The Opening of Neo-Tethys and the Formation of the Khuff Passive Margin

Abstract

Any investigation of regional geology and palaeomagnetism in the Middle East will show that in the Permian a series of terranes separated from Gondwana and drifted north, opening the Neo-Tethys Ocean in their wake. To the north of these terranes, the Palaeo-Tethys Ocean closed and was largely subducted. Eventually in a non-synchronous movement but largely in Late Triassic and Early Jurassic times, these terranes docked with the northern margin of the former Palaeo-Tethys during the Cimmerian Orogeny.