Sequential Stratigraphy of Jurassic and Cretaceous in the Central Saudi Arabian Platform

LE NINDRE, YVES-MICHEL, and JACQUES MANIVIT, BRGM SGN, Orleans, France, HELENE MANIVIT, BRGM, Orleans, France, and Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France, and DENIS VASLET, BRGM SGN, Orleans, France

Depositional sequences and system tracts in the Jurassic and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks of the Central Saudi Arabian platform have been established on the basis of precise lithofacies analysis, detailed sedimentologic interpretation, and accurate age determination by ammonites, nautoli, brachiopods, echinoids, and nannoflora. A eustatic depositional model integrated with accepted worldwide sequential stratigraphic data is proposed, and appears to correlate fairly well with the 1988 global sea level chart by Haq and others, particularly for the Lower and Middle Jurassic and the Middle and Upper Cretaceous.

Ages determined by accurate biostratigraphic data enable time correlations to be made with third-order eustatic cycles from Vail's 1988 global chart. Eustatic changes therefore appear to be the main factors of sedimentary control during the Jurassic and Cretaceous on the Arabian platform.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91007© 1991 AAPG International Conference, London, England, September 29-October 2, 1991 (2009)