The Paleogene pre-rift to syn-rift succession in the Dhofar margin (northeastern Gulf of Aden): Stratigraphy and depositional environments
Résumé
The Paleogene deposits on the northern passive margin of the Gulf of Aden record the transition from the pre-rift to the syn-rift stages of the southern Arabian plate margin. In southern Oman (Dhofar Region), the relative continuity of the sedimentary record offers the possibility to investigate the early deformation phases of the Aden rift system. A new detailed sedimentological and biostratigraphic analysis of the Cuisian to Rupelian deposits of the Dhofar region allows to define a second-order transgressive–regressive cycle, that can be further subdivided into four third-order sequences between the Late Cuisian and the Early Rupelian time. The sequence stratigraphy established in this study has major implications for the understanding of the time equivalent deposits described in the eastern Arabian plate and illustrates the polyphased history of the initiation of the Aden Gulf rift system. The first two depositional sequences are controlled by a phase of deformation that only affects the eastern Oman margin, in relation with the tectonic activity at the Arabian–Indian plate boundary, during the Late Cuisian–Middle Lutetian. The last two depositional sequences record a westward migration of the deformation within the eastern realm of the proto-Gulf of Aden from the Bartonian. Priabonian uplift resulted in the basinward shift of the depositional system followed by a phase of tectonic subsidence that is recorded by the aggradation of lacustrine deposits in localized fault bounded basins. A subsequent major regional relative sea level fall related to domal uplift is recorded by terrigenous deposits (lower part of the Ashawq Formation) prior to the main phase of syn-rift tectonic subsidence (upper part of the Ashawq and Mughsayl formations) in Rupelian–Chattian times.