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GEOREF RECORD

The Jebel Thurwah upper Proterozoic ophiolite complex, western Saudi Arabia

M. O. Nassief, R. Macdonald and I. G. Gass
The Jebel Thurwah upper Proterozoic ophiolite complex, western Saudi Arabia
Journal of the Geological Society of London (May 1984) 141, Part 3: 537-546

Abstract

The mafic-ultramafic igneous complex occupying some 40 km (super 2) in west-central Saudi Arabia was tectonically dismembered and emplaced as thrust slices into an island-arc volcano-sedimentary sequence >680 m.y. ago. It contains tectonized harzburgite with dunitic lenses, layered mafic and ultramafic plutonic rocks, as well as gabbros, tonalites and plagiogranites, and also sheeted dykes and pillow lavas. Major-oxide and trace-element analyses suggest that the complex was originally oceanic lithosphere formed above a subduction zone. During a subsequent collison, this ophiolite was thrust onto an Upper Proterozoic island-arc sequence of andesitic-rhyodacitic rocks of tholeiitic transitional to calc-alkaline affinity. This mass lies in a NE-SW zone of ophiolite complexes extending from Bir Umq (150 km to the NE) to NE Sudan that marks a suture between island-arc systems subsequently accreted to form the continental crust of the Arabian-Nubian Shield.


ISSN: 0016-7649
EISSN: 2041-479X
Coden: JGSLAS
Serial Title: Journal of the Geological Society of London
Serial Volume: 141, Part 3
Title: The Jebel Thurwah upper Proterozoic ophiolite complex, western Saudi Arabia
Affiliation: King Abdelaziz Univ., Jedda, Saudi Arabia
Pages: 537-546
Published: 198405
Text Language: English
Publisher: Geological Society of London, London, United Kingdom
References: 35
Accession Number: 1985-081103
Categories: Igneous and metamorphic petrology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. 2 tables, geol. sketch maps
N22°40'00" - N22°48'00", E39°19'60" - E39°30'00"
Secondary Affiliation: Univ. Lancaster, Dep. Environ. Sci., GBR, United KingdomOpen Univ., Dep. Earth Sci., GBR, United Kingdom
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2018, American Geosciences Institute. Reference includes data from Mineralogical Abstracts, United Kingdom, Twickenham, United Kingdom
Update Code: 1985

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