Tectonic Evolution of the Oman Mountains

The Oman Mountains contain one of the world's best- exposed and best-understood fold–thrust belts and the largest, best-exposed and most intensively studied ophiolite complex on Earth. This volume presents new international research from authors currently active in the field focusing on the geology of the Oman Mountains, the foreland region, the carbonate platforms of Northern and Central Oman and the underlying basement complex. In addition there is a particular focus on geoconservation in the region. The volume is divided into three main sections that discuss the tectonics of the Arabian plate using insights from geophysics, petrology, structural geology, geochronology and palaeontology; the petrology and geochemistry of the Oman Ophiolite and the sedimentary and hydrocarbon systems of Oman, drawing on the geophysics, structure and sedimentology of these systems. The volume is enhanced by numerous colour images provided courtesy of Petroleum Development Oman.
Neoproterozoic evolution of the eastern Arabian basement based on a refined geochronology of the Marbat region, Sultanate of Oman
-
Published:January 01, 2014
-
CiteCitation
Nina E. Rantakokko, Martin J. Whitehouse, Victoria Pease, Brian F. Windley, 2014. "Neoproterozoic evolution of the eastern Arabian basement based on a refined geochronology of the Marbat region, Sultanate of Oman", Tectonic Evolution of the Oman Mountains, H. R. Rollinson, M. P. Searle, I. A. Abbasi, A. I. Al-Lazki, M. H. Al Kindi
Download citation file:
- Share
Abstract
New high spatial resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) U–Pb zircon data from the Sadh gneiss complex and the intruding Marbat granodiorite of the Marbat region, southern Sultanate of Oman, yield Cryogenian magmatic protolith ages for gneisses ranging from c. 850 to 830 Ma. Zircon ages record a c. 815–820 Ma period of deformation and migmatization, followed by intrusion of a hornblende gabbro/diorite and the undeformed Marbat granodiorite at c. 795 Ma. Following break-up and rifting of Rodinia at c. 870 Ma, crustal growth in the Marbat region occurred via arc accretion at c. 850–790 Ma, possibly in the easternmost part of the Mozambique Ocean based on earlier cessation of accretion here compared to the Arabian–Nubian Shield. Similarity of the new zircon geochronology to peaks of detrital zircon ages in the unconformably overlying Ediacaran Marbat sandstone suggests relatively local derivation from uplifted basement for the latter.
Detailed petrographic descriptions and photographs of hand specimens and thin-sections are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18685.