The Hawasina Nappes: stratigraphy, palaeogeography and structural evolution of a fragment of the south-Tethyan passive continental margin

Béchennec, F.; Métour, J. Le; Rabu, D.; Bourdillon-de-Grissac, Ch.; Wever, Patrick De; Beurrier, M.; Villey, Michel

doi:10.1144/gsl.sp.1992.049.01.14

Cited by 113 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Béchennec et al 1990). The development of radiolarian cherts at the JurassicCretaceous transition represents an important relative rise in calcite compensation depth, and a drowning of the distal Arabian carbonate platform in the Batain and Hawasina (Sidr Chert) basins (Fig.…”

Section: Geodynamic Evolution 3a Late Carboniferous To Late Cretacementioning

confidence: 99%

Late Palaeozoic to Neogene geodynamic evolution of the northeastern Oman margin

et al. 2000

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When the highlands of Arabia were still covered with an ice shield in the latest Carboniferous/Early Permian period, separation of Gondwana started. This led to the creation of the Batain basin (part of the early Indian Ocean), off the northeastern margin of Oman. The rifting reactivated an Infra-Cambrian rift shoulder along the northeastern Oman margin and detritus from this high was shed into the interior Oman basin. Whereas carbonate platform deposits became widespread along the margin of the Neo-Tethys (northern rim of Oman), drifting and oceanization of the Batain basin started only in Late Jurassic/Early Cretaceous time. Extensional tectonics was followed in the Late Cretaceous by contraction caused by the northward drift of Greater India and Afro-Arabia. This resulted in the collision of Afro-Arabia with an intra-oceanic trench and obduction of the Semail ophiolite and the Hawasina nappes south to southwestward onto the northern Oman margin ∼80 m.y. ago. During the middle Cretaceous, the oceanic lithosphere (including the future eastern ophiolites of Oman) drifted northwards as part of the Indian plate. At the Cretaceous–Palaeogene transition (∼65 Ma), oblique convergence between Greater India and Afro-Arabia caused fragments of the early Indian Ocean to be thrust onto the Batain basin. Subsequently, the Lower Permian to uppermost Maastrichtian sediments and volcanic rocks of the Batain basin, along with fragments of Indian Ocean floor (eastern ophiolites), were obducted northwestward onto the northeastern margin of Oman. Palaeogene neo-autochtonous sedimentary rocks subsequently covered the nappe pile. Tertiary extensional tectonics related to Red Sea rifting in the Late Eocene was followed by Miocene shortening, associated with the collision of Arabia and Eurasia and the formation of the Oman Mountains.

show abstract

Section: Geodynamic Evolution 3a Late Carboniferous To Late Cretacementioning

confidence: 99%

Late Palaeozoic to Neogene geodynamic evolution of the northeastern Oman margin

et al. 2000

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…-(2) A Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic foreland basin made up of Late Cretaceous (Aruma Group), Paleogene (Pabdeh) and Neogene (Fars) clastics, separated by an evaporitic interval (Massive and Cyclic Salt formations) which covers the western onshore province (lowlands) and adjacent offshore of the Arabian Gulf (Patton and O'Connor 1986;Boote et al 1990;Warburton et al 1990;Béchennec et al 1995). -(3) A Late Cretaceous-Cenozoic fold-and-thrust belt, which accounts for the current elevated topography of the Oman Range (Glennie et al 1973(Glennie et al , 1974Graham 1980a;Ricateau and Riché 1980;Lippard et al 1982;Searle et al 1983;Searle 1985Searle , 1988aGass and Shelton 1986;Hanna 1986Hanna , 1990Dunne et al 1990;Le Métour et al 1990;Warrak 1996;Breton et al 2004;Glennie 2005 (Graham 1980b;Watts 1985Watts , 1990Watts and Garrison 1986;Bernoulli and Weissert 1987;Béchennec et al 1988Béchennec et al , 1990Watts and Blome 1990;Eilrich and Grotsch 2003). Phillips et al 2006), indicating that uplift (of at least part of the foreland) took place before the obduction of the Semail ophiolite.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Forward Kinematic Modelling of a Regional Transect in the Northern Emirates Using Geological and Apatite Fission Track Age Constraints on Paleo-Burial History

