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Per-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia. GeoArabia. Spec. publ. 3, Gulf

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 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Moujahed I. Al-Husseini

ABSTRACT

In well ST-8, Nafud Basin in Saudi Arabia, the pre-Unayzah unconformity (so called
Hercynian unconformity) separates the Lower Carboniferous (upper Visean) Berwath
Formation, from the Upper Carboniferous (upper Westphalian? and Stephanian)
Unayzah C Member. The unconformity (erosion and non-deposition) corresponds to a
hiatus in mid-Carboniferous time (Namurian-early Westphalian = Serpukovian-
Bashkirian stages; about 327-311 Ma). The Berwath Formation is absent in outcrop,
and rarely preserved in the subsurface. It consists of sandstones, carbonaceous shales
and limestones deposited in an apparently regional lower coastal plain to marginal
marine setting, and has a comparable thickness in two wells located nearly 1,000 km
apart: ST-8 (361 ft, 110 m), and Abu Safah-29 (440 ft, 134 m) in the Arabian Gulf. The
Berwath Formation is separated from the underlying Jubah Formation by a latest
Tournaisian to mid-Visean hiatus, an event that is also recognised in North Africa
and Brazil.

The subsurface Unayzah C Member (thickness range: 165-740 ft, 50-310 m) and
overlying Unayzah B Member (55 ft, 16.8 m thick in reference well Hawtah-1) consist
of clastics deposited in alluvial fan systems that are coeval with the glaciogenic:
(1) Al Khlata Formation of Oman (upto 2,625 ft, 800 m), (2) Juwayl Member of the
Wajid Formation in southwest Saudi Arabia (426 ft, 130 m); and (3) Akbra Shale in
north Yemen (426 ft, 130 m). These rock units are assigned to the third glaciation of the
Arabian Plate (AP G3), and their palaeodepocentre is located in the Rub’ Al-Khali
Basin. The Unayzah C Member was deposited in continental lowlands and channels
between uplifted fault blocks and broad arches, and unconformably overlies Proterozoic
to Lower Carboniferous formations. The age of the younger and regionally widespread
Unayzah B Member is interpreted as Early Permian (Asselian-Sakmarian). The Unayzah
A Member in Hawtah-1 consists of the Lower ‘Siltstone’ Submember (135 ft, 41.2 m
thick), and Upper ‘Sandstone’ Submember (91 ft, 27.7 m thick). The upper boundary
of the Unayzah Formation, the pre-Khuff unconformity, is overlain by the Basal Khuff
Clastics. The Unayzah A Member is generally unpalyniferous; recovered palynomorphs
in the Lower Submember indicate an Early Permian age.

A tectonic compressional event uplifted the extensive NS-trending Arabian fault blocks
(e.g. Hawtah and En Nala-Ghawar structures) in mid-Carboniferous time. The duration
of the event coincides with the break between the Berwath Formation and Unayzah C
Member. The same event caused deformation in the Oman Mountains, where open
folds (about 100 m in amplitude, trending N50oE-N70oE) have radiometric ages of 329-
321 Ma (i.e. late Visean and Namurian stages). The broad upper Palaeozoic swells (e.g.
Central Arabian Arch and Haushi-Huqf Uplift) consist of Proterozoic to Lower Silurian
successions that were uplifted without apparent regional faulting, either during
the mid-Carboniferous tectonic event or earlier. The third glaciation AP G3 started
in southern Arabia at about 311 Ma (or earlier), following the mid-Carboniferous
tectonic event.

INTRODUCTION
During the late Palaeozoic, tectonics affected the entire Arabian Plate and caused many structures to be
uplifted. Examples of upper Palaeozoic palaeostructures include the En Nala-Ghawar and Hawtah
structures in Saudi Arabia (McGillivray and Husseini, 1992; Wender et al., 1998), and the Burgan Arch
in Kuwait (Strohmenger et al., 2003) (Figures 1 and 2). The estimated duration of the late Palaeozoic
tectonic phase is variably interpreted: (1) Late Devonian-Carboniferous (Husseini, 1992); (2) mid-
Carboniferous (Wender et al., 1998); (3) Early Carboniferous (Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000; Konert et al.,
2001); or Late Carboniferous (Sharland et al., 2001).

15
Al-Husseini

Location map
39° 32° 34° 36° 38° 40° 42° 44° 46° 48° 50° 52° 54° 56° 58° 60° 39°
Lake
Van
TURKMENISTAN
Caspian Sea
TURKEY
37°
37°

SYRIA
35°
35° N
0 300
CYPRUS
LEBANON km
Mediterranean IRAN
Sea 33°
33°

IRAQ 31°
31°

JORDAN
ST-8
29°
29° KUWAIT
Burgan

Ar
ab
ian
Nafud

Gu
Basin 27°

lf
27° Khursaniyah Abu Safah-29
Berri
Dammam BAHRAIN

25°
25° Ghawar Dubai

QATAR Gulf of Oman

EGYPT
Riyadh
Arabian Shield
Fig. 11
Haradh-601 UAE Om 23°
an
23° Mo
Central unt
Hawtah-1 ain
Arabian Arch s
SAUDI ARABIA
Nubian Shield 21°
21° Mecca
Haushi-Huqf
Wadi Tathlith Uplift
Quadrangle
in
Bas
l-K hali OMAN
Red Sea 19°
19° Rub' A
SUDAN Wajid
Figure 22
Murbat
Figure 26
17°
17°

YEMEN Arabian Sea

ERITREA Akbra
Figure 24 15°
15°

13°
13°

ETHIOPIA Gulf of Aden

11°
11°
34° 36° 38° 40° 42° 44° 46° 48° 50° 52° 54° 56° 58°

Figure 1: Map of the Arabian Peninsula showing locations of wells, fields and areas of interest.

Following the late Palaeozoic tectonic phase, in the Late Carboniferous and earliest Permian times, the
Arabian Plate was in a continental setting, and southern Arabia was glaciated. The corresponding syn-
glacial formations are collectively assigned to Arabian Plate Glaciation 3 (AP G3, Sharland et al., 2001).
The AP G3 deposits are represented by (Figures 3 and 4): (1) Al Khlata Formation in Oman (0-2,625 ft,
800 m; Osterloff et al., 2004a); (2) Juwayl Member of the Wajid Formation in southwest Saudi Arabia
(426 ft, 130 m; Kellogg et al., 1986; Evans et al., 1991); (3) Unayzah C (165-740 ft, 50-310 m thick) and B
(55 ft, 16.8 m) members in subsurface Saudi Arabia (McGillivray and Husseini, 1992; Konert et al.,
2000; Stephenson et al., 2003; Stephenson, 2004), or coeval Al Khlata equivalent (Al-Hajri and Owens,
2000); and (4) Akbra Shale in north Yemen (426 ft, 130 m; Kruck and Thiele, 1983).

16
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

The temporal relationship between the late Palaeozoic tectonic phase (uplift and erosion) and the ensuing
AP G3 glaciation, is deduced from two lines of evidence in the subsurface of Saudi Arabia (Figures 2-10).
The first is the erosional pattern below the AP G3 deposits (subcrop of upper Carboniferous or pre-
Unayzah unconformity: PUU; so-called ‘Hercynian’ unconformity; McGillivray and Husseini, 1992;
Wender et al., 1998; Konert et al., 2000). The second line of evidence is the seismic images of
transpressional faults that terminate below the pre-Unayzah unconformity (Figures 7 and 10). Both
types of evidence show that the large structures of Arabia were uplifted along regional faults resulting
in substantive erosion of the pre-Unayzah succession.

The origins of the late Palaeozoic tectonic phase and its duration remain uncertain. In this paper, a
regional compressional tectonic event is correlated to a break in the mid-Carboniferous stratigraphic
record (about Namurian-early Westphalian or corresponding Serpukovian-Bashkirian stages;
approximately 327-311 Ma, according to the geological time scale of Gradstein and Ogg, 1996). This
break is calibrated to the pre-Unayzah unconformity in two wells (ST-8 and Abu Safah-29; Figures 1
and 9) where it separates the Lower Carboniferous pre-tectonism Berwath Formation from the overlying
post-tectonism, syn-glacial Upper Carboniferous Unayzah C Member (Figures 3, 4 and 9).

The Berwath Formation, unlike most other Palaeozoic formations in Saudi Arabia, is absent in outcrop
and rarely preserved in the subsurface. This is probably because it is the uppermost pre-tectonism rock
unit, and therefore was the first candidate for uplift and erosion as represented by the pre-Unayzah
unconformity. The first post-tectonism Unayzah C Member is encountered in the subsurface, generally
in lowlands and channels along the flanks of structural traps in Central Arabia, and in the Rub’ Al-Khali
region. It consists of reworked clastics that contain older fossils, and can be confused with other
formations.

This paper starts with a review of the stratigraphy of the subsurface Berwath and Unayzah formations.
It then shows their relationship to the Khusayyayn and Juwayl members of the Wajid Formation in the
outcrops of southwest Saudi Arabia, and Akbra Shale in Yemen. A brief aside follows to exclude the
Murbat Formation of Oman from AP G3. For each rock unit, the historical and revised lithostratigraphic
definitions, and biostratigraphic age interpretations are discussed. This review is then integrated with
other data and regional considerations to show that a mid-Carboniferous compressional tectonic event:
(1) caused uplift, erosion/non-deposition in mid-Carboniferous time: (2) corresponds to the pre-Unayzah
unconformity or time hiatus; and (3) preceeded the third glaciation in southern Arabia (AP G3).

BERWATH FORMATION, SUBSURFACE SAUDI ARABIA

Most of the Palaeozoic formations of Saudi Arabia crop out along the eastern rim of the Proterozoic
Arabian Shield (Figures 2 and 3). The Berwath Formation, however, is not found in outcrop, and is only
encountered in a few widely-dispersed wells in Saudi Arabia. Three wells that are reported to have
penetrated this formation are discussed here (Figures 1 and 9). Stratigraphic well ST-8 penetrated the
original reference section of the Berwath Formation (D.O. Hemer and R.W. Powers, in Powers, 1968).
Al-Hajri and Owens (2000) and Clayton et al. (2000) revised the definition of the formation in the ST-8
reference well. The second well, Abu Safah-29, encountered one of the most completely-documented
upper Palaeozoic successions in the Arabian Peninsula; it provides important lithostratigraphic and
biostratigraphic controls (Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000; Clayton et al., 2000).

The biostratigraphy of the third well, Haradh-601, is variably interpreted resulting in uncertainty as to
whether it encountered the Berwath Formation, or the Unayzah Formation with reworked Lower
Carboniferous plant microfossils (Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000; Owens et al., 2000; Senalp and Al-Duaiji,
2001). The discussion of this well includes the written communication by J. Filatoff (2003, 2004) that are
presented in terms of informal Saudi Aramco Carboniferous (C) and Permian (P) palynozones (Figure
4). Where appropriate these biozones are related to the Oman-Saudi Arabia Palynozones (OSPZ) of
Stephenson et al. (2003).

