Late Cretaceous Sub-Marine Fan System in Batain Mélange Zone, the Fayah Formation in Northeastern Oman

Abstract

The Batain coast along the northeastern margin of Oman between Ra’s Al-Hadd and Ra’s Jibsch, is comprised of Permian to Late Cretaceous complex stratigraphy in a tectonically deformed area recording Permian rifting to late Cretaceous Tethys closure events. These rocks are thrust over Mesozoic and older autochthonous sedimentary cover in the form of a major nappe structure known as the Batain Nappe. The uppermost part of the Batain nappe is comprised of isolated outcrops of early Maastrichtian siliciclastic Fayah Formation dominated by gravity flow deposits. The Fayah Formation in the Jabal Fayah area is over four hundred meters thick and comprised of five distinct facies associations; namely, i) coarsening-up sandstone, ii) conglomerate, iii) debris- flow, iv) turbidite, and v) inter-bedded sandstone and shale lithofacies. These lithofacies associations are repeated many times in the section. The sandstone lithofacies association exhibits a coarsening-upward trend making sequences tens of meters thick in various parts of the formation. Waterscape structures are common along with occasional sandstone dykes and convolute bedding, reflecting fluidized conditions of deposition. The conglomerate lithofacies association is comprised of a series of interbedded coarsening-upward pebble to gravel size conglomerates containing chert, limestone, granite and volcanic clasts ranging a few mm to cm in diameter. Occasionally these are interbedded with sandstone lithofacies. The conglomerate lithofacies was deposited by a high-energy channelized flow in a sub-aqueous setting. The debris-flow lithofacies association is a matrix supported chaotic mixture of clay and boulders of granite, limestone and volcanic rocks, some of which are meter-sized in diameter, and possibly derived from the nearby basement rocks such as the Jabal Ja’alan basement rocks. It constitutes the most dominant part of the formation. These sediments were deposited along a slope setting, possibly as olistostrome formed due to submarine slumping and sliding. The turbidite lithofacies association is comprised of monotonous grayish-green to brown coloured clays tens of meters thick interbedded with thin, clean, well-sorted sandstone. The Interbedded sandstone and shale lithofacies association is comprised of a half to one meter thick cross-bedded, burrowed arkosic sandstone and plane laminated shale. The sandstone constitutes about 25% of the association with ripple lamination in the upper part of the unit indicating a fining-upward trend. Dewatering structures are common. This association constitutes the upper 100m of the formation. These sediments were deposited in shallow water conditions by channelized flows. Based on the lithofacies associations described above, especially the dominance of debris-flow units and turbidites, the greater part of the Fayah Formation are interpreted as having been deposited under a sub-marine fan setting. Only the upper part of the formation was deposited in a shallow water setting before the onset of overlying carbonate deposits. The sub-marine fan system was active during the last stages of the Tethys Ocean closure at the time of onset of the Batain nappe.