Butterflies of the United Arab Emirates including Northern Oman by Gary R. Feulner, Binish Roobas, Victor Hitchings, Herbert H. H. Otto, Oscar Campbell, Huw G. B. Roberts, Richard J. Hornby and Brigitte Howarth

Field studies of the distribution and ecology of endemic species are fundamental for conservation planning. Schweinfurthia imbricata A.G.Mill., M.Short & D.A.Sutton is a scarce regional endemic found in the Hajar Mountains of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Northern Oman, and their periphery. Based on recent fieldwork by the Sharjah Seed Bank and Herbarium (SSBH) and literature data, this paper presents the first detailed account of the distribution, habitat preferences and phenology of S. imbricata in the UAE. Among other things, our fieldwork indicates that S. imbricata is more common and widespread in the UAE than has previously been recognized, including at least 19 heretofore unpublished localities, all hosting multiple individual plants. The implications of our findings for the conservation status of S. imbricata in the UAE are briefly discussed.

The concept that the autochthonous, parautochthonous and allochthonous Permian–Cretaceous sequences in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman record the transition from platform, slope to basin sedimentation within the southern part of Neotethys has been fundamental to the interpretation of the geological history of the region. The results of a major geological mapping programme of the UAE, carried out by the British Geological Survey for the Federal Government of the UAE, coupled with the detailed examination of key sections within northern Oman has led to a re-evaluation of the geological evolution of this region. This detailed study has led to a greater appreciation of the sedimentology and depositional setting of the sediments laid down along the northeastern Arabian continental margin during the Jurassic to Cretaceous, allowing a more refined model of Neotethys Ocean basin evolution to be established. The model charts the progressive breakup of the Arabian continental margin and closure of Neotethys during the mid to late Cretaceous and is divided into three main stages: Stage 1—Initial rifting and formation of the Neotethys Ocean, followed by a prolonged period of stable, passive margin sedimentation which extended from the Permian to Late Jurassic times; Stage 2—Uplift and erosion of the shelf margin during the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous, coincident with increased carbonate-clastic sedimentation in the outer ramp, distal slope and basinal areas; Stage 3—Increased instability during the Late Cretaceous leading to the breakup of the platform margin and foreland basin sedimentation accompanying the obduction of the Oman-UAE ophiolite. Data obtained for the upper part of the platform and platform margin to slope successions has revealed that the topography of the “shelf”-slope-basinal margin was more subdued than previously thought, with this more gentle ramp margin morphology persisting until early to mid-Cretaceous times when the platform margin started to become unstable during ophiolite obduction. The thrust-repeated allochthonous sedimentary rocks of the Hamrat Duru Group were deposited on the outer platform margin/lower slope rise to basinal plain of this basin margin and includes the dismembered remains of two turbidite fan systems which fed carbonate-rich detritus into deeper parts of the ocean. A re-evaluation of the chert-rich sequences, previously equated with deposition on the abyssal plain of Neotethys, has led to the conclusion that they may record sedimentation at a much shallower level within a starved ocean basin, possibly in a mid-ramp (above storm wave base) to outer ramp setting. A marked change in basin dynamics occurred during the mid-Cretaceous leading to the development of a shallow ramp basin margin in Oman with terrestrial to shallow marine sedimentary rocks interdigitating with red siliceous mudstones. By contrast, the contemporaneous succession in the Dibba Zone of the UAE indicates considerable instability on a steep shelf break. This instability is recorded by the presence of several major olistostrome deposits within the Aruma Group of the UAE which are thought to have been generated in advance of the rapidly obducting Oman-UAE ophiolite.