Reference Well ST-8, Nafud Basin

In the 1960s, the Lower Carboniferous Berwath Formation was only known in a few stratigraphic wells
drilled in the Nafud Basin of northwest Saudi Arabia. The type section of this formation was originally

17
Al-Husseini

Mid-Carboniferous subcrop, Arabian Plate

32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60
East Anatolyan
Kursehir ya Accretionary Complex
Neo-Tethyan Malat phics TURKMENISTAN
Block or
Metam Bit
Suture lis
Ma
Lake
Van
ssif 38
Laurasia
38 Caspian Sea
TURKEY
Menderes-Taurus
Block
Paleo-Tethyan Pa
la e
Suture o-Te thy
N an S
utu 36
36 re
Northwest Iran

CYPRUS Farah
Block

Carboniferous 34

Pa
34 IRAN

le
SYRIA Sa

o-
na

Te
nd Anarek

th
Mediterranean Ne aj Sistan

ya
Massif Suture
o- -S

n
Sea Te Zone

Su
t irj Central Iranian
hy an

tu
Microcontinent

re
an
ni an Zo "Lut Block"
Su ne
vo

tu Helmond
De

32 re Block
Negra

Heletz-Brur
Si
rh IRAQ
Hakanaim
Kidod
JORDAN an
Zohar
-J
au
fG
ra
be
n 30
30 Silurian
Lower
Carboniferous

KUWAIT
Burgan
28
28

SUMMAN PLATFORM
Ordovic
ian
Ar
Cambro-Ordovician ab
ian
Gu 26
26 BAHRAIN lf
EGYPT Basement

Khurais
Ghawar QATAR
Riyadh
Gulf of Oman
24
24
ch

UAE
Ar
ian

Late Cretaceous
ab

Oman Obduction
Arabian
Ar
al

Shield Hawtah
n tr

22
Ce

ian

22
Basement
ovic

an

Red Sea
uri

Nubian Shield
Ord

ft
Sil

pli
SAUDI ARABIA
n

fU
nia
vo

uq
De

i-H
sh
OMAN 20

Hau
20
ian
Devonian
ovic

Lower Silurian
Ord

Carboniferous
SUDAN

18
18

ramaut Arch
Had
Basement

16
ERITREA 16

YEMEN

14 Arabian Sea 14

Oil field
Gas field 12
12 ETHIOPIA Gulf of Aden
DJIBOUTI

0 100 200 300 400 500

Km 40 42 44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58

Figure 2: The influence of the mid-Carboniferous tectonic compressional event is recognised in many
parts of the Arabian Plate by the pattern of erosion seen in the subcrop of the Upper Carboniferous
units (after Sengör, 1990; McGillivray and Husseini, 1992; Wender et al., 1998; Konert et al., 2001). The large
NS-trending Arabian structures were uplifted as fault blocks along sub-vertical transpressional faults.

defined by D.O. Hemer and R.W. Powers (in Powers, 1968), in the reference well ST-8 (Figures 1 and 9,
29o53’21”N, 41o54’44”E) between 4,358-4,982 ft (1,518.3-1,328.3 m). In the reference well, the base of the
Berwath Formation occurs below the total depth, and therefore the lower boundary is not documented.
These authors picked the top of the Berwath Formation as the unconformable contact with the overlying
Khuff Formation: at the change from sandstone with Carboniferous microflora below, to vari-coloured
sandy shale with Upper Permian microfauna above.

18
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Palaeozoic Stratigraphy, south Arabia

Central
Central Southwest Rub'
Nafud Arabian Yemen Oman
Arabia Arabia Al-Khali
Arch
Triassic
251.1 Khuff Formation Khuff Formation
Permian

pre-Khuff
unconformity Upper Wajid Gharif Formation
Unayzah Juwayl Sandstone
Unayzah Formation Member
290 290 Formation Akbra
Al Khlata Formation
Carboniferous

Shale

mid-Carboniferous tectonic event

Berwath Fm Wajid Formation

350
354
Jubah Fm pre-Unayzah
unconformity Khusayyayn Lower Wajid
Devonian

Member Sandstone Misfar

PUU
PALAEOZOIC

Group
Jauf Fm
400
Tawil Fm
417
Ordovician Silurian

Qalibah Fm Qalibah Fm
Sarah Fm Sanamah
Sarah Fm Member
443 Zarqa Fm Zarqa Fm
450 Lower Wajid
Sandstone
Saq/Qasim Dibsiyah
Qasim Fm undiff Member Haima
Supergroup
Saq Fm
495
Cambrian

500
Burj Fm

Siq Fm
542 Ma
550 Huqf
Proterozoic

Supergroup

Proterozoic basement
600
Figure 3: Palaeozoic stratigraphy of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman. The rock units encountered in the
Nafud Basin are missing over the Central Arabian Arch, but can be correlated to central Arabia, southwest
Saudi Arabia and north Yemen (Wajid Formation). The succession in the Rub’ Al-Khali Basin is similar
to that of subsurface Interior Oman. The geological scale is after Gradstein and Ogg (1996) and the
Permian-Triassic Boundary is after Jin et al. (1997).

D.O. Hemer and R.W. Powers (in Powers, 1968) described the Berwath Formation in well ST-8 to consist
of sandstone, fine- to coarse-grained; with common interbeds of siltstone and some shale. They
interpreted its depositional environment as non-marine, based on: (1) the presence of abundant spores
of vascular plants; (2) its vari-coloured clastic sediments; and (3) lack of definite marine remains. These
authors assigned the Berwath Formation a Carboniferous (Tournaisian to ?Westphalian) age based on
well-preserved microspores from several levels.

Al-Hajri and Owens (2000) and Clayton et al. (2000) (Figure 9) reinterpreted the succession in well ST-8 and
introduced two new rock units between the Berwath (4,982-4,620 ft; thickness of at least 362 ft or 110 m)
and base Khuff (at 3,700 ft) formations. These are the Al Khlata equivalent (4,620-4,200 ft) and Unayzah
Formation (4,200-3,700 ft) that were not defined in the lexicon of Powers (1968). Based on wells in the
vicinity of ST-8, Miessner et al. (1989b, c) estimated the complete thickness of the redefined Berwath
Formation to be about 362 ft (110 m) in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

More recently, J. Filatoff (written communication, 2003; Figure 9) further clarified the interpretation of
the succession in well ST-8. He indicated that core 14 (4,642-4,634 ft) and cores 16-21 (4,982-4,792 ft)

19
Al-Husseini

Global Stratigraphy Arabian Synopsis

STANDARD RUSSIA TETHYS TIME OMAN-SAUDI EVENTS

Million years not studied

(Ma)
MESOZOIC
EARLY TRIASSIC

248.2 251.1

Changhsingian Dorashamian

Hiatus 253
Lopingian

'Khuff Sea'
(China)

Gradstein and Ogg

LATE

Jin et al. (1997)

Stephenson et al. (2003)

Oman-Saudi Arabia
Palynozone OSPZ6
Wuchiapingian Dzhulfian

(1996)
Tatarian

Capitanian Midian
(North America)
Guadalupian

252.1 pre-Khuff
MIDDLE

unconformity
Wordian Kazanian Murgabian 264.1

Roadian Ufimian Kubergandian

Continental OSPZ5
PERMIAN

256 Phase

Kungurian Bolorian

260 272.2 OSPZ4

PALAEOZOIC

Artinskian 'Haushi Sea'

OSPZ3
267
MFS P10
Cisuralian

269 280.3
EARLY

MFS P10
possible age range
Sakmarian
284

282
OSPZ2
Arabian Plate
Asselian 290.6
Glaciation 3
(AP G3)

290
Gzelian
Mississippian Pennsylvanian

296.5
Stephanian
CARBONIFEROUS

Kasimovian OSPZ1
LATE

303
Moscovian
Westphalian 311
Bashkirian mid-Carboniferous
Namurian 323 Tectonic Event
Serpukovian
327
EARLY

Visean
342
'Berwath Sea'
Tournaisian
354
not studied
DEVONIAN

Figure 4: The stratigraphic positions of the Berwath, Unayzah and Khuff formations in subsurface
Saudi Arabia are shown in terms of various biostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic schemes. Also
shown are the coeval and laterally-equivalent rock units in Saudi Arabia, Yemen and subsurface Interior
Oman (Osterloff et al., 2004a, b). The pre-Unayzah unconformity corresponds to a mid-Carboniferous
event. The geological time calibrations of Gradstein and Ogg (1996) and Jin et al. (1997) are shown in
million years (Ma) side-by-side (see also Preface for further discussion).

20
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Arabian Plate Stratigraphy

SP2 SAUDI ARABIA SUBSURFACE SOUTHWEST ARABIA OMAN SUBSURFACE DS

AP6 Sudair Formation YEMEN Sudair Formation

Tr20
Khuff Formation
Khuff A Member Upper Member
Tr10
Khuff B Member SA P1
P40

Middle Member
Khuff C Member Khuff P35

Khuff Formation
Formation Upper P30
D-Anhydrite Wajid
Sandstone Middle Khuff P27
Khuff D Member
SA P2 Anhydrite
P23
Basal Khuff
Clastics P20
P19

Lower Member P18

AP6 pre-Khuff unconformity P17

AP5
Upper Unayzah A Upper Gharif
Submember Wajid Formation P15
Member

Gharif Formation
Middle Gharif
Member P13

Lower Unayzah A SA P3
Submember
Lower Gharif
Member P10
MFS P10
Juwayl Akbra
Member Shale

Rahab Shale
Production Unit 1

Unayzah B SA P4 P8
Third Member Member
Glaciation
Al Khlata Formation

AP G3

P6

Production Unit 5 CP
Unayzah C SA Cm AK P5
Member

AP5 Production Unit 9 C30

AK P9

?
pre-Al Khlata
Depositional

pre-Unayzah unconformity unconformity

Sequences

MFS C10 Khusayyayn

Berwath Formation Member
C3, C4 Lower
Saudi Aramco Wajid unnamed units
AP4 Palynozone Sandstone
Jubah Formation Wajid Formation

Carbonate Sequence Boundary

Evaporite Maximum Flooding

Surface (MFS)
Shale DS Depositional Sequence

Siltstone
Sandstone and
conglomerates

21
Al-Husseini

contain carbonaceous shales and carbonates (lithology not noted in Powers, 1968), while the section
4,620-4,200 ft consists of a red-bed succession. Core 14 yielded the only recorded occurrence of Saudi
Aramco informal palynozone C3 consisting predominantly of Lower Carboniferous (upper Visean)
spore assemblages. Cores 16-21 yielded C4 assemblages. Palynozones C3 and C4 have similar
assemblages; however, C3 contains low numbers of monosaccate pollen (Plicatipollenites and
Potonieisporites) and rare reworked Devonian spores. J. Filatoff also noted that a sample from core 16
(4,792 ft) contains rare Lower Silurian taxa within a rich Visean assemblage, and the former taxa are
either reworked or due to laboratory contamination.

The stratigraphic units in ST-8 are:

Berwath Formation: between total depth at 4,982 ft to 4,620 ft (at least 362 ft, 110 m thick; Al-Hajri and
Owens, 2000).
Pre-Unayzah unconformity (PUU) or top Berwath Formation: 4,620 ft.
Unayzah C and/or B Member: 4,620-4,360 ft consisting predominantly of red siltstone and shale yielded
C2 assemblages between 4,425-4,400 ft (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003). Al-Hajri and Owens
(2000) interpreted the greater interval 4,620-4,200 ft as the Al Khlata equivalent, and Late
Carboniferous, Westphalian D-Stephanian in age.
Unayzah A Member: 4,360-3,910 ft (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003); with a lower part between
4,360-4,192 ft consisting of red-bed siltstone and shale (Lower Unayzah A Submember); and the
upper part between 4,192-3,910 ft consisting of sandstone (Upper Unayzah A Submember). The
interval 4,360-4,345 ft (at the base of the Unayzah A Member) yielded Saudi Aramco P3 assemblages
(Early Permian, Artinskian-Kungurian age, OSPZ4).
Pre-Khuff unconformity (PKU) (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003): 3,910 ft (compared to 3,700 ft in
Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000).
Khuff-D Member (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003): 3,910-3,650 ft (260 ft, 79 m thick) with
identification of Saudi Aramco palynozones P1/P2 above 3,825 ft (late Middle and Late Permian,
OSPZ6). Within the Khuff-D Member, an 8-ft thick dolomite-limestone stringer considered to be a
marine flooding surface (mfs) is picked in 3,758-3,750 ft. The Basal Khuff Clastics occupy the interval
from the base of the mfs to the pre-Khuff unconformity. The interval 3,910-3,825 ft yielded
questionable P1/P2 assemblages.
Top Khuff-D Member: (equivalent to top Khuff-D Anhydrite) at 3,650 ft.

Well Abu Safah-29, Arabian Gulf

The Abu Safah-29 well is located offshore in the Arabian Gulf, some 1,000 km east of well ST-8 (Figures
1 and 9). It penetrated one of the most complete and well-documented upper Palaeozoic sections below
the pre-Unayzah unconformity (PUU at 14,820 ft, Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000; J. Filatoff, written
communication, 2003). In this well the Berwath Formation is 440 ft (134 m) thick (between depths
15,260-14,820 ft). The interval was not cored but appears to consist of a succession of interbedded
carbonaceous shales and carbonates (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003). It overlies the Upper
Devonian-Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian) Jubah Formation with apparent conformity, and is
truncated by the pre-Unayzah unconformity. Based on recovered palynomorphs, the uppermost part
of the Berwath section is dated as late Visean in age by Clayton et al. (2000), which is consistent with
Visean palynozone C4 in interval 14,990-14,820 ft (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003).

The Unayzah Formation is interpreted in the interval 14,820-14,660 ft (160 ft, 49 m thick), and is barren
except at the very top at 14,665 ft where the Saudi Aramco palynozone P4 is identified (Early Permian
Asselian-Sakmarian age, OSPZ2), thus implying the Unayzah B Member. Above the Unayzah Formation,
the pre-Khuff unconformity is picked at 14,660-14,665 ft just below an interval that recovered palynozone
P1 (14,650-14,550 ft; late Middle and Late Permian age, OSPZ6).

