Outlines of the stratigraphy and structural framework of Southern Dhofar (Sultanate of Oman)

Abstract

Recently drilled deep water wells have provided new information of the succession and structure of Southern Dhofar. A small segment of the Pan-African Shield, composed of acid gneisses, granites, pegmatites, aplites and a basic dyke swarm underlies the Mirbat Plain. Furthermore, two windows of bedded basement rocks occur in south-west Dhofar. A restricted development of post-basement Palaeozoic clastics occurs as the Mirbat Formation, which may equate with the Ordovician to Permian Haima Formation elsewhere in Oman. The Cretaceous sequence (Mahra Group) is similar to that found in eastern South Yemen, except that a newly defined mixed clastic and carbonate Qamar Formation is recognized. The Kenozoic succession broadly resembles that of South Yemen and much of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf area. Structures in the post-basement rocks are: east-northeast trending folds which commenced in middle Eocene times, north-south open folds and arcuate normal faults subparallel to the coastline, associated with the Gulf of Aden Rift.