1105.3 66.3 210.7 12.6 0.32
Average % 20.76 53.75 25.48 0.406

Bil Formation is dramatically higher than average in
these areas (26%; Table 1). The lowest sand=shale
ratio for the Boka Bil Formation (0.13) is at the
Atgram-1X well in the extreme northeastern corner
of Bangladesh.
Sedimentation patterns changed in detail between
the Early Miocene and the Late Miocene, but overall
depositional patterns remained similar. In particu-
lar, sand percentages and thicknesses at locations of
most eastern and southern wells increased from the
Bhuban Formation to the Boka Bil Formation (Ta-
ble 1). For example, the sand percentage of Bhuban
strata at Beani Bazar-1X (24%) is less than half
that in the Boka Bil Formation (53%), and the over-
all thickness of the Bhuban Formation is less than
half that of the Boka Bil Formation. In the hinge
zone (Hazipur-1), in contrast, the sand percentage
in the Bhuban Formation (25%) is over twice that
of the Boka Bil Formation (11%). Shale thickness
decreases considerably from the Bhuban (1105 m) to
the Boka Bil Formation (698 m) in the southeastern
area (Semutang-1, northern Chittagong).
4.1. Depositional patterns
Sand thickness and sand=shale ratio maps
(Fig. 4a,b, Fig. 5a,b) of the ten wells analyzed
suggest the following depositional patterns for the
sediments of the Bhuban and the Boka Bil forma-
tions. The Miocene deposits in the northwestern part
of the Bengal basin are very thin relative to other
parts of the basin, presumably due to limited sub-
sidence in this area. The exposed Indian shield is
located not far from here, and the area is floored by
buoyant continental crust as opposed to the thinned
continental and oceanic basement in other parts of
the basin. Also, the northeastern part of the basin
was affected by tectonic loading, both from the east
(Indo–Burman ranges) and the northeast (eastern Hi-
malayas) which caused nearby parts of the basin to
248 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254

Fig. 4. Subsurface lithofacies maps of the Bengal basin showing trends in clastic sediment accumulation in the Lower to Middle Miocene
Bhuban Formation. (a) Isopach map of cumulative sand thickness (in meters). (b) Facies map of sand=shale ratio. (c) Trends of sand
deposition inferred for the Early to Middle Miocene.
 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254 249