Tărăpoancă

Andriessen²,

Broto

et al. 2012

Lithosphere Dynamics and Sedimentary Basins: The Arabian Plate and Analogues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper aims to simulate the kinematic evolution of a regional transect crossing the Northern Emirates in the northernmost part of the Semail Ophiolite and the Dibba zone, just south of the Musandam Platform exposures. The studied section comprises, from top to bottom and from inner to outer zones, (1) the erosional remnants of the Semail Ophiolite, mainly made up of serpentinized ultramafics in the west and gabbros in the east, (2) high-grade metamorphic rocks which are currently exposed in the core of a nappe anticline near Masafi, (3) far-travelled Hawasina basinal units and Sumeini paleoslope units of the Dibba Zone, (4) parautochthonous platform carbonates, which are currently well exposed in the Musandam area, and (5) a flexural basin filled with uppermost Cretaceous to Neogene sediments. Two main compressional episodes are generally identified, resulting first in the obduction of the Semail Ophiolite and then in the stacking of underlying platform carbonate units of the former Arabian passive margin, thus accounting for the present architecture of this transect: (1) first, deformation at the plate boundary initiated in the Late Cretaceous, resulting in the obduction of the Semail Ophiolite and the progressive accretion of the Hawasina and Sumeini tectonic wedge on top of the Arabian foreland, leading to a progressive bending of its lithosphere and development of a wide flexural basin; (2) compression resumed during the Neogene, leading to the tectonic stacking of the parautochthonous platform duplexes of Musandam and Margham trends, the development of out-of-sequence thrusts and triangle zones, refolding of the sole thrust of the former Late Cretaceous accretionary wedge and coeval normal (?) high-angle faulting along the contact between the Musandam and Dibba zones. However, seismic profiles and paleo-thermometers also help in identifying another erosional event at the boundary between the Paleogene Pabdeh and the Neogene Fars series. Evidenced by the local erosional truncation of the Pabdeh series in the vicinity of the frontal triangle zone (i.e. the inner part of the former Late Cretaceous foredeep), this Paleogene uplift/unroofing episode is tentatively interpreted here as an evidence for a continuum of compressional deformation lasting from the Late Cretaceous to the Middle Miocene although one may alternatively speculate that it was related to the detachment of the subducted slab. Although carbonate facies are usually not suitable for apatite fission track (AFT) studies, we were able to extract detrital apatites from quartz-bearing Triassic dolomites in the Musandam area. However, the yield and the quality were both poor and too few fission track lengths could be measured, making it difficult to interpret the meaning of the FT ages. The FT dates obtained in this study are therefore compared with those existing in Arab J Geosci (2010) 3:395-411 DOI 10.1007 the literature. Fortunately enough, for each sample, at least ten apatite crystals could be used for fission track dating, except f...

