Structural geology of the Rub' Al‐Khali Basin, Saudi Arabia

Stewart, Simon

doi:10.1002/2016tc004212

Cited by 54 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 123 publications

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“…The hiatus spans from the Carnian to the Norian (between the Ghail and Milaha Formations) and can be correlated with the possible uplift event in the Late Triassic observed in the tectonic subsidence curves. In addition, a Late Triassic (Norian) angular unconformity in the Rub' Al‐Khali, southwest of the Musandam peninsula, is documented in Stewart () and Stewart et al (). The unconformity is characterized by an absence of the Minjur Formation.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Subsidence History and Seismic Stratigraphy of the Western Musandam Peninsula, Oman–United Arab Emirates Mountains

Ali¹,

Aidarbayev

Searle

et al. 2018

Tectonics

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Seismic reflection profiles, exploratory well, and outcrop data are used to determine the stratigraphy and tectonic subsidence and uplift history of the western Musandam peninsula. Five major regional megasequences have been recognized: (1) Permian to Late Cretaceous rifted margin sequence, (2) Late Cretaceous Aruma foreland basin sequence that evolved in response to the obduction of the Semail Ophiolite, (3) early–mid‐Cenozoic Pabdeh foreland basin sequence that formed due to orogenic loading associated with the early continent–continent collision of the Arabian and Eurasian plates in the Zagros mountains of central Iran, (4) a sequence above the mid‐Miocene unconformity that marks the final stage of continent–continent collision, and (5) a sequence above the late Pliocene unconformity interpreted as tilting due to the latest stage of continent–continent collision. In addition, seismic and outcrop data captured multiple west‐verging and east‐dipping thrust faults associated with the deformation of the Hagab thrust, which causes repetition of the Permian–Mesozoic shelf sequence and the early–mid Cenozoic foreland basin sequence. The tectonic subsidence and uplift derived from backstripping can be explained by a model in which the margin developed by uniform depth extension with an initial age of rifting of 260 Ma and a final age of rifting of 185 Ma. Moreover, the tectonic subsidence indicates two compressional events that commenced at ~94 Ma and ~25 Ma, respectively. These events are attributed to the obduction of the Semail Ophiolite and the culmination of the Musandam peninsula, respectively.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Subsidence History and Seismic Stratigraphy of the Western Musandam Peninsula, Oman–United Arab Emirates Mountains

Ali¹,

Aidarbayev

Searle

et al. 2018

Tectonics

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“…Due to lack of outcrop exposure (except in the west margin), the Rub' Al-Khali basin evolution is known only from geophysical data. Stewart [20] reported the process of development of structures in the Rub' Al-Khali basin from the Late Precambrian to Neogene observed on seismic, magnetic, gravity, and well data. This data shows a relatively complete Phanerozoic succession with north-south and northwest-southeast trending basement structure ( Figure 1B) that are formed during East African Antarctic Orogeny.…”

Section: Geology Of the Rub' Al-khali Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They successfully improved the quality of the data and resolved the uncertainties by combining 3D seismic data and borehole seismic measurements including vertical seismic pro ling (VSP) surveys. Stewart et al [19,20] carried out a study on the Mesozoic petroleum system of the Rub' Al-Khali basin, particularly the Triassic to Jurassic siliciclastic reservoirs. They also described the structural evolution of the Rub' Al-Khali basin from the Precambrian to Neogene using a combination of regional seismic, gravity, and magnetic data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscoelastic Model and Synthetic Seismic Data of Eastern Rub’Al-Khali

et al. 2021

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The Rub’ Al-Khali basin in Saudi Arabia remains unexplored and lacks data availability due to its remoteness and the challenging nature of its terrain. Thus far, there are neither digital geologic models nor synthetic seismic data from this specific area accessible for testing research techniques and analysis. In this study, we build a 2D viscoelastic model of the eastern part of the Rub’ Al-Khali basin and generate a corresponding dual-component seismic data set. We compile high-resolution depth models of compressional- and shear-wave velocities, density, as well as compressional- and shear-wave quality factors from published data. The compiled models span Neoproterozoic basement up to Quaternary sand dunes. We then use the finite-difference technique to model the propagation of seismic waves in the compiled viscoelastic medium of eastern Rub’ Al-Khali desert. In particular, we generate vertical and horizontal components of the shot gathers with accuracy to the fourth and second orders in space and time, respectively. The viscoelastic models and synthetic seismic datasets are made available in an open-source site for prospective re-searchers who desire to use them for their research. Users of these datasets are urged to make their findings also accessible to the geoscience community as a way of keeping track of developments related to the Rub’ Al-Khali desert.