Fig. 5. Subsurface lithofacies maps of the Bengal basin showing trends in clastic sediment accumulation in the Middle to Upper Miocene
Boka Bil Formation. (a) Isopach map of cumulative sand thickness (in meters). (b) Facies map of sand=shale ratio. (c) Trends of sand
deposition inferred for Middle to Late Miocene; note overall similarity to trends inferred for the Early to Middle Miocene (see Fig. 4c).
250 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254
subside further, helping to accommodate huge thick-
nesses of Miocene sediments of the Surma Group.
Trends from the lithofacies maps of the Miocene
Surma Group in Bangladesh suggest that deltaic
deposits filled the Sylhet trough of the northeast
Bengal basin from the east, and that the source ter-
ranes of this sediment included the north-trending
Indo–Burman ranges directly adjacent to the east
and the eastern Himalayas. This is consistent with
preservation of thick orogenic sequences (Rao, 1983)
in Assam, northeast India (Fig. 1). The consistent in-
crease in sand percentages from the Bhuban to Boka
Bil formations in most of the eastern wells suggests
progradation of the delta and=or westward migration
of the Indo–Burman ranges as a proximal source.
The lowest sand=shale ratio for the Boka Bil
Formation (0.13) is at the Atgram-1X well, in the
extreme northeastern corner of Bangladesh. This
well is located remarkably close (about 30 km) to
the Beani Bazar-1X area, which has the highest
sand=shale ratio (1.75). There is no obvious expla-
nation for this anomaly; it may be due to structural
reasons, although no major fault has been recog-
nized that might have juxtaposed the rocks of these
two areas. The area of the Atgram-1X well may
represent an interdistributary setting between major
channels, one of which clearly drained through the
Beani Bazar area.
Depocenters in the Bengal basin did not migrate
significantly during the Miocene, suggesting that
there was no major shift in the location of maximum
subsidence during that time (Uddin, 1990). The im-
mediate source of these sediments remained almost
constant, because the depocenters for the Early to
Middle Miocene Bhuban Formation and the Middle
to Late Miocene Boka Bil Formation are only ¾30
km apart. This insignificant shift of depocenters may
be attributed to channel shifting (avulsion) of a ma-
jor Miocene river. Considering the Oligocene and
Miocene stratigraphy of Assam, immediately to the
northeast, it is likely that this major river originated
near the eastern Himalayan syntaxis.
Increases in sand percentages from the Bhuban to
the Boka Bil formations in northeastern Bangladesh
may reflect westward advance of the Indo–Burman
orogenic front toward the Sylhet trough. The litho-
facies maps also suggest the presence of another
river system, draining from the Indo–Burman ranges
straight to the Bengal fan through the northern
Chittagong Hills tracts (Figs. 4 and 5). These two
Miocene streams were likely distributaries of a ma-
jor river system that transported orogenic sediment
into the paleo-Bengal fan. The lithofacies maps also
suggest that the Shillong Plateau, an uplifted massif
of Precambrian basement rocks to the north of the
Bengal basin (Fig. 1), was not a source for Surma
Group deposits. This finding is consistent with the
results of petrologic studies of sediments from the
Sylhet trough, which suggest that the plateau was up-
lifted during Pliocene time (Johnson and Nur Alam,
1991).
These Miocene lithofacies data from the eastern
and northern Bengal basin are consistent with petro-
logic records in the Bengal basin sediments of ero-
sional unroofing of the nearby orogenic belts. Clear
evidence of this unroofing has been documented in
Miocene through Pleistocene strata in the Bengal
basin, by both sandstone modal analysis (Uddin and
Lundberg, 1998a) and heavy-mineral data (Uddin
and Lundberg, 1998b). The first clearly orogenic de-
tritus appears in lowermost Miocene strata. These
sands have substantial lithic components and both
plagioclase and potassium feldspars, as well as a
host of diverse heavy minerals, including aluminosil-
icates, pyroxenes, amphiboles, and tourmalines, sug-
gesting exhumation of metamorphic terranes from
the adjacent orogenic belts to the east and north.
Relatively high sand content in the Bhuban For-
mation in the Hazipur-1 area suggests that, like the
fluvial network of the present-day Ganges, the north-
western part of the Bengal basin was also drained by
stream systems during the Early to Middle Miocene.
There was shifting of one such channel in the Late
Miocene, as seen by the lower sand percentage in the
Boka Bil Formation. Input of detritus from the north-
west has also been suggested by Salt et al. (1986),
Alam (1989), and Lindsay et al. (1991). Seismic
stratigraphy reveals that there were major sandy tidal
mega-channels (8–10 km wide and 100 m deep) in
the southwestern part of the Bengal basin between
10.5 and 5 Ma (Late Miocene; Lindsay et al., 1991).
These data suggest that this area was an active part
of the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta, in which a dis-
tributary channel shifted through the Hazipur area.
 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254 251

4.2. Regional implications zone), where long-term accumulation was restricted

Subsurface lithofacies maps show that Lower
to Middle Miocene sand-rich deltaic strata of the
Bhuban Formation define a large, elongate depocen-
ter. The maximum grain size and sand thickness de-
scribe a large-scale meander westward from Rashid-
pur (northeast Bengal basin) and curving southward
toward the Bay of Bengal and the Bengal fan.
This sediment lobe can be traced down to south-
ern Bangladesh. A second lobe distributed sediment
southward through the Chittagong Hills of southeast-
ern Bangladesh, where sand contents and thicknesses
are high relative to the surrounding regions. There
was likely a third major stream in the northwestern
Bengal basin (in the Hazipur area, near the hinge
by very limited subsidence.
Middle to Upper Miocene strata of the Boka Bil
Formation show a geographic trend similar to that
shown by the Bhuban Formation in deposition of
coarsest and thickest sediment, but the depocenter
had shifted northward by about 30 km, passing near
Beani Bazar. As in the time of deposition of the
Bhuban Formation, there is also a second sediment
distribution system that passed southward through
the northwest Chittagong Hills tracts in southeastern
Bangladesh. Sand content in depocenters of the Boka
Bil Formation is generally higher than that in the
Bhuban Formation.
These data, taken together, suggest that there was
a major paleochannel, similar to the present-day