The March 11, 2002 Masafi, United Arab Emirates earthquake: Insights into the seismotectonics of the northern Oman Mountains

ABSTRACTA regional sequence stratigraphic model for the Kharaib and Shu’aiba formations (Barremian, Aptian) is proposed based on outcrop and subsurface transects in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. The model shows distinct variations in depositional facies and geometrical patterns in relation to third-order sequences. The sedimentary systems evolved from a low-angle carbonate ramp (Kharaib Formation), to an organic-rich intrashelf basin surrounded by carbonate platforms (Hawar Member and Lower Shu’aiba), to a clay-dominated sedimentation restricted to the intrashelf basin (Upper Shu’aiba). Eustatic sea-level changes and, to a lesser extent, local tectonic controls influenced the development of the systems. This high-resolution sequence stratigraphic model has implications for both exploration and production strategies.This study presents a revised sedimentological facies interpretation based on detailed outcrop observations with geological constraints provided by a regional well-log correlation from Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Time control was provided by biostratigraphy (including new nannofossil data), and carbon isotope stratigraphy. Four third-order depositional sequences bounded by regional exposure surfaces were defined that are composed of at least two higher-order sequences (fourth- and fifth-order).Depositional sequences I and II have a flat ramp setting. The typical ecological succession was orbitolinid and/or miliolid wackestone-packstone deposited in a low-energy, inner ramp environment during early transgression; a mixed-fauna mudstone-wackestone in an open lagoon during maximum flooding and early highstand; and a rudist/miliolid wackestone-packstone-grainstone-framestone of the succeeding late highstand in a high-energy, inner- to mid-ramp environment. The doubling in thickness of the sequences from Oman to Abu Dhabi is attributed to differential subsidence. The Sequence III succession was somewhat similar, but differences were caused by the creation of the intrashelf Bab Basin, and by well-developed microbial boundstones. The basin morphology was primarily due to differential accumulation rates and tectonism was of only minor importance. Rapidly aggrading and backstepping microbial boundstones formed the platform, whereas condensed sedimentation and the accumulation of carbonate source rocks occurred in the basin. Highstand deposits were primarily grainy, high-energy rudist-dominated facies. The sequence ended with a forced regressive wedge along the basin margins. Sequence IV was restricted to the Bab Basin and sedimentation consisted of a clay-rich infill phase. At that time, the Oman and Abu Dhabi platforms were exposed on both sides of the basin. Nannofossils dated this major relative fall in sea level to the early-late Aptian.

Recent sightings of Hemitragus jayakari from the United Arab Emirates and northern Sultanate of Oman have confirmed this ungulate’s existence in the area. The exact status of the UAE Arabian Tahr population is unknown, although possibly on the verge of extinction.

The Cretaceous Semail ophiolite (northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates) includes an intact thrust slice of Tethyan oceanic crust and upper mantle formed above a northeast-dipping subduction zone that was the site of initiation of obduction. The normal metamorphic sole of the Semail ophiolite comprises a highly condensed sequence of hornblende + plagioclase ± garnet amphibolites with small enclaves of garnet + clinopyroxene granulites immediately beneath the mantle sequence peridotites, tectonically underlain by a series of epidote amphibolite and greenschist facies lithologies in a highly deformed ductile shear zone. Peak metamorphic conditions of 770–900 °C and 11–15 kbar indicate metamorphism at depths far greater than can be accounted for by the preserved thickness of the ophiolite (∼15 km). In the mountains of northern Oman, the 1.2-km-thick Bani Hamid thrust sheet is composed of intensely folded granulite and amphibolite facies rocks within mantle sequence peridotites, exhumed by late-stage out-of-sequence thrusting along the Bani Hamid thrust. The Bani Hamid thrust slice includes two-pyroxene quartzites (± hornblende, cordierite, sapphirine), diopside + andradite garnet + wollastonite + scapolite marbles and calc-silicates and amphibolites (hornblende + plagioclase ± clinopyroxene ± biotite) with localized partial melting, intruded by hornblende pegmatites. The Bani Hamid granulites represent metamorphosed cherts and calcareous turbidites probably derived from the distal Haybi Complex and Oman Exotic limestones, which have an alkali basaltic substrate. Metamorphic modeling using the program THERMOCALC in the system NCKFMASHTO (Na 2 O-CaO-K 2 O-FeO-MgO-Al 2 O 3 -SiO 2 -H 2 O-TiO 2 -O) gives peak pressure-temperature conditions of 850 ± 60 °C and 6.3 ± 0.5 kbar, a pressure that is much lower than that of the metamorphic sole, suggesting a different origin. The 206 Pb/ 238 U zircon dates indicate that the gabbroic crust of the ophiolite formed by ridge magmatism from before 96.1 to 95.5 Ma. The 206 Pb/ 238 U zircon dates from the metamorphic sole range from 95.7 to 94.5 Ma, and suggest that metamorphism and melting was either synchronous with or slightly postdated ridge magmatism. The Bani Hamid granulites are younger; zircon and titanite U-Pb dates span ca. 94.5–89.8 Ma. Peraluminous granitic dikes intruding the mantle sequence peridotites are as young as 91.4 Ma and likely reflect localized partial melting of crustal material during the late stage of the obduction process. A minimum of 130 km shortening is recorded by restoration of the major folds within the Bani Hamid thrust sheet, and more than 30 km offset has occurred along the west-directed breaching out-of-sequence Bani Hamid thrust. These rocks may be representative of deep-level duplexes imaged on recent seismic sections across the mountains of northern Oman–United Arab Emirates.

