The syn- and post-obduction history of the offshore north Oman margin

Abstract

<p>The offshore north Oman margin, located north of the Hajar Mountains in the Gulf of Oman,<br>remains a key area for understanding the evolution of the obduction Emails Ophiolite. With the<br>help of a grid of 2D-multichannel seismic lines linked to well data, we present a new view of<br>the obduction and post-obduction history of the Oman margin. Offshore deposits, overlying on<br>what we interpret as being the offshore extension of the ophiolites, can be divided into two<br>mega-sequences. The older one is comprised of late Cretaceous to Paleogene deposits mainly<br>located in the Sohar basin and offshore of the Abat trough. In the Sohar basin, the latest stages<br>of obduction are recorded by the deposition of the erosional products of the Autochthonous<br>Arabian sediments and the ophiolite, in a flexural basin induced by a volcanic high. Offshore<br>of the Abat trough, a Maastrichtian-Paleocene basin develops above a detachment fault<br>system linked to the extension phase associated to the exhumation/expulsion of the subducted<br>continental margin. Both sectors are divided by a structured high located offshore of the Semail<br>Gap transfer fault. We propose that this transfer fault, likely a major Pan-African structure,<br>impacted both the architecture of the passive margin following the rifting of the Neotethys and<br>later ophiolite emplacement, during (continental) subduction and obduction.</p>