Unravelling the neoproterozoic accretionary history of oman, using an array of isotopic systems in zircon

M. L. Blades*, B. L. Alessio, A. S. Collins, J. Foden, J. L. Payne, S. Glorie, P. Holden, B. Thorpe, S. Al-Khirbash

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Omani basement is a critical window into the Neoproterozoic tectonic geography of the Mozambique Ocean and the amalgamation of Gondwana. It is located east of the juvenile arc terranes of the Arabian–Nubian Shield, yet the relationship between the two is not well understood. Magmatic and detrital zircon samples were analysed from four main basement terranes: Mirbat, the Huqf, Jebel Ja’alan and Al Jobah. The U–Pb (zircon) ages from igneous samples give ages between 838 and 765 Ma. The Lu–Hf and oxygen isotopes show that the zircons are juvenile (ɛHf (t) values 10.5–8.7), with low δ18 O values (c. 2–6‰). Detritus from sediments in Mirbat, the southernmost basement outcrop, preserves a main age peak at c. 786 Ma, with Lu–Hf between +6.05 and +12.64. Lu–Hf isotopic data for Proterozoic detrital zircons from Jebel Ja’alan suggest that this region was depositionally connected to a source yielding both evolved Tonian and Neoarchean to Paleoproterozoic detritus. These sources could correlate to the terranes in India and South China, which record similarly low δ18 O values. These data support a model in which Oman formed in its own tectonic domain, accreting onto the Neoproterozoic active margin of a continent.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)357-378
Number of pages22
JournalJournal of the Geological Society
Volume177
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Unravelling the neoproterozoic accretionary history of oman, using an array of isotopic systems in zircon'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this