A study of 353 museum specimens of the Echis coloratus complex from its entire range of distribution revealed an undescribed species in the United Arab Emirates and northern Oman. The results of UPGMA clustering and principal coordinate analysis of 138 male and 142 female specimens yielded for both sexes two major clusters, one with specimens from the UAE and northern Oman and one from southern and western Arabia, the Levant and Egypt. The new species has a longer tail with higher subcaudal counts; the lower prenasal scale is often missing and the upper prenasal is frequently fused with the nasal; the subnasal is often missing or fused with the nasal. The gular scales between the chin‐shield and the preventrals are round or only slightly elongate, not elongate as in Echis coloratus, and their number is higher. Other differences in characters of the gular area indicate a different scale structure of the ventral surface of the head. The new species is allopatric or parapatric with E. coloratus, but sympatric with Echis carinatus sochureki.

Research Article| December 01, 2005 Upper Eocene larger foraminifera from the Dammam Formation in the border region of United Arab Emirates and Oman Mohamed Boukhary; Mohamed Boukhary 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia 11566, Cairo, Egypt email: mboukhary@hotmail.com Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Osman Abdelghany; Osman Abdelghany 2Geology Department, Faculty of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O.Box 17551, United Arab Emirates corresponding author email: Osman.abdelghany@uaeu.ac.ae Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Salah Bahr; Salah Bahr 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia 11566, Cairo, Egypt email: mboukhary@hotmail.com Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Yasmine Hussein-Kamel Yasmine Hussein-Kamel 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia 11566, Cairo, Egypt email: mboukhary@hotmail.com Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Mohamed Boukhary 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia 11566, Cairo, Egypt email: mboukhary@hotmail.com Osman Abdelghany 2Geology Department, Faculty of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, P.O.Box 17551, United Arab Emirates corresponding author email: Osman.abdelghany@uaeu.ac.ae Salah Bahr 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia 11566, Cairo, Egypt email: mboukhary@hotmail.com Yasmine Hussein-Kamel 1Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbassia 11566, Cairo, Egypt email: mboukhary@hotmail.com Publisher: Micropaleontology Press First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 0026-2803 Print ISSN: 1937-2795 © 2005 The Micropaleontology Project, Inc. Micropaleontology (2005) 51 (6): 487–504. https://doi.org/10.2113/gsmicropal.51.6.487 Article history First Online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Mohamed Boukhary, Osman Abdelghany, Salah Bahr, Yasmine Hussein-Kamel; Upper Eocene larger foraminifera from the Dammam Formation in the border region of United Arab Emirates and Oman. Micropaleontology 2005;; 51 (6): 487–504. doi: https://doi.org/10.2113/gsmicropal.51.6.487 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyMicropaleontology Search Advanced Search Abstract An Upper Eocene diagnostic larger foraminiferal assemblage is described and illustrated from carbonates of the uppermost Dammam Formation, on the western side of the Northern Oman Mountains, along the United Arab Emirates and Oman border. This assemblage comprises Fabiania cassis (Oppenheim 1896), Silvestriella tetraedra (Gümbel 1870), Pellatispira madaraszi Hantken 1876, Nummulites fabianii (Prever 1905), N. ptukhiani Kacharava 1969 and N. retiatus (Roveda 1959). The presence of Nummulites ptukhiani and N. fabianii within the same horizon of Pellatispira madaraszi places both species in the Priabonian stage, confirming a Late Eocene age for the uppermost part of the Dammam Formation. The studied carbonates were deposited in an inner shelf environment, which may be related to the eustatic fall of sea level at the end of the Late Eocene. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

