Pan-African (late Precambrian) tectonic terrains and the reconstruction of the Arabian-Nubian Shield

The recognition of Precambrian ophiolite suites and their dismembered remnants in association with intraoceanic island-arc volcanic and plutonic terrains across much of the Arabian-Nubian Shield of eastern Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, western Saudi Arabia, and Sinai has been used by many authors to support the hypothesis of crustal accretion during late Proterozoic time (∼950−550 Ma). Reassembly of the various fragments provides a mosaic of Proterozoic microplates in a regular pattern in which at least five oceanic terrains, bounded by the remains of ophiolite belts, lie between remobilized continental plates to east and west.