Doğan PERİNÇEK, Salih SANER, Khattab G. AL

Rejuvenation of The Pre-Cambrien Najd Fault System and Its Importance In The Oil Province of Saudi Arabia

Structural interpretation covering the Central Saudi Arabia was carried out through Landsat, Radar images, topographic maps and seismic data. Existing geology maps provide materialized evidence for this study. A strong northwest trending lineament system has been mapped in the region and is interpreted as being rela- ted to the reactivated Najd Fault System. Elongate hills, strait-going creeks, offset along valley and ridges, and pull-apart basins are evident, indicating rejuvenation of the Najd transtensional sinistral movement. Geological map shows evidence indicating a northwestward dragging on the sedimentary cover along a NW trending regio- nal lineament in the region which extend from South Ghawar to An Nafud Basin in Saudi Arabia. Northeast trend- ing structures in Saudi Arabia are related to the pre-Permian structuring and Oman-Masirah stress regime. The Ghawar (Saudi Arabia), Dukhan (Qatar) and other north-northwest trending anticlines were reshaped by the reju- venated Najd stress regime. The northwest trending sinistral Najd Fault was initiated in Precambrian and was reactivated at various times, probably during Paleozoic and late Jurassic times, and continuously, though of vari- able intensity, from late Cretaceous to the late Tertiary time. The Carboniferous, Late Cretaceous and Tertiary events are overprinted on one another in the region. The Oman stress regime and the stress regime that is rela- ted to oblique obduction of the Masirah Ophiolite are the principal controlling event for the anticline structures in Central Arabia. Dominant structural elements of the area are N-S anticline axis that suggests approximate E-W compressional stress direction, which is consistent with Oman and reactivated Najd tectonic regimes. The effect of the Tertiary orogenic overprint of the Oman-Masirah stress regime in eastern Arabia was to favor a slight renewed movement along the old basement faults such as the Najd Trend. Reactivated Najd system, Oman prin- cipal horizontal stress regime and obduction of the Masirah Ophiolite onto the Arabian continent have produced a combined effect on the structures in Eastern Arabian Plate. The Zagros stress regime may have produced little effect in the region.

Keywords:

rejuvenation Najd Fault, Saudi Arabia, Ghawar,

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ISSN: 0026-4563
Yayın Aralığı: Yılda 3 Sayı
Başlangıç: 1950
Yayıncı: Cahit DÖNMEZ

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