Print this pageThe Discovery of Ediacaran? Redbeds in the Basement of the Arabian Platform
Afifi, Abdulkader M.*1; Sibon, Hendrik J.1; Rees, Andrew J.1; Tourqui, Hamza 1
(1) Saudi Aramco, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
Recent deep wells in eastern and northern Saudi Arabia have penetrated redbed sequences composed of immature polymict conglomerates and mudstones, locally interbedded with altered mafic lavas. These gently dipping sequences sit nonconformably over the crystalline basement, and are overlain unconformably by mature Cambrian sandstones or younger beds. They are barren of palynomorphs, and are probably Ediacaran - early Cambrian in age. Their lithology and stratigraphic setting are similar to the Ediacaran Jibalah Group in Saudi Arabia and the Umm Ghaddah Formation in Jordan. The redbeds are correlated between wells and outcrops in the Arabian Shield, and their presence outside the Najd Fault belt is significant. Their hydrocarbon potential is undermined by an unfavorable continental depositional environment, extensive cementation, and deep burial
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90141©2012, GEO-2012, 10th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition, 4-7 March 2012, Manama, Bahrain