Haradh-601, Ghawar field: Berwath or Unayzah Formation?

The Haradh-601 well was drilled on the southeastern flank of the Ghawar field, about 400 km southwest
of Abu Safah-29 (Figures 1, 6-9). On the basis of palynology, lithology and log character, the top of the
Silurian Sharawra Member of the Qalibah Formation is picked at about 15,380 ft (Al-Hajri and Owens,

22
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Palaeozoic stratigraphy, Ghawar structure, Saudi Arabia

DEN/NEU POR DEN/NEU POR

PERIOD
RESERVOIR RESERVOIR
PERIOD

GAMMA RAY LITHOLOGY GAMMA RAY LITHOLOGY

FORMATION/ RESOLUTION DENSITY (grams/cm) FORMATION/ RESOLUTION DENSITY (gms/cm)
RESERVOIR (API) (interpreted (API) (interpreted
(ohm-meters) 2.0 NEWPORC (%) 3.0 RESERVOIR (ohm-meters) 2.0 NEWPORC (%) 3.0
0.0 200.0
whole core) 0.0 200.0 whole core)
0.20 2,000.0 45.0 -15.0 0.20 2,000.0 45.0 -15.0
TRIASSIC

Sudair

DEVONIAN
A

Tawil
Fm

B
Khuff Formation

Sharawra Member
500 ft
PERMIAN

D-Anhydrite

Qalibah Formation
SILURIAN
D Member

Qusaiba Member

A
Unayzah Formation

Siltstone

B Sarah
PUU
ORDOVICIAN

Jubah

Qasim
Fm
Jauf Formation
DEVONIAN

Jauf Reservoir

Figure 5: Composite log of the Palaeozoic succession in the

Ghawar field area (Wender et al., 1998). The pre-Unayzah
unconformity (PUU) is indicated between the Devonian
Jubah and Permian Unayzah B Member. Additional studies
Tawil in wells ST-8, Abu Safah-29 and Haradh-601 (see Figures 4
Fm
and 9) narrow the PUU to between the Lower Carboniferous
Berwath Formation and the Upper Carboniferous Unayzah C
Member (not represented in this well).

23
 Upper Carboniferous subcrop Faulting style, Ghawar structure, Saudi Arabia
Haradh-B Haradh-C Tinat
Al-Husseini

Unayzah A A'
Abqaiq
PUU
Berwath
Jubah Middle
X' Jilh
Jauf
E

DEV-CARB
C
Tawil Ain Dar B Shedgum
D

SIL
Qalibah X

Qasim
Saq

Cm-O
Strike- pre-Khuff
slip fault unconformity
Reverse
fault
AA' Figure 7
YY' Figure 8
Oil field
Y outline

(TWT)
0.5 second

24
A
B
C
Hawiyah
Base
Qusaiba
Y'
0 20
km

Harmaliyah

Haradh

0 10

Km

Figure 6 (left): Subcrop of pre-Unayzah (PUU) and pre-Khuff (PKU) unconformities in the Ghawar field area.
The subcrop pattern reflects the level of uplift and erosion caused by the mid-Carboniferous tectonic event
B (modified after Wender et al., 1998).
C Tinat
A Z' Figure 7 (above): East-west seismic line AA’ from Haradh to Tinat fields (see Figure 6 for location) flattened at
A' the base Khuff Formation (Wender et al., 1998). The base Qusaiba reflection shows upper Palaeozoic near-vertical
Waqr
Z faults that have throws of more than 3,500 ft (1,067 m) as depicted in Figure 7 . The faults were shown by Wender
et al. to have a normal component, but are more likely to be sub-vertical transpressional strike-slip faults.
 Faulting and Unayzah wedge, Ghawar structure, Saudi Arabia
Shedgum
Ain Dar B C D E
X X'
Permian Khuff Formation
PUU
Jubah Fm
Cambro- Qalibah Fo
Ord Silurian rmation
Jauf Fm
Silurian Tawil Fm Figure 8: East-west
Qasim F
orm
Cambro- Saq Form ation stratigraphic cross-
Ord ation
ovician
Cambro-Ord sections XX’, YY’ and
? ZZ’ of NS-trending
? 0 10
Ghawar structure
km
infra-Cambrian Salt? showing faults along the
flanks (modified after
A Hawiyah B C Wender et al., 1998). The
Y Y' Palaeozoic faults
pre-Unayzah Permian Khuff Formation dislocate the Proterozoic
unconformity basement through the
Upper Devonian-Lower

25
Silurian Qalibah Formati
on Carboniferous Jubah
Qasim Formati Formation, but do not
Cambro-Ordovician on
Saq Formation cut the pre-Unayzah

4,000 ft
unconformity. The post-
?
? ? tectonism Unayzah
infra-Cambrian Salt? Formation is absent on
the crest of Ghawar, and
Waqr Haradh-B Haradh-C Tinat forms a wedge that
Z Z' thickens to the south,
Permian Khuff Formation east (Tinat) and west
PUU Unayzah Formation (Waqr). The uplift of the
Jubah Fm
Qalibah Ghawar structure, and
Tawil Fm Formatio
n
Jauf Fm Qasim F similar NS-trending
orm
Silurian Saq Form ation
ation structures, occurred in
the mid-Carboniferous
Cambro-Ordovician
Proterozoic ? and is attributed to a
basement
? regional compressional
? ?
infra-Cambrian Salt?
tectonic event.
Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia
Al-Husseini

2000; R. Price and J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003). Above the Sharawra Member, the interval
15,380-15,235 ft is tentatively assigned to the Tawil Formation (Senalp and Al-Duaiji, 2001). The overlying
interval of about 685 ft (208 m; between 15,235-14,550 ft) is undated up to the pale-grey, silty mudstone
bed (14,550-14,500 ft).

In interval 14,550-14,500 ft, Al-Hajri and Owens (2000) and Owens et al. (2000) identified Carboniferous,
lower Namurian (= Serpukhovian) palynomorph assemblages with evidence of reworked Upper
Devonian (uppermost Fammenian) to Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian) palynomorph assemblages.
Based on this biostratigraphic interpretation, Owens et al. (2000) assigned the interval to the Berwath
Formation. They interpreted this unit as representing a local basin with fluvial or lacustrine deposits
that may have been shed from high ‘Hercynian’ regions that were exposed to subaerial erosion. Their
interpretation placed the unconformity corresponding to tectonic uplift (of the closest ‘Hercynian’
Ghawar highland) at the base of the Berwath Formation.

J. Filatoff (written communication, 2003, 2004) interpreted the same interval 14,550-14,500 ft as a
lacustrine deposit in an otherwise dominantly braid-stream regime. In this interval, however, he
identified palynozone Cm that is typically dominated by Visean taxa with lesser proportions of
Tournaisian, Devonian and Silurian palynofossils. In this regard, the Cm assemblage in this well
resembles the C3 assemblage in core 14 in ST-8, and additionally in that it is also characterised by rare
monosaccate pollen (Plicatipollenites, Potonieisporites, ?Cannanoropollis). These pollen are confirmed post-
Visean taxa, with a mid-Carboniferous through Permian range. Stratigraphic constraints lead J. Filatoff
to conclude that the Cm assemblage, including the late Visean component, is wholly reworked into
post-Berwath strata, except perhaps for the monosaccate pollen which could be in situ. The age of the
Unayzah C Member is therefore post-Visean and pre-Permian.

Senalp and Al-Duaiji (2001) correlated (on the basis of logs) the uncored section from 15,235-14,255 ft
(980 ft, 297 m) in Haradh-601, to sections with similar thickness and log character in wells Jawb-1 and
Tinat-2. The interval consists of predominantly massive, medium-grained, silica-cemented, well-sorted
sandstone, which these authors interpreted as glacial to periglacial deposits (glacio-fluvial) and eolian.
They informally named this interval the ‘Haradh’ formation (a name already given to an older formation
in Oman; Droste, 1997), and the pre-Unayzah unconformity as the ‘pre-Haradh unconformity’. These
authors correlated the interval 15,235-14,255 ft (‘Haradh’ formation) to the Al Khlata Formation of
Oman. They considered the Lower Carboniferous palynomorph assemblages reported by Al-Hajri
and Owens (2000) to be reworked (J. Filatoff, written communication in Senalp and Al-Duaiji, 2001; see
above discussion).

In Haradh-601 (R. Price and J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003), the following palynological
assemblages and lithostratigraphic units are interpreted:

Pre-Unayzah unconformity: 15,235 ft.

Unayzah Formation: 15,235-13,940 ft (1,295 ft, 395 m thick) and barren throughout, except for interval
14,550-14,500 ft with Saudi Aramco palynozone Cm.
Pre-Khuff unconformity (PKU): 13,940 ft.
Khuff-D Member: 13,940-13,290 ft (650 ft, 198 m thick) with identification of Saudi Aramco palynozone
P2 between 13,860-13,820 ft (late Middle and Late Permian, OSPZ6). Within the Khuff-D Member,
a 10-ft thick dolomite-limestone stringer (mfs) is picked in 13,875-13,865 ft. The Basal Khuff Clastics
are interpreted to occupy the interval from the base of the mfs to the pre-Khuff unconformity, but
are barren.
Top Khuff-D Member (equivalent to top Khuff-D Anhydrite) at 13,290 ft.

Summary of Berwath Formation

The lithology of the Berwath Formation is reported as sandstone, carbonaceous shale and limestone in
both ST-8 and Abu Safah-29 (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003). The depositional environment
was therefore marginal to fully marine, rather than non-marine as noted in Powers (1968). The preserved
thickness of the formation is remarkably similar across 1,000 km: about 110 m in northwestern Saudi
Arabia near well ST-8, and 134 m in the Arabian Gulf in Abu Safah-29. Lithology, environment and
uniform thickness, taken together, suggest that the Berwath Formation was deposited on a broad shelf
without significant structural or tectonic influences.

26
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

The age of the Berwath Formation is interpreted as late Visean and early Namurian (Clayton, 1995;
Clayton et al., 2000; Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000), or late Visean (J. Filatoff, written communication, 2003,
2004). Sharland et al. (2001) considered its age as Tournaisian and Visean and positioned upper Visean
Maximum Flooding Surface MFS C10 in the Berwath Formation and dated it at about 333 Ma.

The interpretation of Haradh-601 interval 15,235-14,550 ft as the Berwath Formation is unlikely for
three reasons. Firstly, it is 208 m thick, or twice the known thickness of the Berwath Formation (110-134
m). Secondly, it is a distinctive, massive, clean, quartz-rich, silica-cemented sandstone that differs
completely from the interbedded carbonaceous shales, sandstones and carbonates of the Berwath
Formation. Thirdly, its continental (?glacio-fluvial) setting is inconsistent with the probably tropical
marine environment of the Berwath Formation. The Haradh-601 interval 15,235-14,550 ft is therefore
assigned to the Unayzah C Member.

UNAYZAH FORMATION, SUBSURFACE SAUDI ARABIA

The definition of the subsurface Unayzah Formation was proposed by Ferguson and Chambers (1991)
in the reference well Hawtah-1 (22o54’38.76”N, 46o49’40.5”E; Figures 1, 11 and 12). They picked the
base of the formation at 6,531 ft (‘Hercynian unconformity’). They reported the top of the formation as
“the Khuff transgressive surface (6,222 ft)” in their text on page 488; but show the top at 6,250 ft in their
figure 3 (as adopted here in Figure 12). In the Hawtah region, the Unayzah Formation lies unconformably
on the Silurian Qalibah Formation, and is unconformably overlain by the Khuff Formation (Figures 10-
19). These authors divided the Unayzah Formation into three members, denoted from top to bottom as
A to C. The oldest Unayzah C Member, however, was not encountered in Hawtah-1, nor documented
by Ferguson and Chambers (1991). Informal stratigraphic equivalents of the Unayzah C and B members
include, in part, the Al Khlata equivalent (Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000), and Haradh and Jawb formations
(Senalp and Al-Duaiji, 2001).

Unayzah C Member
The Unayzah C Member was originally defined in the interval 6,865-6,700 ft in the Hawtah-4 well;
above the Silurian Qalibah Formation and below the Unayzah B Member (Figure 12; McGillivray and
Husseini, 1992). This interval (165 ft, 50 m thick) was not cored nor examined palynologically (J. Filatoff,
written communication, 2004). Based on log correlations, McGillivray and Husseini (1992) showed
that the Unayzah C infilled palaeotopography on the eroded pre-Unayzah surface, and that it is older
than the overlying Unayzah B Member. Seismic interpretations, calibrated by wells, indicate that the
Unayzah C channels are about 3 km wide, and 250-400 ft (75-120 m) thick in the ‘Usaylah (Figures 13-
16) and Umm Jurf (Figures 17 and 18) areas, in central Saudi Arabia.

