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Khufai Formation, Sultanate of Oman

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Khufai Formation, Sultanate of Oman Facies, stratigraphy, and AUTHORS Magdalena Osburn ∼ California Institute of evolution of a middle Ediacaran Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, California; maggie@earth. carbonate ramp: Khufai northwestern.edu Magdalena Osburn is a geobiologist who Formation, Sultanate of Oman uses sedimentology and organic geochemistry to understand the history of Magdalena Osburn, John Grotzinger, life on Earth and microbial influences on and Kristin Bergmann biogeochemical processes. She has a B.A. degree in earth and planetary sciences from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in geobiology from the California ABSTRACT Institute of Technology. The Khufai Formation is the oldest carbonate platform of the John Grotzinger ∼ California Institute of Cryogenian to lowermost Cambrian Huqf Supergroup. A strati- Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, graphic characterization of this unit includes detailed facies Pasadena, California; [email protected] descriptions, a sequence-stratigraphic interpretation, and evalu- John Grotzinger is a geologist interested in ation of lateral heterogeneity and overall ramp evolution. The the evolution of surficial environments on Khufai Formation comprises one and one-half depositional Earth and Mars. Field mapping studies are sequences with a maximum flooding interval near the base of the the starting point for more topical formation and a sequence boundary within the upper peritidal laboratory-based studies involving geochemical, geological, and facies. Most of the deposition occurred during highstand progra- geochronological techniques. dation of a carbonate ramp. Facies tracts include outer-ramp and midramp mudstones and wackestones, ramp-crest grainstone Kristin Bergmann ∼ California Institute of shoal deposits, and extensive inner-ramp, microbially dominated Technology, 1200 E. California Boulevard, Pasadena, California; bergmann@caltech. peritidal deposits. Outcrops in the Oman Mountains are deep- edu water deposits, including turbiditic grainstone and wackestone interbedded with siliciclastic-rich siltstone and crinkly laminite. Kristin Bergmann received degrees in geology from Carleton College (B.A. degree) Facies patterns and parasequence composition are variable both and the California Institute of Technology laterally across the outcrop area and vertically through time (M.Sc. degree) where she is currently a because of a combination of ramp morphology, siliciclastic sup- Ph.D. candidate. She is studying the ply, and possible syndepositional faulting. The lithostratigraphic carbonate sedimentology, stratigraphy, and boundary between the Khufai Formation and the overlying geochemistry of units within the Huqf Shuram Formation is gradational and represents significant flood- Supergroup and is applying carbonate clumped isotope thermometry to problems ing of the carbonate platform. The stratigraphic characterization of carbonate diagenesis and paleoclimate. presented here along with the identification of key facies and dia- genetic features will help further future exploration and produc- tion of hydrocarbons from the Khufai Formation. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We thank William Wilks, Gordon Forbes, Gideon Lopes-Cardozo, Joachim Amthor, and other Petroleum Development Oman personnel for helpful discussions; Salim Al Maskery for field support and logistics; the participants of the 2009 Agouron Advanced Copyright ©2014. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved. Field Course for initial stratigraphic Manuscript received January 30, 2013; provisional acceptance November 27, 2012; revised manuscript observation; the Ministry of Oil and Gas, received January 31, 2013; final acceptance July 29, 2013. Sultanate of Oman, for permission to DOI: 10.1306/07291312140 AAPG Bulletin, v. 98, no. 8 (August 2014), pp. 1631–1667 1631 conduct and publish this research; and INTRODUCTION Michael Pope, Erwin Adams, and Stephan Schroder for helpful and constructive Neoproterozoic strata of Oman provide an exceptionally complete reviews. and well-preserved sedimentary record of a highly variable period The AAPG Editor thanks the following reviewers for their work on this paper: Erwin in Earth history. Recorded in these sediments are two of the pro- W. Adams, Michael Pope, and Stefan posed Snowball Earth glaciations, the largest carbon isotopic Schroeder. excursion in Earth history, the origination of Ediacaran calcified metazoans, and the Precambrian–Cambrian boundary (Burns and EDITOR’SNOTE Matter, 1993; Wood et al., 2002; Allen, 2007; Bowring et al., 2007). In addition, the Huqf Supergroup hosts the oldest Color versions of Figures 6–13 can be seen commercially viable hydrocarbon system with