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Original Article |
1 1Department of Earth Sciences, ETH-Zürich, Haldenbachstrasse 44, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
2 2Present address: Repsol YPF, Exploration & Production, Europe, Asia and Africa, C/Orense 34, 3aplanta, 28020 Madrid, Spain
3 3Present address: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK (e-mail: philip.allen{at}imperial.ac.uk)
4 4Present address: ENI S.p.A., Exploration & Production Division, Via Emilia 1, 20097 San Donato Milanese, Italy
5 5Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, 5007 Bergen, Norway
6 6Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
The Huqf Supergroup in Oman contains an exceptionally well-preserved and complete sedimentary record of the Middle to Late Neoproterozoic Era. Outcrops of the Huqf Supergroup in northern and central Oman are now well documented, but their correlation with a key succession in the Mirbat area of southern Oman, containing a sedimentary record of two Neoproterozoic glaciations, is poorly understood. Integration of lithostratigraphic, chemostratigraphic and new U–Pb detrital zircon data suggests that the Mirbat Group is best placed within the Cryogenian (c. 850–635 Ma) part of the Huqf Supergroup. The c. 1 km thick marine deposits of the Arkahawl and Marsham Formations of the Mirbat Group are thought to represent a stratigraphic interval between older Cryogenian and younger Cryogenian glaciations that is not preserved elsewhere in Oman. The bulk of detrital zircons in the Huqf Supergroup originate from Neoproterozoic parent rocks. However, older Mesoproterozoic, Palaeoproterozoic and even Archaean zircons can be recognized in the detrital population from the upper Mahara Group (Fiq Formation) and Nafun Group, suggesting the tapping of exotic sources, probably from the Arabian–Nubian Shield.