In the Haradh-601 well (Figure 9), the interval 15,235-14,550 ft and the silty mudstone bed interval
14,550-14,500 ft may together correlate to the Unayzah C Member of Hawtah-4, or represent an older
sequence. This member is generally absent over upper Palaeozoic palaeohighs, and mostly restricted
to palaeolows and channels, and the Rub’ Al-Khali Basin.

The Unayzah C Member is assigned to Oman-Saudi Arabia Palynological Zone OSPZ1 and is Late
Carboniferous, Stephanian (Stephenson et al., 2003), and sometimes cited as Westphalian-D-Stephanian
in age (Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000). The Unayzah C Member would therefore be approximately coeval
to Depositional Sequences DS C30 (Al Khlata Production Unit 9) and the lower part of DS CP (Al Khlata
Production Unit 5) (Osterloff et al., 2004a).

Unayzah B Member
The subsurface Unayzah B Member in the Hawtah-1 reference well (Figure 1) is 55 ft (between 6,531-
6,476 ft; 16.8 m) thick, and consists of fine to pebbly, cross-bedded sandstone (Figure 12; Ferguson and
Chambers, 1991). In Hawtah-6, located a few kilometres from Hawtah-1 (Figure 12), Senalp and Al-Duaiji
(1995) provided a sedimentological description of the Unayzah Formation. The thickness of the entire
formation in the two wells is almost identical (Hawtah-1: 281 ft; Hawtah-6: 280 ft). The lower three
units of the Unayzah Formation in Hawtah-6 (73 ft, 22.1 m, thick) are here assigned to Member B, and their
lithology and interpreted depositional environment are quoted from Senalp and Al-Duaiji (1995).

27
Al-Husseini

Upper Palaeozoic, subsurface Saudi Arabia

Abu Safah-29
ST-8
~ 1,000 km ~ 400 km

LITHOLOGY
Gamma Density
LITHOLOGY
Ray (API) (gm/cc) Sonic
Gamma Porosity 0 200 2 3 (msec/ft)
Ray (API) (%) Caliper Porosity 140 4
0 200 45 -15 (inch) (%)
4 24 45 -15
3,500 14,400

Khuff Khuff
3,600 Formation 14,500 Formation
P1/P2
3,700 14,600 14,650-14,580: P1

3,800 14,665-14,660: P4 PKU

12 14,700
Unayzah Fm, C/B Mbr
3,910-3,825: P1/P2? barren
12
3,900 pre-Khuff unc 14,800

14,820-14,490
4,000 14,900 C4
late Visean

ty
RT Biozone

rmi
4,100
Unayzah Aratrisporites saharaensis
nfo 15,000 Prolycospora rugulosa
Formation Spelaeotriletes arenaceus
nco

Radiizonates genuinus
4,200 4,200-4,620 Vallatisporites agadesii
A Member

15,100

PUU
13
ah u

Westphalian-D C6
-Stephanian
4,300 Berwath Fm
ayz

15,200
4,360-4,345: P3
-Un

15,299-15,350
C/B Members

4,400 15,300
} Tournaisian
pre

4,425-4,400: C2 13
I. explanatus Assemblage
Convolutispora spp.
4,500 15,400 Indotriradites explanatus
Perotrilites spp.
Vallatisporites verrucosus
4,600 15,500
14 15,539-15,589
4,637 - 4,642

4,700
Namurian
C3 14 } late Famennian
V. famenensis Assemblage
MJ Biozone 15,600
15 Rugospora flexuosa
15 (monosaccate pollen)
R. radiata
Retusotriletes spp.
16 4,800 Berwath Fm 15,700 Verruciretusispora famenensis
17 4,792 - 4,982 C4
18
19 late Visean-
4,900 15,800
early Namurian
20 RT Biozone
21
15,900

Limestone Sandstone 16,000

Jubah
Dolomite Siltstone Cored interval Formation
16,100
Anhydrite Shale
16,200
Al-Hajri and Owens (2000)
J. Filatoff (written communication, 2003)
16,300
16
Figure 9: Correlation of upper Palaeozoic 16,400
formations from reference well ST-8 in the
Nafud Basin, to Abu Safah-29 in the 16,500

Arabian Gulf, and Haradh-601 in south

16,600
Ghawar field (modified after Al-Hajri and
Owens, 2000).
16,700

17
18 16,800 Jauf
Formation
16,900

17,000

17,100
Tawil
Formation
17,200

28
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

PERIOD STAGE FORMATION/ Stephenson

Ghawar field, Haradh-601 Member et al. (2003)
Gamma Density
LITHOLOGY
Changhsingian

Middle Late
Ray (API) (gm/cc) KHUFF P1
Sonic
0 200 2 3 (msec/ft) Wuchiapingian Fm OSPZ6
Caliper Porosity 140 4 Capitanian P2
(Inch) (%)

PERMIAN
4 24 45 -15 Wordian PKU
Khuff OSPZ5
Roadian Unayzah-A
13,700 Formation
Kungurian Mbr OSPZ4
P3

Early
13,820-13,700: P1/P2 Artinskian OSPZ3
13,800 Sakmarian Unayzah-B
13,860-13,820: P2 Mbr P4 OSPZ2
Asselian
3 13,900
Stephanian Unayzah-C

CARBONIFEROUS
pre-Khuff unc Mbr C2, Cm OSPZ1

Late
14,000 Westphalian
PUU
Namurian
14,100
Visean BERWATH Fm C3, C4

Early
A Mbr

14,500-13,860
4-5 barren
14,200
Tournaisian C6

14,300 Famennian

Late
B Member

C and P biozones
6-8 Frasnian JUBAH after Saudi Aramco
14,400 DEVONIAN Givetian
Fm (J. Filatoff, written

Mid
communication, 2004)
Eifelian
14,500
14,500-14,550 Emsian JAUF
Early
early Namurian
RT/MJ Boundary Pragian Fm
14,600
reworked Cm?
Lochkovian
Pridoli TAWIL
14,700 Fm
C Member

Late

Ludfordian
Ludlow

14,800 Unayzah
Formation Gorstian
14,900
SILURIAN

Wenlock

15,360-14,500 Homerian
barren Sharawra
15,000
QALIBAH Fm

Mbr
Sheinwood-
ian
Early

15,100
Llandovery

Telychian

15,200 Aeronian Qusaiba

pre-Unayzah unc Mbr
Rhuddanian
15,300 Tawil Fm

15,400
32

IRAQ
15,500 JORDAN
Nafud Basin
9
ST-8
30
15,600
KUWAIT
Sharawra Arabian
15,700 Member Gulf
28

15,800
SAUDI
ARABIA Abu Safah-29
15,900 26
Qalibah
16,000
Formation LEGEND
Ghawar
Permian Riyadh
24
16,100 Devonian
Central Haradh-601
Silurian Arabian
Shield Arabia
16,200 Ordovician
Qusaiba 22 Cambrian
Cambrian
Member
16,300 Palaeozoic
n
Basi
undifferentiated
Crystalline l-K hali
16,400 20 Precambrian
Basement R ub 'A
0 200
Study well
km
16,500
38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52

16,600

29
Al-Husseini

Hawtah Structure, central Arabia

West East
.6

.7 Sudair

.8 Khuff

.9 Unayzah

1.0
Qusaiba
Two-way Time (sec)

1.1

1.2

pre-Qusaiba
1.3

1.4

Basement
1.5

Master
1.6 fault

West East

.6

.7 Sudair

.8
Khuff

.9 Unayzah

1.0
Qusaiba
Two-way Time (sec)

1.1

1.2

pre-Qusaiba
1.3

1.4

Basement
1.5
Master
fault
1.6

Figure 10: East-west-oriented seismic examples of faults with a strong reverse component along the
flanks of the NS-trending Hawtah structure (Figure 11, location approximate), south of Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia (modified after Simms, 1995). The faults dislocate the Proterozoic basement through the Lower
Silurian Qusaiba Member of the Qalibah Formation, and terminate below the pre-Unayzah unconformity.
The Palaeozoic transpressional uplift of the Hawtah and similar NS-trending structures occurred in
the mid-Carboniferous and is attributed to a regional compressional tectonic event. Post-Palaeozoic
reactivation of the faults caused flexure in the Khuff Formation over the structures.

30
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Structural
Dilam Crest

Hawtah Nuayyim Abu Shidad

Trend Trend
Shiblah
Raghib Abu Rakiz

Hilwah Mulayh
Hilwah-1

Abu Markhah

Khuzama

Burmah
Figures
10 and 12 Nisalah Nuayyim
Oil field
Gas field

Hawtah Anticline
Hawtah-1 Well

Hawtah-4
44 52 60
Hazmiyah
31
IRAQ
IRAN N 31
Figures
13 to 19 KUWAIT Ar
ab
ian
Gu
Ghinah lf
SAUDI
ARABIA
QATAR
23
Figure 11: Map of
UAE
Jufarah-1 Umm Jurf
23
central Arabia showing
Figure 19 Map
area
OMAN fields and wells:
Re

Layla Hawtah (Figures 10 and

d

'Usaylah
Se

20
a

Figure 13 YEMEN
12), Umm Jurf (Figures
15 Arabian Sea 15
0 25
14, 17 and 18), ‘Usaylah
of Aden 0 300
ETHIOPIA
44
Gulf
52 km (Figures 13-16), and
Km
Jufarah-1 (Figure 19).

Unayzah B Member, unit 1: 25 ft (7.6 m), mud-supported, unsorted, non-stratified conglomerate with
large shale pebbles of the underlying Silurian Qusaiba shale. This unit is interpreted as a chaotic debris
flow found in canyons of the upper alluvial fan that was sourced from the underlying Silurian Qusaiba
shale of the Qalibah Formation.
Unayzah B Member, unit 2: 38 ft (11.5 m), inter-bedded coarse to very coarse-grained sandstone and
pebbly sandstone with very rare mud laminae with poorly developed gentle cross bedding. This unit
is interpreted as aggradational, braided stream deposits consisting mainly of channel fill.
Unayzah B, unit 3: 10 ft (3 m), medium- to coarse-grained, well-sorted, cross-bedded sandstone,
interpreted as a braided channel fill facies.

Aktas et al. (2000) and Al-Qassab et al. (2001), based on sedimentological petrographic and regional
studies of wells in the Hawtah region, interpreted the Unayzah B Member as alluvial fan to braidplain
fluvial deposits that filled structurally-controlled irregular topography. Aktas (2003, written
communication) interpreted the undifferentiated Unayzah C and B members in terms of two facies:
(1) Sandy Stream Flow Facies, and (2) Conglomeratic Stream Flow Facies, associated with subordinate
overbank and lake mudstones. These facies are interpreted to represent a wet, alluvial-fan system
dominated by multi-storey, channel-fill sediments of braided streams. The braided streams probably
extended beyond the confines of the fans towards the lakes, forming small terminal lobes and fluvio-
lacustrine lobes downslope further to the east.

31
Al-Husseini

Unayzah Formation, Hawtah field, central Arabia

Hawtah-6 Hawtah-1
Gamma Ray
(API) Porosity (%) Gamma Ray
LOCAL (API) Porosity (%)
0 200 LITH- 45 -15 Sonic (µsec/ft)
STRATI- 0 200 LITH- 45 -15 Sonic (µsec/ft)
GRAPHY OLOGY 140 40
OLOGY 140 40
Caliper (inch) Density (gm/cc)
Caliper (inch) Density (gm/cc)
4 24 2 3
4 24 2 3

C Mbr

6,000
KDA

6,000
UPPER
Khuff Formation

Khuff-D Carbonate
Khuff-D Member

6,100 6,100

6,200
BKC
PERMIAN
MIDDLE

Upper A Submbr

PKU

9
6,300 6,300
Unayzah Formation

8
Lower A Submbr

7
LOWER

6 6,400 6,400

5
4
3
B Mbr

2
6,500 6,500
1

PUU
LOWER
SILURIAN
Qalibah
Formation 6,600 ft 6,600 ft

Stephenson et al. (2003) and Stephenson (2004), based on recovered OSPZ2 palynomorph assemblages,
interpreted the age of the Unayzah B Member as Early Permian, Asselian-Sakmarian. The Unayzah B
Member would therefore be approximately coeval to the upper part of DS CP (Al Khlata Production
Unit 5), and Depositional Sequences DS P6 and DS P8 (together Al Khlata Production Unit 1; Osterloff
et al., 2004a).

