Early cretaceous platform-margin configuration and evolution in the central Oman mountains, Arabian peninsula
- Univ. of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (Canada)
- Univ. Innovation Centre, Swansea (United Kingdom)
The Hajar Supergroup (Middle Permian-Lower Cretaceous) of northeastern Oman records rifting and development of a passive margin along the edge of the Arabian platform facing Neo-Tethys. The Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous part, comprising the Sahtan, Kahmah, and Wasia groups, was deposited during the maximum extent of the broad epicontinental sea landward of this margin. These limestone units reach a total of 1500 m in thickness and correlate with the hydrocarbon reservoirs of the Arabian Peninsula. The trace of the Jurassic and Cretaceous margin in northeastern Oman followed a zigzag series of rift segments, resulting in promontories and reentrants that changed in position through time in response to the configuration and differential motion of underlying rift blocks. Synsedimentary normal faulting occurred locally in the Middle Jurassic, whereas in the Late Jurassic, the margin was eroded from variable uplift of up to 300 m before subsiding to below storm wave base. This uplift may have been caused by compression from oceanic crust that obducted along the southeastern side of the platform. The Lower Cretaceous succession in the central Oman Mountains and adjacent subsurface began with regional drowning around the Jurassic-Cretaceous boundary. The succession in the east (Saih Hatat) records a single regressive sequence, ending in the progradation of the shallow-water carbonate platform by the Cenomanian. However, the succession in the west (Jebel Akhdar and interior) is dominated by shallow-water carbonate facies, but punctuated by a second regional drowning in the late Aptian. A third, Late Cretaceous drowning terminated deposition of the Wasia Group in the Turonian and was caused by convergence of oceanic crust and foreland basic formation. The record of tectonic behavior of carbonate platforms has important implications for the development of hydrocarbon source rocks and porosity. 68 refs., 11 figs., 1 tab.
- OSTI ID:
- 6106701
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Vol. 77:2; ISSN 0149-1423; ISSN AABUD2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Response of a passive continental margin carbonate slope to closing of a Mesozoic Ocean basin - Mayhah Formation and Qumayrah facies of Muti Formation, Oman
Structural and stratigraphic analysis of the Dinaride thrust belt; A frontier exploration province in central-Southern Europe
Related Subjects
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000 -- Geosciences
ARAB COUNTRIES
ASIA
BASEMENT ROCK
CARBONATE ROCKS
CONTINENTAL MARGIN
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
EARTH CRUST
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
HYDROCARBONS
LIMESTONE
MESOZOIC ERA
MIDDLE EAST
MOUNTAINS
OCEANIC CRUST
OMAN
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORIGIN
PLATE TECTONICS
RESERVOIR ROCK
RIFT ZONES
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
TECTONICS