Fig. 6. Traces of drainage systems inferred from subsurface facies analysis. Paleo-Brahmaputra drainage is hypothesized to have
originated close to inferred location of eastern Himalayan syntaxis (on the basis of regional stratigraphic relationships) draining much
of the Assam valley to enter the northeastern Bengal basin. Deltaic deposition apparently prograded southwestward between advancing
deformation fronts of Himalaya and Indo–Burman orogens. Present-day locations of rivers, coastline, and Main Boundary Thrust shown
for reference.
252 A. Uddin, N. Lundberg / Sedimentary Geology 123 (1999) 239–254
Brahmaputra, that flowed from near the eastern Hi-
malayan syntaxis. This paleo-Brahmaputra system
apparently drained through the upper Assam valley
and reached the eastern part of the Sylhet trough to
enter the Bengal basin, and eventually drained to the
Bengal fan (Fig. 6). These data also show that rocks
of the Shillong Plateau were not a source of the
Miocene deltaic sediments of the Bengal basin, con-
sistent with inferred Pliocene uplift of the Shillong
Plateau (Johnson and Nur Alam, 1991). The Indo–
Burman ranges probably contributed sediment into
the Chittagong area, but the major sediment source
for Miocene strata of the Bengal basin was likely the
early uplifts of the eastern Himalayas.
The southeasternmost portion of the Bengal basin
contains perhaps the only intact portion of the rem-
nant Tethyan oceanic basement in the Himalayan
collision (Curray et al., 1982; Klootwijk et al., 1992;
Beck et al., 1995; and others). The collision prop-
agated from west to east (Burchfiel, 1993; Rowley,
1996), beginning during the Paleocene in Pakistan
(Beck et al., 1995). Therefore, at the time significant
uplifts began in the western Himalayas, the region to
the east was occupied by a shallow sea or only shal-
low uplifts. Initial uplifts in the eastern Himalayas
and the Indo–Burman ranges in the Oligocene, and
more intense uplift in the Miocene, apparently fun-
nelled orogenic detritus along a major drainage (pa-
leo-Brahmaputra?) through the remnant ocean basin.
Miocene depocenters in the Bengal basin migrated
from east to west and from north to south, toward the
Bay of Bengal, as underthrusting of India beneath
southeast Asia along the present-day Java trench and
its northern extension continued.
5. Conclusions
Analysis of subsurface well logs from the Ben-
gal basin reveals the following deltaic sedimentation
patterns. Lower to Middle Miocene sand-rich de-
posits of the Bhuban Formation accumulated in a
large-scale meander, extending westward from the
eastern Sylhet trough and curving southward toward
the Bay of Bengal. A smaller distributary carried
sediment southward through the Chittagong Hills
region. A third major stream in this area (paleo-
Ganges?) apparently brought sediment into the Ben-
gal basin from the northwest, with little net sediment
preservation. Geographic trends during the Middle
to Late Miocene are very similar to those of the
Early to Middle Miocene, although sand content
generally increased through the Miocene. This inves-
tigation suggests that a major paleo-drainage system
flowed from the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, drain-
ing through present-day Assam and bringing oro-
genic detritus into the Sylhet trough (Surma basin)
from the east. The Indo–Burman ranges probably
contributed sediment into the Chittagong area, but
the major sediment source for Miocene strata of
the Bengal basin was likely the early uplifts of the
eastern Himalayas.
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Honorable former Minister
for Energy and Mineral Resources of the Govern-
ment of Bangladesh and the former Chairman of
BOGMC for permission to analyze subsurface logs
from BOGMC and BAPEX. BAPEX, and especially
M. Moinul Huq and Nazim U. Ahmed, who provided
valuable logistical assistance. Andrew Miall, Allen
Clark, Leroy Odom, Jim Tull, and Paul Ragland
have provided constructive comments on an earlier
version of this paper. We thank NSF (grants INT-
9300295 and EAR-9419086), Geological Society of
America, Sigma Xi, and the Department of Geol-
ogy at FSU for financial support. This paper was
improved by thoughtful reviews by Peter DeCelles,
George Postma, and Michael Zaleha.
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