Unayzah A Member

Above the Unayzah B Member, Ferguson and Chambers (1991) defined the base of the Unayzah A
Member at 6,476 ft in reference well Hawtah-1 (Figure 1). The top of this member (top Unayzah
Formation) is picked at the pre-Khuff unconformity at 6,250 ft (Figure 12). The Unayzah A Member in
this well consists of the Lower Unayzah A Submember, known as the Red Siltstone or Unayzah Siltstone
Member. The Lower Unayzah A Submember is 41.2 m (135 ft) thick, and characterised on logs by a
distinctive, high gamma ray signature between 6,476-6,341 ft. The Upper Unayzah A Submember, known
as the Unayzah A Sandstone Member, is 27.7 m (91 ft) thick.

32
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Hawtah-4
Gamma Ray
(API) Porosity (%) ARABIAN
0 200 LITH- 45 -15 Sonic (µsec/ft) LOCAL PLATE
OLOGY 140 40 STRATIGRAPHY SEQUENCE
Caliper (inch) Density (gm/cc) STRATIGRAPHY
4 24 2 3

C Mbr
6,100 DS P30

KDA
Khuff-D Anhydrite

Capitanian-Wuchiapingian
Khuff Formation

UPPER
Khuff-D Member
6,200

DS P27

6,300

AP6
pre-Khuff pre-Khuff
unconformity unconformity

Upper A SMbr

PERMIAN
MIDDLE
AP5
Upper Unayzah A 6,400
Submember
DS P15
Artinskian-Wordian

6,500
Lower A SMbr

Lower Unayzah A DS P13

Submember and
DS P10
Unayzah Formation

LOWER

6,600

Unayzah B
B Mbr

Member DS P6-P8
Stephanian-Sakmarian

6,700
AP G3 deposits

DS CP
Unayzah C Mbr

CARBONIFEROUS

p
un re-
co Un
UPPER

6,800
nf ay
or za DS C30
m h
ity

AP5
pre-Unayzah
6,900 ft
LOWER unconformity
SILURIAN
Qalibah AP3
Formation

Figure 12: Correlation of the Lower Silurian Qalibah Formation, pre-Unayzah unconformity (PUU),
Unayzah A-C members, pre-Khuff unconformity (PKU) and Khuff D Member is shown in reference
well Hawtah-1 (Ferguson and Chambers, 1991), Hawtah-4 (McGillivray and Husseini, 1992) and
Hawtah-6 (Senalp and Al-Duaiji, 1995). The Upper and Lower Unayzah A submembers in Hawtah-1
and 6 are tentatively correlated to Hawtah-4. The Unayzah C Member is only defined in Hawtah-4.
The Unayzah C and B members are assigned to depositional sequences Carboniferous 30 (DS C30),
Carboniferous-Permian (DS CP) and Permian DS P6 and DS P8 of Late Carboniferous and Early Permian
age (Stephanian-Sakmarian), and approximately correlate to the Al Khlata Formation of Oman (Osterloff
et al., 2004a). The Unayzah A Member appears to corresponds to DS P10, P13 and P15 and approximately
correlates to the Gharif Formation of Oman (Osterloff et al., 2004b).

33
Al-Husseini

Unayzah Formation, 'Usaylah-1, central Arabia

Gamma Ray Porosity
(API) (%) ARABIAN
Sonic PLATE
LOCAL 0 200 LITH- 45 -15 (µsec/ft) DEPOSITIONAL SEQUENCE
STRATIGRAPHY Caliper OLOGY Density ENVIRONMENT STRATI-
140 40
(inch) (gm/cc) GRAPHY
4 24 2 3

C Mbr
DS P30
KDA
?Capitanian-Wuchiapingian

4,100
Khuff Formation

Shallow
Khuff-D Member

Khuff-D Carbonate

marine
UPPER

DS P27

4,200

BKC
Marginal
marine AP6
pre-Khuff unc
PERMIAN
MIDDLE

Upper Submember

4,300
7 Eolian AP5

6
Artinskian-Wordian

Unayzah A Member

Braid
5 plain
4,400
DS P10-
Unayzah Formation

Lower Submember

4 DS P15

3 Channel fill

Braid
unit 2

plain
4,500
Ass-Sakmarian

B Member
LOWER

DS P8-
unit 1

Channel DS P6
fill
AP5
4,600 ft pre-Unayzah unc
LOWER
SILURIAN Marine AP3
Qalibah Formation

Figure 13: Lithostratigraphy, composite electrical logs, lithology of the Unayzah Formation in ‘Usaylah-1
well (Evans et al., 1997). The Unayzah A Reservoir consists of eolian sandstone located at the top of the
Unayzah Formation below the pre-Khuff unconformity. The depths are indicated relative to sea level.

In Hawtah-6 (Figure 12), Senalp and Al-Duaiji (1995) described several units of the Unayzah Formation,
here attributed to the A Member as follows:

Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 4: 3.5 m (12 ft), red coloured, homogeneous mudstone
interpreted as a flood plain facies.
Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 5: 7.6 m (25 ft), coarse to very fine-grained sandstone
with some shale and mud layers, cross-bedded in the lower part and interlaminated in the upper parts,
fining upwards in grain size with oxidized plant leaves. This unit is interpreted as braided channel fill
facies.

34
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

West
Unayzah Formation, 'Usaylah area, central Arabia East

Layla Umm Jurf-D Umm Jurf-C 'Usaylah-2 'Usaylah-1 Well-A

Khuff-D Khuff Khuff C

Anhydrite Formation Member

pre-Khuff Khuff D
Khuff unconformity Member
Sandstone Eolian
Sandstone

silty
Unayzah A Member sandstone

Unayzah B
Member

Unayzah
Ghinah C
Member
pre-Unayzah
200 ft

Qusaiba Shale
Umm Jurf
unconformity
C
D
'Usaylah-1
Layla 'Usaylah-2 A

0 10

km

Figure 14: East-west stratigraphic traverse of the Unayzah Formation in central Saudi Arabia (Evans et
al., 1997). In ‘Usaylah-2, the Unayzah C Member was encountered in a channel, and is greater than 200 ft (>
60 m) thick (see also Figure 15). The Unayzah A and B members pass from sandstone in the east, to
siltstone in the Layla area. ‘Usaylah-1 encountered the Unayzah eolian sandstone just below the pre-
Khuff unconformity (see also Figures 13-16).

Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 6: 9.8 m (32 ft), medium- to fine-grained (very gradual
fining-upwards), cross-bedded, well-sorted sandstone. Foreset dips decrease from 22o in the lower
part to 7o in the upper part. This unit is interpreted as braided channel fill facies.
Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 7: 7.3 m (24 ft), sandy, pebbly, heterogeneous,
unstratified mudstone with no sedimentary structure that is interpreted as mud flow (fine-grained
debris flow) facies.
Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 8: 2.4 m (8 ft), red mudstone with anhydrite nodules
interpreted as a playa facies.
Unayzah A Member, (Upper A Submember) unit 9: 28.4 m (93 ft), predominantly fine to very fine-
grained (occasionally medium-grained), well-sorted, cross-bedded sandstone. Foreset dips range from
24o to 11o. Both tabular and festoon cross bedding are present. Some intervals show thin fining upwards
sequences. This unit is interpreted as channel-fill and longitudinal, bar facies of braided streams.

Senalp and Al-Duaiji (1995) picked the pre-Khuff unconformity above unit 9, where a 7-ft-thick (2 m),
coarse- to medium-grained, well-sorted, carbonaceous sandstone is attributed to the Basal Khuff Clastics.

Along the Hawtah Trend, Aktas et al. (2000) and Al-Qassab et al. (2001) identified two higher-frequency
sequences within the Unayzah A Member (HFS-1 and HFS-II), and correlated these to the Ghawar
region and beyond. These sequences comprise at least five regionally correlative vertical cycles composed
of varying proportions of lake, ephemeral fluvial and eolian sediments. The authors interpreted the
cycles as allogenic in origin and caused by major climatic fluctuations. They attributed the lake
transgressions to regional deglaciation during warm wet periods and the deposition of eolian sediments
to cold arid periods.

35
Al-Husseini

Seismic lines, 'Usaylah area, central Arabia

West 'Usaylah-2 'Usaylah-1 East
A A'
+

Amplitude
0.7

Top
Time (sec)

Khuff

KHUFF

Khuff
0.8

Channel

Eolian Sand
pre-Khuff
unconf
0.9

pre-Unayzah QUSAIBA
unconformity

Total Depth
0 1 Total Depth Qusaiba
6,803 feet 6,645 feet
Km

South North
'Usaylah-2 'Usaylah-1
B B'

0.7

Top
Khuff
Khuff

0.8
Time (sec)

KHUFF Eolian
Sand

pre-Khuff
unconf
0.9
Channel

pre-Unayzah
unconformity Total Depth
6,645 feet
QUSAIBA Total Depth
Qusaiba

6,803 feet
1.0

0 1

Km

36
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

3-D seismic, 'Usaylah area, central Arabia

'
B
N

'Usaylah-1

UP

N
W
DO
A
EOLIAN
SAND

A'
'Usaylah-2
ce

Ch
Tra

an

+
ne
ult

lA
Fa

xis

Amplitude
B

0 1

km

Figure 16: Horizon slice of 3-D seismic amplitude of the upper Unayzah reflection shows approximate
distribution of eolian dune sandstone in blue (Evans et al., 1997). The slice is positioned 12 milliseconds
below the top of the Unayzah reflection. The regions with red colour are interpreted as overbank
siltstones and claystones. To the south, a meandering braid plain channel is interpreted as cutting
across the area. The channel axis trends from northwest to southeast, and is perpendicular to the Central
Arabian Arch further north.

Heine et al. (1998), based on borehole image data, identified eolian facies in the Unayzah Formation.
They interpreted their depositional environment as a cold-climate desert, and to be coeval to the Al Khlata
Formation of Oman. In the ‘Usaylah-1 well, Evans et al. (1997) identified the eolian facies in the topmost
section of the Unayzah A Member (Figures 13 and 14). In this well, the Unayzah Formation is 310 ft (95
m) thick, and bounded by the Silurian Qalibah and Permian Khuff formations. Evans et al. (1997) divided
the formation into the following units (here attributed to the A and B members) from base up:

Unayzah B Member, unit 1: 82 ft (25 m) debris flow gravel and conglomerates at the base below
sandstone, interpreted as a wadi fill deposit.
Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 2: 65 ft (19.8 m) thick siltstone, interpreted as a braid
plain deposit.
Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 3: 20 ft (6.1 m) thick sandstone and conglomerate,
interpreted as a channel fill deposit.

Figures 15: Seismic sections AA’ (dip-line) and BB’ (strike-line) in Figure 16 are calibrated by ‘Usaylah
wells (Evans et al., 1997), showing the Unayzah C Member filled a channel that is about 3 km wide and
about 200 ft (60 m) thick in the ‘Usaylah-1 well (see also Figures 14 and 16). Line AA’ shows the eolian
sandstone (blue reflection) in ‘Usaylah-1 below the pre-Khuff unconformity.

37
Al-Husseini

Unayzah Formation, Umm Jurf area, central Arabia

Southwest Northeast
Umm Jurf-8 Umm Jurf-40 Umm Jurf-1 Umm Jurf-2 Umm Jurf-15

5,800 5,800
Khuff
pre-Khuff Formation
unconform
5,900 it y 5,900

6,000 6,000
Depth (ft)

Depth (ft)
Up
Lower A per
A
6,100 pre-Un 6,100
unconfoayzah Unayzah B
rmity
6,200 6,200

6,300 Unayzah 6,300

C Mbr

24 Nuayyim
Hawtah

Hazmiyah Silurian
Qusaiba
Shale
Ghinah
N 0 2
0 25
Km
Umm Jurf
Km
’Usaylah 0 100 200
Gamma Ray (API)
Layla
47

Deviated oil well Ghinah

Oil well
Injector well
Oil field
UM-4
UM-2 UM-15
UM-1

UM-40
18 Figure 17: Gamma ray correlation of
ure UM-8
Fig the Lower Silurian Qalibah Formation,
pre-Unayzah unconformity (PUU),
Umm Jurf
Unayzah A-C members, pre-Khuff
unconformity (PKU) and Khuff D
Member are shown in Umm Jurf wells
(Macrides and Kelamis, 2000). The
'Usaylah-1 Unayzah C Member fills a channel that
Jufarah-1 is 1.5 km wide and about 400 ft (120 m)
'Usaylah thick in the Umm Jurf-1 well (see also
'Usaylah-2 Figure 17).
R-1
N
0 5

Km

38
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Seismic line, Umm Jurf area, central Arabia

5
f-8

f-4

f-1

f-2

f-4

f-1
r

r
Ju

Ju

Ju

Ju

Ju

Ju
m

m
Southwest Northeast

m
U

U
0.664

0.7
Top Khuff

Line 1,
P-P
tk

0.8
Time (sec)

Top
Unayzah

D-Anhydrite

0.9 Unyz

pUu

pUu

pre-Unayzah
unconformity

1.0

0 2 – +
km

Figures 18: Southwest-northeast seismic image (dip-line) calibrated by Umm Jurf wells (Macrides and
Kelamis, 2000) showing the Unayzah C Member filled a channel that is about 2 km wide and more than
400 ft (120 m) thick in the Umm Jurf-1 well (see also Figure 17).

Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 4: 28 ft (8.5 m) sandstone with dips of 10o to 25o,
interpreted as a braided plain deposit.
Unayzah A Member, (Lower A Submember) unit 5: 26 ft (7.9 m) siltstone, interpreted as a braid plain
deposit.
Unayzah A Member, (Upper A Submember) unit 6: 37 ft (11.2 m) of sandstone, interpreted as a braid
plain deposit.
Unayzah A Member, (Upper A Submember) unit 7: 37 ft (11.2 m) of sandstone dipping at 20o to 35o
interpreted as eolian deposits.

Evans et al. (Figure 13, 1997) picked the pre-Khuff unconformity above unit 7 below the Basal Khuff
Clastics and carbonates (BKC in Figure 13; 36 ft, 11 m thick). Based on 3-D seismic and well control
(Figures 13-16), they interpreted the dune sandstones to be coeval with a meandering braid-plain channel
system that cut across the Hawtah Anticline from northwest to southeast. They believe that the overbank
siltstones and clays associated with the channel system, compartmentalised the eolian sandstones
immediately below the pre-Khuff unconformity.

The Unayzah A Member is generally unpalyniferous (Stephenson et al., 2003). Stephenson and Filatoff
(2000b) recovered palynomorphs from the Hilwah-3 well in central Saudi Arabia (Figure 11), which
penetrated the Unayzah A Member (about 50 ft, 15 m in siltstones) below the pre-Khuff unconformity.
The assemblages were interpreted as Early Permian, Artinskian and Kungurian, in age. The Lower
Unayzah A Siltstone Member would therefore be coeval to DS P10 and DS P13 (Lower and Middle
Gharif members of Oman, Osterloff et al., 2004b; Saiwan Formation and redefined Gharif Formation,
lower unit; Angiolini et al., 2004).

39
Al-Husseini

Unayzah and Khuff formations, Jufarah-1, central Arabia

Gamma Ray (API) Porosity (%) ARABIAN
LOCAL 0 200 45 -15 Sonic (µsec/ft) PLATE
STRATI- LITH- BIOSTRATI- SEQUENCE
GRAPHY Caliper (inch) OLOGY Density (gm/cc) 140 40 GRAPHY STRATI-
4 24 2.0 3.0 GRAPHY
5,600
Khuff-C

DS P30

Granulatisporites confluens
Microbaculispora tentula
Horriditriletes ramosus
Khuff Formation

5,700
UPPER

Khuff-D Member

DS P27

5,800

pre-Khuff
unc
PERMIAN

Unayzah A Member?

5,900
core 2

5,947.9-5,922.0 ft
Microbaculispora
tentula,
Horriditriletes ramosus,
Granulatisporites
core 3

confluens,
taeniate and non-
taeniate bisaccate
Unayzah Formation

pollen
6,000 Vittatina spp.
MIDDLE

P4 upper = OSPZ2
(J. Filatoff, written AP5
communication, 2004)
Unayzah B Member

6,100

6,200

pre-Unayzah
unc
Qalibah Formation
Qusaiba Member
SILURIAN
LOWER

6,300 ft
AP3

Figure 19: Lithostratigraphy, composite electrical logs, lithology of the Unayzah Formation in Jufarah-1
well. A Lower Permian ?Sakmarian assemblage was recovered from the “grey shale” interval 5,992.0-
5,947.9 ft (Stephenson and Filatoff, 2000b; Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000). This interval yielded Saudi Aramco
upper P4 (OSPZ2 assemblages) and is interpreted as the Unayzah B Member (J. Filatoff and R. Price,
written communication, 2004). G. Aktas (written communication, 2003) described this interval as a
“pebbly mudstone” with probable reworked plant microfossils. See Figures 11 and 17 for location.

40
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Unayzah Reservoir, Ghawar field, Saudi Arabia

DENSITY-POROSITY
GAMMA RAY DENSITY (gms/cm)
RESISTIVITY
(API) INTEPRETED 2.0 3.0
LITHOLOGY RESDILD (Ohm-metre) NEUPORC (%)
0.0 200.0 0.20 2,000.0 45.0 -15.0

Khuff
Formation

pre-Khuff
unconformity
Unayzah A
Reservoir
100 ft

Unayzah
Siltstone
Member

Unayzah B
Reservoir

Qusaiba pre-Unayzah
Member, unconformity
Qalibah
Formation

Figure 20: Lithostratigraphy, composite electrical logs, lithology of the Unayzah Formation and
Reservoirs in the Haradh area, south Ghawar field (Wender et al., 1998). In the south Ghawar field
area, the Unayzah Formation is divided into the A and B reservoirs that are separated by the Unayzah
Siltstone Member (see also Figure 4). In some fields the reservoir can include the porous sandstones of
the Basal Khuff Clastics or/and the Unayzah C Member.

41
Al-Husseini

Age dating in the Jufarah-1 well (Figures 11 and 19), however, appears to contradict the Artinskian and
Kungurian age interpretation for the Lower Unayzah A Siltstone Member. In this well, a Lower Permian
(?Sakmarian) assemblage was recovered from a cored “grey shale in the middle part of the Unayzah
red siltstones” in interval 5,947.9-5,922.0 ft (Stephenson and Filatoff, 2000b; Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000).
P. Osterloff (written communication, 2001) noted that the species listing by Stephenson and Filatoff
(2000b) could be assigned to the Cycadopites cymbatus Assemblage Zone of Love (1994) of Asselian-
Sakmarian age. This is based on the presence of Granulatisporites confluens, zonate camerate spores of
the Densoisporites solidus-Lundbladispora braziliensis-Lundbladispora riobonitensis group and abundant small
trilete fern spores such as Microbaculispora tentula and Horriditriletes ramosus. The presence of Cycadopites
cymbatus, the absence of Kingiacolpites subcircularis and low numbers of taeniate and non-taeniate bisaccate
pollen discounts a younger age (although it is recognised the latter decline could be facies dependent).

The Asselian and Sakmarian age interpretation of the Jufarah-1 (Figure 19) “grey shale” implies the
Lower Unayzah A Submember is part of DS P6 and DS P8 (Al Khlata Formation), rather than DS P10
(Lower Gharif Member) and DS P13 (Middle Gharif Member) as indicated in Hilwah-3. J. Filatoff (written
communication, 2004) notes that in addition to the palynological data (Saudi Aramco P4, OSPZ2),
which favours correlation with the upper part of the Al Khalta Formation, sedimentological, pedological
and heavy mineral studies of cores 2 and 3 in Jufarah-1 suggest a cold-climate depositional environment.

In contrast, G. Aktas (written communication, 2003) described the “grey shale” in Jufarah-1 and several
nearby wells, as a pebbly mudstone. Based on the electrical log signatures of Unayzah A cyclicity, he
correlated the Lower Unayzah A Siltstone Submember over most of central Saudi Arabia. He interpreted
the “grey shale” to be a reworked interval with older plant microfossils. His interpretation is consistent
with the Lower Unayzah A Siltstone Submember corresponding to DS P10 and DS P13 (Early Permian,
Artinskian to Kungurian).

Unayzah Reservoir
The term ‘Unayzah Reservoir’ encompasses the entire Unayzah Formation, and in some fields, the
lower porous sandstones of the Basal Khuff Clastics (Ferguson and Chambers, 1991; Senalp and Al-Duaiji,
1995; Wender et al., 1998). In the southern Ghawar region, the Unayzah Reservoir is divided into the
Lower Unayzah B Reservoir (188 ft, 57 m) and Upper Unayzah A Reservoir (50 ft, 15 m) (Figure 20;
Wender et al., 1998). The intervening unit is the Unayzah Siltstone Member, which is reddish to grey in
colour, and well-developed in the Tinat and Sahba areas, but less so in the north towards Ghawar field.
The three-fold division of the Unayzah Formation (A and B sandstone reservoirs and intermediate
Siltstone Member) in the Haradh region is similar to the one seen in Hawtah field, 300 km to the west
(Figures 12 and 20). In the south Ghawar field, the porosity of the Unayzah A Reservoir ranges from 5-
25% (average 12%). The Unayzah B Reservoir has a porosity of approximately only 6%, but gas flow is
enhanced by fracture permeability.

Summary of Unayzah Formation

The Unayzah Formation can be divided into three members that are mappable from central Saudi
Arabia to south Ghawar field, a distance of some 300 km. The Unayzah C and B members are coeval
with the glaciation of southern Arabia (AP G3) and are Late Carboniferous, late Westphalian to Early
Permian, Sakmarian, in age. The Unayzah A Member can generally be divided into the Lower A ‘Siltstone’
and Upper A ‘Sandstone’ submembers. The Lower Unayzah A Submember is Lower Permian, Artinskian
and Kungurian, in age and equivalent to DS P10 and DS P13 (Lower and Middle Gharif members). In
some wells (e.g. Jufarah-1) ambiguities exist as to how to interpret the Unayzah members. By
stratigraphic position, the Upper Unayzah A Submember is probably Kungurian-Wordian and equivalent
to DS P10 to DS P15 (Upper Gharif Member).

JUWAYL AND KHUSAYYAYN MEMBERS, WAJID FORMATION,

SOUTHWEST SAUDI ARABIA
In southwest Saudi Arabia, the Berwath (in part) and Unayzah formations pass respectively to the
outcropping Khusayyayn and Juwayl members of the Wajid Formation (Figures 1-3, 21-23; Evans et al.,
1991). The Wajid Formation crops out between 17o30’N to 20o30’N, and 43o30’E to 46o30’E, adjacent to

42
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Wajid Formation, southwest Arabia

LOCAL LITHOLOGY and SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY
STRATIGRAPHY
PERM

Ruwayha Khuff
LST Fm - Cherty dolomite

- Sandstone with regular or cross-bedding.

UPPER CARBONIFEROUS-

DS P10-P15
LOWER PERMIAN

Unayzah Formation

Juwayl Member

- Sandstone with undulating, oblique or

cross-bedding; conglomeratic passages.

DS G3
- Sandstone, fine to coarse-grained, bioturbated,
with sandstone or claystone fragments;
no clear bedding, jointing, and local
slumping; channeled into underlying beds.
- Sandstone, cross-bedded, with red
claystone in the heart of the troughs.
DEV-CARB undifferentiated
CARBONIFEROUS
DEVONIAN-

Khusayyayn Member

- Very homogeneous bedded, medium- to

coarse-grained sandstone, showing
cross-lamination dipping northwest to
north-northwest. Discontinuous intercalations
of red and whitish fine-grained micaceous
Wajid Sandstone Formation

sandstone.
PALAEOZOIC

-LOWER SILURIAN SILURIAN

Qalibah Fm

- Thin conglomeratic layer marking a

UPPER ORDOVICIAN LOWER

slight disconformity.