producing reser- in the online version of his paper. voirs in uppermost Ediacaran to lowermost Cambrian rocks (Al-Siyabi, 2005). Regional stratigraphic surveys of the Huqf Supergroup pro- vide a basic understanding of the depositional setting, and chemo- stratigraphic studies document concurrent changes in marine chemistry and enhance regional stratigraphic correlation (Wright et al., 1990; Burns and Matter, 1993; McCarron, 1999; Halverson, 2005; Fike et al., 2006; Le Guerroue et al., 2006a; Fike and Grotzinger, 2008). Considerable attention was devoted to understanding the older siliciclastic Masirah Bay Formation shelf sequence (Allen and Leather, 2006), the overlying Shuram Formation (Le Guerroue et al., 2006a), and the younger Buah Formation carbonate ramp (Cozzi and Grotzinger, 2004; Cozzi et al., 2004). Conversely, relatively little is known about Khufai Formation development, beyond its inclusion in regional surveys (Gorin et al., 1982; Wright et al., 1990; McCarron, 1999). A firm understanding of sedimentological and stratigraphic context is necessary for evaluation of both geochemical measure- ments and the potential for hydrocarbon exploration. We have undertaken this study to better understand the processes, environ- ments, and time scale of Khufai Formation deposition. This article presents an analysis of the facies distributions from both platform and distal sections along with a detailed sequence-stratigraphic interpretation of the Khufai Formation. We evaluate the strati- graphic position and extent of depositional hiatuses in the upper Khufai Formation to better interpret chemostratigraphic records. The presentation of key facies and facies relationships in strati- graphic context will provide a valuable framework for future hydrocarbon exploration and development. Geological Setting The Huqf Supergroup is a sequence of Cryogenian to Lower Cambrian sedimentary rocks, deposited on Archean to Neoproterozoic crystalline basement (Allen, 2007; Bowring et al., 2007). Huqf strata outcrop in four main areas including the 1632 Stratigraphic Characterization of the Khufai Formation, Oman Figure 1. Regional map of Oman illustrating the outcrop localities for the Huqf Supergroup, regional tectonic features, and salt basins. Modified after Bowring et al. (2007). Huqf-Haushi uplift and Mirbat areas of central and Supergroup comprises, in ascending order, the Abu southern Oman and near Jebel Akhdar and Saih Mahara, Nafun, and Ara Groups representing glacio- Hatat in the Oman Mountains (Figure 1). The Huqf marine sediments, marine siliciclastics and OSBURN ET AL. 1633 Figure 2. Stratigraphic nomenclature for the Huqf Supergroup. Basic lithostratigraphic logs of the Nafun Group in the Huqf-Haushi high and Oman Mountain areas. Modified after Forbes et al. (2010), Bowring et al. (2007), McCarron (1999), and Allen and Leather (2006). carbonates, and carbonates cyclically interstratified Group is well exposed on the Huqf-Haushi uplift with sulfate and halite evaporites, respectively. The (Huqf area) and in the wadis of Jebel Akhdar. Nafun Group was further subdivided (Figure 2) into the successive Hadash, Masirah Bay, Khufai, Age Control and Tectonic Setting Shuram, and Buah Formations (Gorin et al., 1982; Wright et al., 1990; Forbes et al., 2010). The Hadash The absolute ages of the Abu Mahara and Ara Formation is a thin dolostone capping the Ghadir Groups are relatively well constrained by U-Pb dat- Manquil (Marinoan) glacial deposits, but is included ing, but few chronostratigraphic constraints exist in in the Nafun Group. The overlying four units com- the intervening Nafun Group. The Abu Mahara prise two large siliciclastic-to-carbonate cycles; Group is deposited on approximately 824 m.y.-old where the Masirah Bay and Shuram Formations con- granodioritic basement (Bowring et al., 2007). A tain primarily siltstone and sandstone with minor car- tuffaceous sandstone within the Ghubrah Member bonate, and the Khufai and Buah Formations contain of the lower Abu Mahara Group was deposited at primarily carbonate facies with subordinate siliciclas- approximately 713 Ma (Bowring et al., 2007), revi- tic components (Forbes et al., 2010). The Nafun sing upward a previous date of 723 + 16/-10 Ma 1634 Stratigraphic Characterization of the Khufai Formation, Oman (Brasier et al., 2000). A population of zircons from Grotzinger, 2004) Formations, and Ara Group Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Lahan-1, (Mattes and Conway Morris, 1990). The Khufai well gives a maximum age constraint of 645 Ma Formation was initially interpreted as a uniformly for the youngest glacial deposits. Furthermore, shallow platform carbonate with abundant evaporitic global correlation with glacial events suggest a cor- collapse features (Gorin et al., 1982). Subsequent relative date of the Hadash cap carbonate of about interpretations
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