show abstract

“…[3] A Permo-Triassic opening of the Neotethys has been documented in various areas in the Himalayas [Acharyya, 1992;Gaetani and Garzanti, 1991;Garzanti et al, 1994Garzanti et al, , 1996aGarzanti et al, , 1996bGarzanti et al, , 1999Garzanti and Sciunnach, 1997;Robertson, 1998], Iran [Berberian and King, 1981;Sengör et al, 1993], and Oman [Béchennec, 1988;Béchennec et al, 1988Béchennec et al, , 1990Béchennec et al, , 1991Rabu et al, 1990;Sengör et al, 1993;Angiolini et al, 2003aAngiolini et al, , 2003b. In Oman, there is an ongoing debate regarding the origin of the Permian to Triassic Hawasina Nappes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The common occurrence of Permian pillowed basaltic flows at the base of the Hawasina Nappes has often been taken as evidence for oceanic crust formation [Glennie et al, 1974;Blendinger et al, 1990;Stampfli et al, 1991;Pillevuit et al, 1992Pillevuit et al, , 1997, and thus these basalts are considered direct witnesses of the middle Permian Neotethys seafloor [Stampfli and Pillevuit, 1993]. Alternatively, it has been proposed that the material of the Hawasina Nappes formed on the continental crust of the Arabian Platform during rifting and/or breakup processes [Lippard et al, 1986;Béchen-nec, 1988;Béchennec et al, 1988Béchennec et al, , 1990Béchennec et al, , 1991.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Middle Permian plume‐related magmatism of the Hawasina Nappes and the Arabian Platform: Implications on the evolution of the Neotethyan margin in Oman

et al. 2003

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Permian pillow basalts are commonly found in Oman either at the base of the Hawasina Nappes or within the Arabian Platform successions exposed in the Saih Hatat tectonic window. There is an ongoing debate on whether these lavas include normal mid‐oceanic ridge basalts (NMORB) witnessing the Permian opening of the Neotethys or if they are plume‐related magmas that are emplaced either on the Arabian Platform or on its thinned continental margin. We sampled these lavas from several paleontologically dated middle Permian sites. Four of them (Buday'ah, Rustaq, Al Ajal, and Wadi Wasit) are located within the Hawasina Nappes and are exposed as thrust slices overlain by the Samail Nappe, and one (Wadi Aday) is within the Arabian Platform units and is exposed in the Saih Hatat window. These lavas are associated with marine sediments deposited in environments ranging from proximal (Saih Hatat, Wadi Wasit, and base of the thrust pile of Al Ajal) to distal (Buday'ah, Rustaq, and top of the Al Ajal pile) with respect to the Arabian Platform. Major and trace element features of the basalts allow two groups to be recognized. Enriched high‐Ti basalts similar to alkali basalts from intracontinental traps, rifted continental zones, and oceanic islands are exposed in Wadi Aday, Wadi Wasit, and at the structural base of the Al Ajal pile. Moderately enriched to slightly depleted low‐Ti tholeiitic basalt magmas resembling the low‐Ti flood basalts and those from seaward dipping reflector sequences are represented in Wadi Al Hulw in Saih Hatat, Buday'ah, Rustaq, and at the top of the Al Ajal thrust pile. Both groups show distinct plume‐related trace element signatures, and they do not include typical NMORB. Although emplaced in shallow to deep submarine environments, these basalts provide no direct evidence for a Neotethyan seafloor‐spreading event in the Hawasina Basin. Instead, they were likely erupted through the crust of the already rifted and drowned Arabian continental margin. Thus, despite their characteristic plume‐related geochemical signatures, the middle Permian basalts from Oman were not likely emplaced during the evolution of a typical volcanic rifted margin. We suggest that they originated from a mantle plume which ascended beneath the Arabian passive margin well after the initiation of seafloor spreading of the Neotethys.

show abstract

The Hawasina Nappes: stratigraphy, palaeogeography and structural evolution of a fragment of the south-Tethyan passive continental margin

Abstract: Lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic revision of the Hawasina Nappes in the eastern and central Oman Mountains, including the redefinition of the Hamrat Duru Group and the definition of the three new groups, the A1

Cited by 113 publications

References 16 publications

Late Palaeozoic to Neogene geodynamic evolution of the northeastern Oman margin

Late Palaeozoic to Neogene geodynamic evolution of the northeastern Oman margin

Forward Kinematic Modelling of a Regional Transect in the Northern Emirates Using Geological and Apatite Fission Track Age Constraints on Paleo-Burial History

Middle Permian plume‐related magmatism of the Hawasina Nappes and the Arabian Platform: Implications on the evolution of the Neotethyan margin in Oman

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About