We studied an exhumed high-pressure cell in outcrops of Cretaceous carbonates on the southern flank of Jabal Shams in the Oman Mountains. This more than 2 km thick sedimentary pile contains reservoir and source rocks in northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It develops a complex and rapidly changing anisotropy, due to mechanical stratigraphy and several generations of pervasive regional fault and fracture sets. Calcite cement healed faults and fractures before the next sets were formed. Burial extension within a high fluid-pressure environment led to the formation of four fracture generations by an anticlockwise rotating stress field. This was followed by bedding-parallel shear under lithostatic fluid-pressure conditions at a minimum temperature of 134–221°C deduced from primary and pseudosecondary fluid inclusions in quartz. The high pressure cell was drained along dilatant normal faults that were also repeatedly cemented and reactivated. The rapidly changing mechanical anisotropy, in combination with a chemically reactive system formed a complex feedback system in which the mechanical strength, strain and the permeability underwent major changes in this coupled thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical (THM) system.

Upper mantle structure of the northeastern Arabian Platform from teleseismic body-wave tomography

The origins of ceramic technology in the Oman Peninsula have a unique history in the context of ancient West Asia. Local pottery production in northern Oman and the United Arab Emirates is not documented until the early to mid-third millennium BC during the Early Bronze Age. This period was characterised by increasing sedentism and the expansion of long-distance exchange networks that operated across the Persian Gulf between Arabia, Mesopotamia, Iran and South Asia, including the exchange of ceramic vessels. In order to explore the links between ceramic technology and type, subsistence practices and sedentism as ceramic production was adopted in the region, we analysed the lipid content of Early Bronze Age pottery (n = 179) in southeastern Arabia from inland and coastal sites. The ceramic assemblage examined includes pottery produced locally at the site level as well as vessels that are distributed regionally. The contents of imported pottery from Mesopotamia and the Indus Civilisation from inland and coastal sites were also studied to determine the organic products that may have been transported as part of long-distance exchange. The results reveal the presence of pastoral products, such as meat and dairy products, in some of the earliest vessels produced in southeastern Arabia, as well as imported Mesopotamian vessels. Plant products are detected in a small minority of vessels in locally-produced and imported vessels, such as Fine Red Omani vessels and Black-Slipped Jars from the Indus Civilisation. Such an investigation demonstrates the importance of using biomolecular methods to study dietary practices and vessel use in southeastern Arabia on a larger scale.

Rabies in Oman: Failed postexposure vaccination in a lactating woman bitten by a fox

Detailed geological mapping of the Shinas area in the Northern Oman mountains, close to the border with the United Arab Emirates, covered the Samail ophiolite sequence that is fully exposed in this mountainous and poorly accessible region.Remote sensing, by means of aerial photographs and satellite imagery, was particularly well suited in the mapping of the sequence in this semi-arid zone with its excellent outcrop conditions.The digital data from the SPOT satellite were subjected to geometric and radiometric digital processing, to obtain spectral difference enhanced images most suitable for the mapping purposes. Furthermore, the synoptic coverage of satellite images helps in understanding the regional extension and relationship of the ophiolitic units and their structural features.The boundary between crustal and mantle sequences (petrological Moho) is clearly shown on the images and can be easily mapped. At the base of the mantle sequence, the Banded Unit is well seen on the image in the west, and a vertical zonation seems related to serpentinization gradient according to mylonitization.Within the crustal sequence, only the major lithological units can be recognized. The sheeted dyke complex is well differentiated from gabbros in the west and volcanic rocks in the east. The highly refiectant trondhjemites are easy to map. Through image processing, some of the late-intrusive peridotite bodies can be seen within the gabbros, as well as late-intrusive uralitic gabbros within the sheeted dyke complex. Several gossans can be clearly identified, although their spectral response is close to that of the vegetation.Finally, the geometrically and radiometrically enhanced image, combined with aerial photographs and field results, will be used as a base for drawing the maps.KeywordsTraining AreaSpot SatelliteOman MountainDetailed Geological MappingOphiolite SequenceThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Cores cut in shallow-marine Lower and middle Cretaceous carbonates in the Al Ali No. 2 well, Umm al Qaiwain, United Arab Emirates, display a five-stage sequence of calcite cementation, fracturing, and stylolitization. These stages are correlated with the tectonic history of the northern Oman orogeny. Occurrence of fluorescent hydrocarbon fluid inclusions is restricted to stage 2 and stage 3 fracture-filling calcites that are crosscut by stylolites. Stylolite formation during rapid burial beneath abyssal Campanian foredeep sediments restricts hydrocarbon migration to post–mid-Cenomanian and pre–mid-Campanian time.

