https://www.utdallas.edu/~rjstern/egypt/PDFs/Cenozoic%20Red%20Sea/BosworthRedSeaJAES05.pdf

The Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Basins

A series of 19 paleofacies maps have been generated for given time intervals between the Late Permian and Holocene to reconstruct the depositional history of the Arabian Plate. The succession of changing lithological sequences is controlled by the interplay of eustacy and sediment supply with regional and local tectonic influences. The Mesozoic paleofacies history of the Plate is, in its central and eastern portion east of Riyadh, strongly influenced by an older N-trending, horst and graben system that reflects the grain of the Precambrian Amar Collision and successively younger structural deformations. The late Paleozoic Hercynian orogenic event caused block faulting and relative uplift and resulted in a marked paleorelief. This jointed structural pattern dominated the entire Mesozoic and, to some extent, the Cenozoic facies distribution. The relationship between producing fields and the paleofacies maps illustrates the various petroleum systems of particular times and regions.

https://www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/ziegler/images/ziegler.pdf

Late Permian to Holocene Paleofacies Evolution of the Arabian Plate and its Hydrocarbon Occurrences

The concept of 'Gondwana', an ancient Southern Hemisphere supercontinent, is firmly established in geological and biogeographical models of Earth history. The term Gondwana (Gondwanaland of some authors) derives from the recognition by workers at the Indian Geological Survey in the mid- to late 19th century of a distinctive sedimentary sequence preserved in east central India. This succession, now known to range in age from Permian to Cretaceous, is lithologically and palaeontologically similar to coeval non-marine sedimentary successions developed in most of the Southern Hemisphere continents suggesting former continuity of these landmasses. Palaeomagnetic data and tectonic reconstructions suggest that the main assembly of Gondwana took place around the beginning of the Palaeozoic in near-equatorial latitudes and that the supercontinent as a whole shifted into high southern latitudes, allowing widespread glaciation by the end of the Carboniferous. From Carboniferous to Cretaceous times the southern continents had broadly similar floras but some species-level provincialism is apparent at all times. The break-up of Gondwana initiated during the Jurassic (at about 180 million years ago) and this process is continuing. The earliest rifting (crustal attenuation) within the supercontinent initiated in the west (between South America and Africa) and in general terms the rifting pattern propagated eastward with major phases of continental fragmentation in the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Paleogene. Gondwanan floras show radical turnovers near the end of the Carboniferous, end of the Permian and the end of the Triassic that appear to be unrelated to isolation or fragmentation of the supercontinent. Throughout the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic the high-latitude southern floras maintained a distinctly different composition to the palaeoequatorial and boreal regions even though they remained in physical connection with Laurasia for much of this time. Gondwanan floras of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (times immediately preceding and during break-up) were dominated by araucarian and podocarp conifers and a range of enigmatic seed-fern groups. Angiosperms became established in the region as early as the Aptian (before the final break-up events) and steadily diversified during the Cretaceous, apparently at the expense of many seed-fern groups. Hypotheses invoking vicariance or long distance dispersal to account for the biogeographic patterns evident in the floras of Southern Hemisphere continents all rely on a firm understanding of the timing and sequence of Gondwanan continental breakup. This paper aims to summarise the current understanding of the geochronological framework of Gondwanan breakup against which these biogeographic models may be tested. Most phytogeographic studies deal with the extant, angiosperm-dominated floras of these landmasses. This paper also presents an overview of pre-Cenozoic, gymnosperm-dominated, floristic provincialism in Gondwana. It documents the broad succession of pre-angiosperm floras, highlights the distinctive elements of the Early Cretaceous Gondwanan floras immediately preceding the appearance of angiosperms and suggests that latitudinal controls strongly influenced the composition of Gondwanan floras through time even in the absence of marine barriers between Gondwana and the northern continents. Go na br nd prn ti l S.ou

The breakup history of Gondwana and its impact on pre-Cenozoic floristic provincialism

The transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene epoch was the most significant event in Earth history since the extinction of dinosaurs. As the first Antarctic ice sheets appeared, major extinctions and faunal turnovers took place in the land and in the sea, eliminating forms adapted to a tropical world and replacing them with the ancestors of most of our modern animal and plant life. Through a detailed study of climatic conditions and of organisms buried in Eocene-Oligocene sediments, this volume shows that the separation of Antarctica from Australia was a critical factor in changing oceanic circulation and ultimately world climate. In this book, contributors examine the full range of Eocene and Oligocene phenomena. Their articles cover nearly every major group of organisms in the ocean and on land and include evidence from palaeontology, stable isotopes, sedimentology, seismology and computer climatic modelling. The volume concludes with an update of the geochronological framework of the late Palaeogenic period.