- Sandstone, med. - fine-grained, with

Figure 21: Type section of the
interbedded red and white fine-grained
micaceous sandstone.
Wajid Formation in Wadi Tathlith
quadrangle, southwest Saudi
Sanamah Member

- Sandstone with planar bedding, in places

incipient. Arabia (Kellogg et al., 1986), as
Zarqa/Sarah Fm

- Feldspathic sandstone, coarse-grained

with conglomeratic passages, channeled correlated to the subsurface by
into underlying beds and containing
intraformational channel surfaces. Evans et al. (1991). The lower
- Sandstone, cross-bedded. glaciogenic part of the Juwayl
Member was deposited during the
Late Carboniferous-Early Permian
glaciation of south Arabia
- Interbeds of massive sandstone with (Arabian Plate Glaciation 3-AP
Saq/Qasim undifferentiated

tigilites, cross-bedded sandstone, and

micaceous sandstone with tigilites. G3). The Juwayl Member
Dibsiyah Member
ORDOVICIAN

corresponds to the Unayzah

CAMBRIAN-

- Tigilites Formation. The Khusayyayn

Member of the Wajid Formation is
correlated to the undifferentiated
Devonian-Carboniferous and its
- Sandstone, reddish, cross-bedded,
with conglomeratic passage. upper part corresponds to the
Berwath Formation. See Figures 3
- Basal conglomerate, heterogenous, pudding-
PROTEROZOIC stone with quartz components. and 4 for stratigraphy and Figures
BASEMENT 1 and 22 for location.

the Proterozoic Arabian Shield. According to Powers et al. (1966), the formation was informally named
by R.D. Geirhart and L.D. Owens in 1948, and the type section was measured by Steineke et al. (1958).
In 1950, S.B. Henry and R.A. Bramkamp (in Powers et al.,1966) described a 394-ft-thick (120 m) Wajid
section at Khashm Khatmah (18o10’N, 45o23’E, Figure 22), with granitic and metamorphic erratics at
about 30 m (100 ft) and 70 m (230 ft) above its base. In this succession, Hadley and Schmidt (1975) noted
boulder beds that contain granitic and basic igneous clasts-up to 6 ft (2 m) across, which are interbedded
in a generally clastic sequence, characterised by channelling and cross-bedding.

43
Al-Husseini

Wajid Formation outcrop, southwest Saudi Arabia

44 44 30' 45 45 30' 46
Wadi

dh
ad Dawasir

ya
WD-695

Ri
20 30' C' B
20 30'
DA-T22 Sulayyil D1

B'

Jibal
al Juwayl
Unayzah Formation
Devonian-Carboniferous
Qalibah Formation
20 Zarqa-Sarah fms 20
n- us Unayzah Cambrian-Ordovician
o nia ero Fm
v if Proterozoic basement
hlith De bon
Tat a r
C

A'
19 30' 19 30'
Tuwaiq Escarpment

44 52 60

n- us IRAQ N 31
nia ero
31 IRAN
r a n-R iyadh Highway

o
v if KUWAIT Ar
Zarqa- De bon ab
ia
Sarah a r n
G
C ul
f
QATAR
23 19
19 23 UAE
SAUDI ARABIA

OMAN
Map
Re

Kashm area
dS

Al Alam 20
ea
aj

N YEMEN
15 Arabian Sea 15

ETHIOPIA of Aden 0 300

Gulf km
Jabal 44 52

18 30' Umm Ghiran 18 30'

Proterozoic V-608
basement C

Khashm
Khatmah
U-29819
Qalibah U-29820
18 Formation
R

18
iy
ad

6
h-

U-29836 566
Sh

L
ine
ic l
ar

sm
aw

Sei
ra
R
oa
d

A
Najran Sharawra
17 30' 17 30'
0 50

Km

44 44 30' 45 45 30' 46

Figure 22: Simplified outcrop map of Wajid region in southwest Saudi Arabia (after Evans et al., 1991),
showing occurrence of Permian-Carboniferous (Arabian Plate Glaciation 3-AP G3) glaciogenic rocks in
relationship to Palaeozoic outcrops.

44
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Palaeozoic stratigraphy, southwest Saudi Arabia

Southwest Northeast
A A'

5,000 Najran Jabal

U-29836
Umm Ghiran
4,000 Lower Devonian Outcrop V-608
fossil fish locality mid-Carb Tuwaiq Escarpment
Silurian Khuff Fm
(135'-330')
3,000
TD 330'
mid-Devonian (gl
Lower Silurian ac 2,000
ials
2,000 ) pre
Proterozoic Un -Ju
basement ay ras
Qu ? za sic 1,000
sa De h unc
1,000 iba ? vo Fo
Me nia PU rm
n/C U ati
TD 2,260' mb Sh arb on
er ara on 0
? wr ife ?
0 a Mb ro
r us
un -1,000
? d
-1,000 Zarqa/Sarah Sa
q/Q
as Qa -2,000
0 20 40 60 im lib
un ah
-2,000 ft d ? Fm
km
-3,000 ft

West East
B Wadi B'
ad Dawasir
WD-695 DA-T22 Sulayyil D1

2,000 2,000

1,000 Za 1,000
TD 761' rq
a/S
ar Mi pre
ah PU nju -Ju
0 U r, J ras 0
ilh s
, S ic un
TD 2,047' ud co
air nfo
-1,000 un rm -1,000
Kh dif ity
De u ffF f e ren
vo m tia
Proterozoic nia ted
-2,000 n/C -2,000
basement Un
ar
bo ay
nif za
TD 2,325' Sa er hF
-3,000 q/Q ou m -3,000
as Sh s un
im Qu ra di a
un sai wra ffer
-4,000 dif ba M en -4,000
0 20 40 60 fer Me br tia
en mb ted
tia er
ted
-5,000 ft km -5,000 ft

South North
Wadi
C Khashm ad Dawasir C'
Al Alam Lower Devonian Unayzah Fm
V-608 Carboniferous/Devonian fossil fish
undifferentiated 4,000

3,000 Mbr er Saq/Qasim Fm 3,000

wra b
Shara iba Mem Zarqa/Sarah
sa
libah Qu
Qa Proterozoic basement
2,000 2,000
Zarqa/Sarah
1,000 1,000
TD 2,260'
0 20 40 60
0 ft km 0 ft

Figure 23: Traverses AA’, BB’ and CC’ in the Wajid region in southwest Saudi Arabia showing the
correlation of the surface Palaeozoic Wajid Formation (Kellogg et al., 1986) to the subsurface formations
(Evans et al., 1991).

45
Al-Husseini

Helal (1965) was the first to interpret units within the Wajid Formation as evidence for extending the
Late Carboniferous-Early Permian Gondwana glaciation (AP G3) to southwest Saudi Arabia. Further
studies by McClure (1980) and McClure et al. (1988) documented the glacial and glacio-fluvial aspects
of these deposits. In addition to the Khashm Khatmah locality, McClure and Young (1981) found
glaciogenic units at two more localities located 60 km apart, at Jebal Umm Ghiran near the southern
part of the Tuwaiq Escarpment (Figures 22 and 23). The uppermost facies are generally medium- to
coarse-grained, massively-bedded sandstone, with well-defined diamictite and conglomerate beds and
boulder-size clasts. These clastics include sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks that contain
well-developed facets, striations and grooves.

In 1986, Kellogg et al. mapped the Wadi Tathlith quadrangle (Figures 1, 21 and 22), and divided the Wajid
Formation into four members; from oldest to youngest: Dibsiyah, Sanamah, Khusayyayn, and Juwayl. They
measured the composite type section of the Juwayl Member at the following three locations:

(1) outlier of Jebel Fard al Ban at 20o07’10”N and 44o30’50”E;

(2) Jibal al Juwayl at 20o09’30”N and 44o28’00”E;
(3) Bani Ruhayyah at 19o58’55”N and 19o57’55”N, and 44o41’40”E and 44o43’15”E.

At Jebel Fard al Ban, the Juwayl Member rests on an unconformity that cuts into the Khusayyayn
Member. This surface is inclined at about 40o and contains scattered quartz pebbles, and its sedimentary
characteristics suggest a palaeochannel. The basal part of the Juwayl Member consists of pink and
white, fine-grained sandstone, and without visible stratification. Upwards, it passes into yellowish,
medium-grained sandstone containing fragments of non-stratified, fine-grained sandstone. The basal
layers consist of rounded grains, 500-600 microns in diametre, dispersed in a silty matrix with angular
fragments; a texture reminiscent of glacial deposits.

At Jibal al Juwayl, the Juwayl Member consists of fine- to coarse-grained sandstone, microconglomeratic
and conglomeratic towards the base, with fragments of quartz; and very fine-grained sandstone with
pinkish, whitish, or yellowish pelite. The conglomerate generally occurs at the base of small sedimentary
bodies that occupy channels in fine-grained deposits. Bedding is non-existent or poorly defined in the
lower part of the section; but higher up the sandstone displays massive horizontal beds, beds with
inclined sets, cross-stratification, and wavy stratification. The sandstone is generally moderately well-
to poorly-sorted, and consists of grains of quartz and rare feldspar; the sorting improves nearer the
contact with the overlying Khuff Formation. The matrix everywhere is varied and complex, being
clayey, ferruginous, siliceous, and calcitic, and having undergone several episodes of alteration. In
places the sandstone has slump structures.

Based on its stratigraphic position below the Khuff Formation, the section at Bani Ruhayyah and the
surrounding area is considered younger than the Jibal al Juwayl section (Kellogg et al., 1986). It consists
of coarse- to medium-grained sandstone in beds, either inclined sets or mm-thick laminae. A ferruginous
crust, only a centimetre thick and containing small rounded quartz pebbles, marks an abrupt passage,
without any discordance, to pale-grey dolomite of the Khuff Formation. The ferruginous crust is
interpreted as the pre-Khuff unconformity.

In 1991, Evans et al. combined surface and subsurface evidence (Figures 3, 21-23), including
biostratigraphic and seismic data, and matched the four Wajid members of Kellogg et al. (1986), to the
subsurface formations of Saudi Arabia. They correlated: (1) all the exposures of the Juwayl Member to
the Unayzah and the Al Khlata formations; (2) the Khusayyayn Member to an undifferentiated Devonian-
Carboniferous clastic sequence; and (3) the Khusayyayn-Juwayl contact to the pre-Unayzah
unconformity. They estimated a maximum thickness of glaciogenic deposits at about 423 ft (130 m),
and projected the subsurface Unayzah Formation to the two outcrops at Jebel Umm Ghiran and Khashm
Khatmah that were interpreted as glacio-fluvial by McClure (1980).

At Khashm Khatmah, Evans et al. (1991) described the basal part of the Juwayl Member (Unayzah
Formation) to consist of fine-grained sandstone and siltstone laminites that contain ‘dropstones’. The
overlying section consists of dominantly medium- to coarse-grained, cross-bedded sandstone with
channelised sequences characteristic of a fluvial depositional environment. They concluded that these
units were deposited in supraglacial to glacio-fluvial environments during the Late Carboniferous and
Early Permian glaciation of southern Arabia.

46
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Cameron and Hemer (in McClure 1980; McClure and Young, 1981) interpreted the glaciogenic rocks of
the Wajid Formation (Juwayl Member) as Late Carboniferous (Stephanian) to Early Permian (Sakmarian)
in age. Based on palynological analysis of samples from shallow uphole wells (U-29819 and U-29820)
drilled along Seismic Line 5666, and from several drill holes to the south and east of Khashm Khatmah,
Evans et al. (1991) arrived at a similar age for the Juwayl Member (Unayzah Formation).

The Khusayyayn Member (undifferentiated Devonian-Carboniferous section) is up to 1,500 ft (457 m)

thick in subsurface (Evans et al., 1991). The age of this member is interpreted in well V-608 and several
outcrops. In V-608, a sandstone interval extends from the surface to 920 ft (Figure 22, CC’), and the
interval 610-620 ft yielded Middle Devonian microflora Hymenozonotriletes sp. and ?Retusotriletes sp.
(Evans et al., 1991). It lies unconformably above the Lower Silurian Qalibah Formation (920-1,675 ft).
The Lower Devonian succession is tentatively identified south of Jabal Al Qahr, where fossil fish
fragments (specimens of acanthodian spines, a probable arthrodire pectoral fin, and two presumed
shark teeth) and plant remains appear to be of an Early or early Middle Devonian age. The mid-
Carboniferous (Namurian) section is indicated to be present in the Hima outcrop area.

AKBRA SHALE, WAJID FORMATION, YEMEN

In northern Yemen, the Akbra Shale, Wajid Formation rests unconformably on the undated Lower
Wajid Sandstone (Figures 1-3, 24 and 25; the following discussion of the Wajid Formation is from Kruck
and Thiele, 1983). The Wajid Formation wedges out in a southerly direction, such that the Akbra Shale
rests directly on a polished and striated Proterozoic basement. The Akbra Shale is unconformably
overlain by the undated Upper Wajid Sandstone (Al Hazm Quadrangle) or Kohlan Sandstone, the
upper part of which is Early Jurassic in age, based on plant fossils (Lamarre and Carpenter, 1932;
Geukens, 1966). The Akbra Shale reaches a thickness of 430 ft (130 m) in Hajjah (Figure 24).

