The Batain Melange of NE Oman

Abstract

Most of the Batain coast area, previously unmapped or mapped as Hawasina, is shown to be underlain by melange. This consists of blocks, up to 10 km long, of a variety of rocks in a scanty, seldom exposed sheared shaly matrix. Clasts include Triassic and younger Hawasina-type red cherts and shales; Mesozoic calciturbidites; Permian limestones and megabreccias (associated with basalts); ammonitico rosso type blocks (Triassic?); a limestone and pillow lava assemblage, probably Jurassic; Cretaceous ophiolite; and Upper Cretaceous sandstones with basement-derived debris flows. Deformation becomes increasingly complex northwards. WNW-vergent thrusts and folds, dominant in the south, appear to have been continuous with the south-vergent structures in the Hawasina, west of the Jebel Ja’alan basement uplift. The melange is interpreted as primarily tectonic but probably composite in origin. It is correlated with the Hawasina (Oman) Melange which underlies the Semail Ophiolite, west of the Jebel Ja’alan Uplift. It is compared with other Tethyan melanges.

The break-up of East Gondwana along the northeast coast of Oman: evidence from the Batain basin

“…The 'Qarari Limestone' (sensu Shackleton et al 1990), known only from the Batain area, was assigned by Béchennec et al (1992) and Wyns et al (1992) to the Al Jil Formation. Immenhauser et al (1998) separate the Qarari Formation from the Al Jil Formation within the newly introduced Batain Group (Fig.…”

“…An Early to early Middle Permian age for the Qarari Unit was determined by Shackleton et al (1990) and Lee (1990), who mentioned an extensive fauna of fusulinids, productid brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, blastoids, crinoids and trilobites from the Jabal Qarari area. The early Late Permian age determined by Wyns et al (1992) is demonstrated by conodont assemblages with Gondolella cf.…”

“…Because of different lithologies and their apparently chaotic depositional relationship, similar exposures were interpreted in the Oman Mountains as a series of carbonate build-ups, deposited in part on oceanic islands or seamounts (Searle & Graham, 1982) or as slope deposits of the Arabian platform margin (Blendinger, 1991). These lithologies were previously mapped in the Batain area as the Ibra and the Al Aridh formations by Glennie et al (1974), or were considered as 'limestone megabreccia' in the 'Batain Mélange' by Shackleton et al (1990) (Fig. 2).…”

Late Cretaceous Sub-Marine Fan System in Batain Mélange Zone, the Fayah Formation in Northeastern Oman

“…The northeastern margin of Oman between Ra's al Hadd and Ra's Jibsch is characterized by a complex stratigraphic setting recording major tectonic events, such as the opening of the Tethys Ocean and the obduction of the Masirah Ophiolites and associated mélange sequence [2,3]. The Batain Mélange formed due to the closure of the Batain basin and the obduction of the Masirah ophiolite along the northeastern margin of the Arabian Plate during late Maastrichtian-early Paleocene time.…”

“…he Batain coast in northeastern Oman in Ash-Sharyqiah region ( Figure 1) is comprised of diverse stratigraphy due to complex deformation related to the Late Cretaceous-Paleogene deformation of the Arabian Plate and closure of the Tethyan Ocean [1,2,3]. The area is part of a tectonic mélange known as the Batain Mélange [1], comprising Permian to Late Cretaceous rocks later described as the Batain Group of the Batain nappe [4].…”