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“…The Arabian plate, which formed part of the northeastern margin of the Gondwana supercontinent, experienced diastrophic tectonic events throughout much of its geological history (Haq et al, 1988;Haq and Al-Qahtani, 2005;Faqira et al, 2009;Stewart, 2016). In the Permian, it was located at approximately 25° south of the paleoequator, before it progressively shifted northwards during the Triassic and Jurassic (Scotese, 2001;Ziegler, 2001;Schlaich and Aigner, 2017) to occupy a position close to the equator during the Mesozoic (Stampfli and Borel, 2002;Golonka, 2007;Seton et al, 2012;Stewart et al, 2016).…”

Section: Geological Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of a fluvial to shallow-marine succession: The Jurassic Dhruma Formation, Saudi Arabia

Alshammari

Mountney

Colombera

et al. 2021

Journal of Sedimentary Research

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The interaction of fluvial, tidal, and wave processes in coastal and paralic environments gives rise to sedimentary successions with highly varied styles of facies architecture; these are determined by the morphology and evolutionary behavior of the range of coastal sub-environments, which may be difficult to diagnose in subsurface sedimentary successions with limited well control. This study presents depositional models to account for stratigraphic complexity in a subsurface fluvial to shallow-marine succession, the Middle Jurassic Dhruma Formation, Saudi Arabia. The study achieves the following: i) it examines and demonstrates sedimentary relationships between various fluvial, nearshore, and shallow-marine deposits, ii) it develops depositional models to account for the stratigraphic complexity inherent in fluvial to shallow-marine successions, and iii) it documents the sedimentology and the stratigraphic evolutionary patterns of the lower Dhruma Formation in the studied area of Saudi Arabia. The dataset comprises facies descriptions of 570 m of core from 14 wells, 77 representative core thin sections, 14 gamma-ray logs, and FMI image logs from 4 wells. These data are integrated with quantitative information from > 50 analogous systems from a wide range of modern and ancient settings, stored in a relational database. Stratigraphic correlations reveal the internal anatomy of the succession. Facies associations are representative of fluvial channels, intertidal flats, pedogenically modified supratidal flats or floodplains, river-influenced tidal bars, weakly storm-affected shoreface and offshore-transition zones, storm-dominated delta-front and prodelta settings, and an open-marine carbonate-dominated shelf. These sub-environments interacted in a complex way through space and time. The vertical succession of the studied interval records an overall transition from coastal-plain deposits at the base to marine deposits at the top. As such, the succession records a long-term transgressive, deepening-upward trend. However, this general trend is punctuated by repeated progradational events whereby coastal sand bodies of fluvial, wave, and tidal origin prograded basinward during stillstands to fill bays along a coastline. The nature of juxtaposition of neighboring sub-environments has resulted in a sedimentary record that is highly complex compared to that generated by morphologically simple shoreface systems that accumulate more regularly ordered stratal packages.

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Structural geology of the Rub' Al‐Khali Basin, Saudi Arabia

Cited by 54 publications

References 123 publications

Subsidence History and Seismic Stratigraphy of the Western Musandam Peninsula, Oman–United Arab Emirates Mountains

Subsidence History and Seismic Stratigraphy of the Western Musandam Peninsula, Oman–United Arab Emirates Mountains

Viscoelastic Model and Synthetic Seismic Data of Eastern Rub’Al-Khali

Sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of a fluvial to shallow-marine succession: The Jurassic Dhruma Formation, Saudi Arabia

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