Eocene-Oligocene Climatic and Biotic Evolution

Senonian basin inversion and rejuvenation of rifting in Africa and Arabia: synthesis and implications to plate-scale tectonics

The Cenomanian of the Arabian Peninsula comprises a carbonate platform setting with rudists, characterized by gradual lateral facies changes including the interfingering of carbonate reservoirs (Natih and Mishrif formations) and source rocks. In order to be more predictive with regard to the distribution and the geometrical aspects of the reservoirs and source rocks, a high resolution sequence stratigraphic study has been carried out in the Adam Foothills of Northern Oman. Based on detailed field sections a correlation scheme covering a transect of 100 kilometers (km) has been established. Three orders of stacked depositional sequences have been found based on the reoccurrence of facies. During long-term increase of accommodation the depositional environment was separated in basinal and platform facies. In contrast, during longer term sea level fall, i.e. long-term decrease of accommodation space, prograding shelfal units extended platform facies over a large part of the basin. The most heterogeneous facies associations are found in times of minimal accommodation space, when incisions and subaerial exposure produce lateral variable strata (e.g. top Natih E). The organic matter is found at the base of two of the three longer term (3rd order) depositional sequences. The organic carbon is contained in marl-limestone couplets (small-scale cyclicity) with a high abundance of oysters and monospecific brachiopod faunas (coquinas). Rudists are found in the progradational part of these sequences, and occur mostly as reworked rudstone layers in meter to decimeter scale, high frequency cycles. The detailed regional correlation depends on the identification of medium- to small-scale (4th to 5th order) depositional sequences which are bounded by regional shifts of the facies belts. The distinct hierarchical organization of the depositional sequences in the Cenomanian, and the relative stability at that time of the Arabian Peninsula, implies a strong correlation potential and thus a broad regional similarity of the architecture of the petroleum systems at that time.

/pdf/high-resolution-sequence-stratigraphy-of-the-natih-formation-4dmakcytwc.pdf

High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy of the Natih Formation (Cenomanian/Turonian) in Northern Oman: Distribution of Source Rocks and Reservoir Facies

Donnees nouvelles sur la stratigraphie et l'histoire geologique du Dhofar (sultanat d'Oman)

Découverte de Vertébrés fossiles dans l'Oligocène inférieurdu Dhofar (Sultanat d'Oman)

/pdf/the-oman-gharif-mixed-paleoflora-a-useful-tool-for-testing-41rrbg6bjz.pdf

The Oman Gharif mixed paleoflora: a useful tool for testing Permian Pangea reconstructions

This paper focuses on new paleontological discoveries that have come to light while working on a Permian paleobotanical transect, from Oman to Central Morocco. In the Huqf area, the continental plant bearing Gharif Formation is bracketed by two well dated marine Formations, providing new age constraint for the discovered mixed paleoflora. The newly named Kubergandian-Murgabian Gharif Paleoflora is of outstanding paleogeographic significance. Gondwanan, Cathaysian and Euramerian elements are found to be associated. The understanding of the kinematics of the Permian vegetal cover lead us to test the proposed Peri-Tethyan paleogeographical contours.

Jack Roger

Papers

High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy of the Natih Formation (Cenomanian/Turonian) in Northern Oman: Distribution of Source Rocks and Reservoir Facies

Donnees nouvelles sur la stratigraphie et l'histoire geologique du Dhofar (sultanat d'Oman)

Découverte de Vertébrés fossiles dans l'Oligocène inférieurdu Dhofar (Sultanat d'Oman)

The Oman Gharif mixed paleoflora: a useful tool for testing Permian Pangea reconstructions

The Permian Pangea. Phytogeographic implications of new paleontological discoveries in Oman (Arabian Peninsula)