Crustal Evolution of the Northern Arabian Platform in Syria

BEST, JOHN A., MUAWIA BARAZANGI, and THOMAS A. CHAIMOV, Institute for the Study of the Continents and Department of Geological Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and DAMEN AL-SAAD, TARIF SAWAF, and ALI GEBRAN, Syrian Petroleum Company, Damascus, Syria

Analysis of available geological and geophysical data within Syria has allowed for further understanding of the geologic history of the northern Arabian platform from Proterozoic to present. Elements of the history involve: Proterozoic convergence and suturing of at least two distinct microplates, minor Cambrian extension and associated magmatism, development of a failed intracratonic rift in the early Mesozoic, and inversion of that sedimentary trough that began in the Late Cretaceous. The diverse Phanerozoic tectonic features in Syria may be due to reactivation along older zones of weaknesses in the northern Arabian plate; the proposed Proterozoic suture zone lies along strike of the present day Palmyride intracratonic mountain belt. The construction of isopach maps of the Ordovicia through Quaternary sections in Syria based on regional well control and seismic reflection data demonstrates regional structural-stratigraphic relationships. Basement deformation maps, derived from superposition of the formation isopachs, indicate the transformation of an east-directed Paleozoic margin into a well-directed Mesozoic margin (Levantine margin). Contemporaneous with this margin transformation was the development of an east-northeast-trending rift (Palmyride trough) toward the craton interior. Finally, Cenozoic eastward tilting of the Arabian plate, associated with loading of the plate along the Mesopotamian foredeep and uplift of the plate along the Red Sea margin is observed across the southern Arabian platform. Eastward tilting is also observed on the northern platform wi h respect to the top of the crystalline basement, indicating a similarity in response of the entire Arabian plate to loading and uplift along its margins.

The construction of isopach maps of the Ordovician through Quaternary sections in Syria based on regional well control and seismic reflection data demonstrates regional structural-stratigraphic relationships. Basement deformation maps, derived from superposition of the formation isopachs, indicate the transformation of an east-directed Paleozoic margin into a well-directed Mesozoic margin (Levantine margin). Contemporaneous with this margin transforma-tion was the development of an east-northeast-trending rift (Palmyride trough) toward the craton interior. Finally, Cenozoic eastward tilting of the Arabian plate, associated with loading of the plate along the Mesopotamian foredeep and uplift of the plate along the Red Sea margin is observed across the southern Arabian platform. Eastwar tilting is also observed on the northern platform with respect to the top of the crystalline basement, indicating a similarity in response of the entire Arabian plate to loading and uplift along its margins.
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AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91004 © 1991 AAPG Annual Convention Dallas, Texas, April 7-10, 1991 (2009)