Abstract The Tethyan region is a major petroleum province. The paleogeographic position and tectonic history is a major control on sedimentation across the region, and this has influenced the sequestration of hydrocarbons in the region. The North African-Arabian plate evolved along the Tethyan margins (Proto-Tethys, Paleo-Tethys, Neo-Tethys) from Pre-Cambrian to Recent. Paleogeographic maps have been reconstructed for selected time intervals: Cambrian, Late Ordovician, Early Devonian, Early Permian, Permian-Triassic boundary, Norian, Callovian, Aptian, Cretaceous-Cenozoic boundary, and Late Eocene. For each time interval both the general picture of the major plate tectonic configuration and a detail of the paleogeography and paleoenvironment of North Africa to the Middle East are presented. On these maps, the major paleoenvironmental settings (fron continental to shallow marine and deep ocean) are shown for the area stretching from North Africa to Afghanistan in all the selected time slices. Besides the major tectonic events, the global climate evolution and their interplay are discussed, which in some cases led to significant biotic turnovers or even to mass extinctions (e.g., Late Ordovician, Permian-Triassic boundary, Cretaceous-Cenozoic boundary). Paleogeographic maps have been compiled from literature, selecting those based on sound paleomagnetic/paleobiogeographic data. Each map is accompanied by the description of the major tectonic events that characterized the considered time interval. When contrasting paleogeographic reconstructions were available, their differences have been discussed. In general, major differences concern the interpretation of the setting and positioning of the microplates and terranes between the major continental plates. This chapter provides the introductory overview of the paleogeographic location and general tectonic history of the Tethyan margin through time. This is elaborated on and linked with depositional systems and hydrocarbon endowment in the subsequent chapters of AAPG Memoir 106.

Abstract New fieldwork was carried out in the central and eastern Alborz, addressing the sedimentary succession from the Pennsylvanian to the Early Triassic. A regional synthesis is proposed, based on sedimentary analysis and a wide collection of new palaeontological data. The Moscovian Qezelqaleh Formation, deposited in a mixed coastal marine and alluvial setting, is present in a restricted area of the eastern Alborz, transgressing on the Lower Carboniferous Mobarak and Dozdehband formations. The late Gzhelian–early Sakmarian Dorud Group is instead distributed over most of the studied area, being absent only in a narrow belt to the SE. The Dorud Group is typically tripartite, with a terrigenous unit in the lower part (Toyeh Formation), a carbonate intermediate part (Emarat and Ghosnavi formations, the former particularly rich in fusulinids), and a terrigenous upper unit (Shah Zeid Formation), which however seems to be confined to the central Alborz. A major gap in sedimentation occurred before the deposition of the overlying Ruteh Limestone, a thick package of packstone–wackestone interpreted as a carbonate ramp of Middle Permian age (Wordian–Capitanian). The Ruteh Limestone is absent in the eastern part of the range, and everywhere ends with an emersion surface, that may be karstified or covered by a lateritic soil. The Late Permian transgression was directed southwards in the central Alborz, where marine facies (Nesen Formation) are more common. Time-equivalent alluvial fans with marsh intercalations and lateritic soils (Qeshlaq Formation) are present in the east. Towards the end of the Permian most of the Alborz emerged, the marine facies being restricted to a small area on the Caspian side of the central Alborz. There, the Permo-Triassic boundary interval is somewhat similar to the Abadeh–Shahreza belt in central Iran, and contains oolites, flat microbialites and domal stromatolites, forming the base of the Elikah Formation. The P – T boundary is established on the basis of conodonts, small foraminifera and stable isotope data. The development of the lower and middle part of the Elikah Formation, still Early Triassic in age, contains vermicular bioturbated mudstone/wackestone, and anachronostic-facies-like gastropod oolites and flat pebble conglomerates. Three major factors control the sedimentary evolution. The succession is in phase with global sea-level curve in the Moscovian and from the Middle Permian upwards. It is out of phase around the Carboniferous–Permian boundary, when the Dorud Group was deposited during a global lowstand of sealevel. When the global deglaciation started in the Sakmarian, sedimentation stopped in the Alborz and the area emerged. Therefore, there is a consistent geodynamic control. From the Middle Permian upwards, passive margin conditions control the sedimentary evolution of the basin, which had its depocentre(s) to the north. Climate also had a significant role, as the Alborz drifted quickly northwards with other central Iran blocks towards the Turan active margin. It passed from a southern latitude through the aridity belt in the Middle Permian, across the equatorial humid belt in the Late Permian and reached the northern arid tropical belt in the Triassic.

ABSTRACT Along the western flank of the Haushi-Huqf Upift in Oman, the upper Palaeozoic succession consists of (from oldest to youngest): (1) glaciogenic Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian Al Khlata Formation; (2) marine Lower Permian Saiwan Formation (= Lower Gharif Member of subsurface Oman); (3) continental Lower and Middle Permian redefined Gharif Formation (= Middle and Upper Gharif members of subsurface Oman); and (4) lower part of the Middle Permian marine Khuff Formation. The succession overlies lower Palaeozoic-Proterozoic rocks, and the Khuff Formation is truncated by Triassic and younger unconformities. The Al Khlata Formation is about 100 m (328 ft) thick, and consists of a succession of diamictite, sandstone enclosing pebbles to boulders of sandstone, dolomite, black chert and pink granite clasts (ranging in diametre from a few centimetres to a metre). The overlying Saiwan Formation comprises two bioclastic units: lower ‘Bellerophon Limestone’ (10-18 m, 33-59 ft thick) and the upper ‘Metalegoceras Limestone’ (35-40 m, 115-131 ft thick). A basal Pachycyrtella Bed of the Saiwan Formation yielded Pachycyrtella omanensis associated with subordinate specimens of the genus Strophalosia indicating a mid-Sakmarian age. Brachiopod, ammonoid and bivalve assemblages in the main part of the Saiwan indicate a late Sakmarian age. The Saiwan Formation contains (5 metres above its base in the type section) Arabian Plate Maximum Flooding Surface MFS P10 of late Sakmarian age, and based on the latest Permian time scale is recalibrated at about 284 Ma (previously 272 Ma).The redefined Gharif Formation (70-100 m; 230-328 ft) lies unconformably above the Saiwan Formation, and consists of shale and sandstone deposited in floodplain and ephemeral shallow-lake environments. Uppermost Gharif ‘estuarine’ subunit B lies conformably below the first marine Khuff deposits, and contains a rich macroflora that is not diagnostic of a precise age, but is considered ?Roadian-?early Wordian. The incomplete Khuff Formation (30 m, 98 ft) consists of three informal members (1-3 from base up). The transition from Gharif subunit B to lowermost Khuff member 1 represents an environmental change from a distal fluviatile/estuarine system bordering a coastal plain, to a clastic transgressive shoal/barrier environment. Khuff members 2 and 3 reflect a carbonate shelf environment. The lower sequence boundary of the Khuff transgression is interpreted to be at the base of Gharif subunit B. Marine fauna in the Khuff Formation includes cephalopods, brachiopods, conodonts, ostracods and bivalves, which indicate a Middle Permian Wordian age. Conodont fauna from the uppermost levels of Khuff member 3 suggests a late Wordian age. The foraminifera indicate a Middle Permian age (Wordian and Capitanian).