The tectonics of the Musandam Peninsula in northern Oman shows a transition between the Late Cretaceous ophiolite emplacement related tectonics recorded along the Oman Mountains and Dibba Zone to the SE and the Late Cenozoic continent-continent collision tectonics along the Zagros Mountains in Iran to the northwest. Three stages in the continental collision process have been recognized. Stage one involves the emplacement of the Semail Ophiolite from NE to SW onto the Mid-Permian–Mesozoic passive continental margin of Arabia. The Semail Ophiolite shows a lower ocean ridge axis suite of gabbros, tonalites, trondhjemites and lavas (Geotimes V1 unit) dated by U-Pb zircon between 96.4–95.4 Ma overlain by a post-ridge suite including island-arc related volcanics including boninites formed between 95.4–94.7 Ma (Lasail, V2 unit). The ophiolite obduction process began at 96 Ma with subduction of Triassic–Jurassic oceanic crust to depths of > 40 km to form the amphibolite/granulite facies metamorphic sole along an ENE-dipping subduction zone. U-Pb ages of partial melts in the sole amphibolites (95.6– 94.5 Ma) overlap precisely in age with the ophiolite crustal sequence, implying that subduction was occurring at the same time as the ophiolite was forming. The ophiolite, together with the underlying Haybi and Hawasina thrust sheets, were thrust southwest on top of the Permian–Mesozoic shelf carbonate sequence during the Late Cenomanian–Campanian. Subduction ended as unsubductable cherts and limestones (Oman Exotics) jammed at depths of 25–30 km. The Bani Hamid quartzites and calc-silicates associated with amphibolites derived from alkali basalt show high-temperature granulite facies mineral assemblages and represent lower crust material exhumed by late-stage out-of-sequence thrusting. Ophiolite obduction ended at ca. 70 Ma (Maastrichtian) with deposition of shallow-marine limestones transgressing all underlying thrust sheets. Stable shallow-marine conditions followed for at least 30 million years (from 65–35 Ma) along the WSW and ENE flanks of the mountain belt. Stage two occurred during the Late Oligocene–Early Miocene when a second phase of compression occurred in Musandam as the Arabian Plate began to collide with the Iran-western Makran continental margin. The Middle Permian to Cenomanian shelf carbonates, up to 4 km thick, together with pre-Permian basement rocks were thrust westwards along the Hagab Thrust for a minimum of 15 km. Early Miocene out-of-sequence thrusts cut through the shelf carbonates and overlying Pabdeh foreland basin in the subsurface offshore Ras al Khaimah and Musandam. This phase of crustal compression followed deposition of the Eocene Dammam and Oligocene Asmari formations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but ended by the mid-Miocene as thrust tip lines are all truncated along a regional unconformity at the base of the Upper Miocene Mishan Formation. The Oligocene–Early Miocene culmination of Musandam and late Cenozoic folding along the UAE foreland marks the initiation of the collision of Arabia with Central Iran in the Strait of Hormuz region. Stage three involved collision of Arabia and the Central Iran Plate during the Pliocene, with ca. 50 km of NE-SW shortening across the Zagros Fold Belt. Related deformation in the Musandam Peninsula is largely limited to north and eastward tilting of the peninsula to create a deeply indented coastline of drowned valleys (rias).