The Akbra Shale consists of several diamictite horizons and a sequence of varve-like, finely laminated
shales and sandstones with included boulders. The basal beds of the formation vary in nature from
place to place. In a number of outcrops, the sequence begins with approximately a 27-ft-thick (8 m)
diamictite horizon, consisting of boulders and pebbles of Proterozoic crystalline basement rocks set in
a greyish-olive matrix. The boulders are well-rounded to angular and measure up to one metre (3.3 ft)
in diameter in Wadi Akbra. Striated boulders are distributed throughout the outcrop area.

Above the basal tillite, there is about 328 ft (100 m) of varve-like shaly mudstone with thin beds of
siltstone, rare thin discontinuous calcareous laminae and thin beds of sandstone. In some exposures,
the basal tillite is absent; although in its place there is a thin horizon of partially reworked material.
The lower part of the shale-sandstone sequence is grey to blackish, and sometimes greenish, while in
the upper part there is a colour change to yellowish-reddish.

Kruck and Thiele (1983) interpreted the diamictites at the base and within the formation as glacial
tillites, and the polished and striated basement surface as evidence of ice contact. In one exposure,
about one kilometre north of Hajjah on the track to Mahabisha, the basal diamictite consists of bodies
with lens-shaped cross-sections, that may be fluvially-reworked till or possibly drumlins.

Throughout the whole outcrop area, scattered boulders occur within the shale-sandstone succession.
These boulders are made of granite, gneiss or schist and some of them are blocks of considerable size
and interpreted as ice-rafted. One or two tillite horizons occur locally in the upper part of the series.
Near the village of Kohlan, the lower of the two tillites is greenish grey and the upper one reddish
yellow. The upper tillite is well-exposed and it is possible to see its margins trend NNW, parallel to
grooves on the surface of the crystalline basement beneath the Akbra Shale. Thus the tillite horizon
represents a drumlin, or a till which has undergone fluviatile reworking.

According to Kruck and Thiele (1983), the sequences of shale and sandstone overlying the basal tillite
are most probably seasonal deposits laid down in a glacial lake. Ice-rafted pebbles of various sizes are
frequent throughout the whole sequence. Apart from the possibility that they were transported by
turbid, density currents, they may have been dropped by icebergs as Roland (1979) suggested. The
change in colour in the upper third of the Akbra Shale is interpreted as due to the material being
derived from an arid area. If this is so, this represents an important time marker. Within the upper part of
the sequence, two more diamictites give evidence of two further phases of glaciation; moreover, it is significant
to note that near the settlement of Kohlan the colour change can be seen between the diamictites.

47
Al-Husseini

Akbra Shale outcrop, Yemen

42 44 46

SAUDI ARABIA
18 18
Sa'dah Al Hazm
Quadrangle Quadrangle

Sa'dah
YEMEN
Akbra
shales

Huth Al Hazm

16 16

Hajjah
Amran
Marib
Sana'a

Bajil
Al Hudayah
Red Sea
Dhamar

Yerim
Al Hudaydah San'a
Quadrangle Quadrangle
14 14

Taiz Figure 24: Outcrop

locations of glaciogenic
Permian Akbra Shale in
map sheets Sa’dah, Al
Aden Hazm, Al Hudaydah and
N San’a’ in northwest
0 100
Yemen (Kruck and
Gulf of Aden km
Thiele, 1983). See Figure 1
42 44 46
for location.

The Akbra Shale is dated as Permian, possibly Early Permian (Neves and Bayliss, in Kruck and Thiele,
1983). In four samples (HY4, HY8, HY9, HY11) from outcrop, the following determinations are listed:

Sample HY 4: Abundant vitrinite

Palynomorphs: spores and saccate pollen.
Cordaitina sp., Potonieisporites novicus, Vestigisporites sp., Protohaploxypinus goraiensis,
Protohaploxypinus jacobii, Kraeuselisporites spinosus, Kraeuselisporites apiculatus, Apiculatisporis sp. nov.,
Punctatisporites spp.
Algal remains: Tympanicysta sp. nov.
Age: Permian (possibly Early)

Sample HY 8: Abundant vitrinite

Palynomorphs: rare
Kraeuselisporites sp., Acanthotriletes sp., Cordaitina sp.
Algal remains: Tympanicysta sp. nov.
Age: Permian

48
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Akbra Shale, Wajid Formation, north Yemen

Sa'dah Quadrangle
Yemen Volcanics
> 1,400 (Trap series)
Tawilah Yemen Volcanics
(Trap series)
> 70 Sandstone

Al Hazm Quadrangle
Limestone, Yemen Volcanics
Amran Series partly sandy (Trap series)
300-320 Jurassic

Sandstone,
cross-bedded Amran Series
150-300? Jurassic
Kohlan Sandstone
70-80 Lower Jurassic Shales with boulders
Akbra Shale of glaciomarine origin
> 80 DS G3 Permian
80-100 upper Wajid Sandstone

upper Wajid Quartzitic ironstone Akbra Shale

~ 150 Sandstone 0-40 DS G3 Permian
Palaeozoic
Sandstone with 0-150 m lower Wajid
basal conglomerate Sandstone
lower Wajid
~ 150 m Sandstone
Palaeozoic
basement:
Schist, gneiss schist, gneiss
basement:
schist, gneiss granite, etc.
granite, etc.
Granite

Al Hudayah Quadrangle
San'a' Quadrangle
basalt flows and cones
leucocratic pyroclastics
basalt: rhyolitic
melanocratic pyroclastics stocks and pumice
leucocratic pyroclastics
0-2,000? leucocratic pyroclastics
basaltic pyroclastics and ash
0-1,500 melanocratic pyroclastics
leucocratic pyroclastics
ignimbrite green
basalt flows and cones and pink tuff

basaltic flows and ash

Tawilah Sandstone
150-300 Cretaceous 200-300 Tawilah Sandstone
Cretaceous

300-600 Amran Series

Jurassic
Amran Series
0-800 Jurassic

Kohlan Sandstone
70-90 Lower Jurassic

DS G3 Akbra Shale
0-140 m Permian
0-15 m Kohlan Sandstone
basement: basement:
schist, gneiss schist, gneiss
granite, etc. granite, etc.

Figure 25: Columnar representative sections for the map sheets Sa’dah, Al Hazm, Al Hudaydah and
San’a’ in northwest Yemen (Kruck and Thiele, 1983). The Akbra Shale may represent deposits spanning
the Permian part of the Arabian Plate Glaciation 3 (AP G3).

49
Al-Husseini

Sample HY 9: Abundant vitrinite

Palynomorphs: spores and pollen
Kraeuselisporites cf. punctatus., Kraeuselisporites cf. apiculatus., Protohaploxypinus jacobii, Reticulatisporites
sp., Apiculatisporis aff. abditus
Algal remains: Tympanicysta sp. nov.
Age: Permian

Sample HY 11: Abundant detrital wood

Palynomorphs: rare spores
Kraeuselisporites punctatus., Leiotriletes sp.
Algal remains: Leiospheres, Tympanicysta sp. nov.
Age: Permian

Trace fossils are found in abundance in the lower part of the Akbra Shale near Kohlan and Yannat. Five
types occur and are described and illustrated (Kruck and Thiele, 1983). These are not discussed here as
the authors state that the trace-fossil associations are probably Palaeozoic in age. They note that the
trace fossils generally have little to no stratigraphic value and that it is difficult to draw any conclusions
about the environment.

The presence of Tympanicysta (now known as Reduviasporonites, see Foster et al., 2002) is inconsistent
with the Early Permian age suggested by Neves and Bayliss (in Kruck and Thiele, 1983), because this
taxon has a worldwide stratigraphic range of Capitanian (Middle Permian) to Griesbachian (Early
Triassic; Foster et al., 2002) and in Arabia does not appear consistently until the OSPZ6 Biozone of
Stephenson et al. (2003). However, recent palynological work on the Khalaqah Member of the Kooli
Formation (equivalent to the Akbra Shale) at Beit Al-Kooli in northwest Yemen (El Nakhal et al., 2002)
has revealed palynological assemblages dominated by Deusilites tentus. This probable alga is
morphologically similar to Reduviasporonites, and might, in poorly-preserved assemblages be mistaken
for that taxon. Deusilites tentus has been reported from glaciogene and other rocks of Carboniferous age
in Saudi Arabia and Oman (e.g. Hemer and Nygreen, 1967; Besems and Schuurman, 1987) and from
Lower Permian glaciogenic rocks in South America (see for example Gutiérrez et al., 1997). El Nakhal
et al. (2002) considered the high numbers of Deusilites tentus might indicate lacustrine conditions.

AYN MEMBER, MURBAT FORMATION, OMAN

The deposits represented by the Ayn Member of the Murbat Formation were originally considered to
be Late Carboniferous-Early Permian in age (AP G3) by Qidwai et al. in 1988 (Figure 26). The Murbat
Formation is composed of 1,300 m (4,290 ft) of essentially siliciclastic detrital sediments (Qidwai et al.,
1988; Platel et al., 1992; J.-P. Platel, written communication, 2002). It is comprised of a three-fold
succession, principally characterised by tillites with striated pebbles of gneiss, granitic rocks, basalt
and ignimbrite, associated with diamictites and coarse-grained sedimentary breccias deposited by debris
flow. The formation also contains a few intervals of dolomitic and fetid limestone.

According to J.-P. Platel et al. (written communication, 2002), a bituminous limestone bed in the lower
part of the Ayn Member, yielded a radiometric (U/Pb) age date of 550 ± 50 Ma. Looseveld et al. (1996)
also indicated that the Murbat Formation may be late Proterozoic in age. Therefore the Murbat Formation
was apparently deposited during the late Proterozoic glaciation (AP G1; Sharland et al., 2001).

PRE-UNAYZAH UNCONFORMITY AND

MID-CARBONIFEROUS COMPRESSIONAL EVENT
In late Palaeozoic times, many regions of the Arabian Plate formed broad epeirogenic swells and sags,
or were uplifted by tectonic forces into fault-bounded blocks or folds (Figures 2-11). This period is
often associated with the term ‘Hercynian’ (e.g. Wender et al., 1998; Al-Hajri and Owens, 2000; Konert
et al., 2001; Sharland et al., 2001; Strohmenger et al., 2003). The Hercynian Orogeny resulted from the
collision of Laurassia and Gondwana, and the closure of the intervening Iapetus Sea (Figure 27). The
two continents combined to form the Pangea supercontinent.

The upper Palaeozoic palaeostructures of Arabia consist of two distinct styles: (1) fault-bounded
basement blocks (e.g. NS-trending En Nala-Ghawar and Hawtah structures; Figures 6-8, and 10); (2)

50
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

Murbat Formation, Murbat, Oman

17 10'N Cretaceous and

Tertiary rocks
OMAN
N

0 5
an Basement
km Sa mh rocks
Ja bal er
emb
iM
r aw
be kh
m Ar Ayn
Me Mbr
am
rsh
Ma

to Sadh
am
rsh

wl
Ma

ha
di

ka
Wa

Ar
di
Wa

17 0'

Murbat

Wadi
Ayn

Arabian Sea

54 40' 54 50'

44 52 60
CRETACEOUS Qishn Formation
31
IRAQ
IRAN N 31

KUWAIT Ar
ab
Murbat Formation

Marsham Member ia
n
G
ul
f
QATAR
23
23 UAE
Arkhawi Member SAUDI ARABIA

OMAN
Re

Arabian Plate Glaciation 1 Map

dS

AP G1 area 20
ea

YEMEN
Ayn Member
15 Arabian Sea 15

en 0 300
Proterozoic Dike ETHIOPIA of Ad
Gulf km
44 52
Basement 460 Ma

Figure 26: The Ayn Member of the Murbat Formation was originally interpreted as Upper Carboniferous-
Lower Permian glaciogenic deposits (AP G3) by Qidwai et al. in 1988. A bituminous limestone bed in
the lower part of the Ayn Member, yielded a radiometric (U/Pb) age date of 550 ± 50 Ma indicating it
probably was part of the first glaciation of Arabia (AP G1).

51
Al-Husseini

broad swells and sags (e.g NE-trending Central Arabian Arch, Rub’ Al-Khali Basin, and Haushi-Huqf
Uplift; Figures 2 and 3). The forces that produced these two styles may not necessarily be coeval, nor
related to a common plate tectonic regime.

The structural and stratigraphic patterns discussed below show that the fault-bounded blocks were
uplifted by an apparently short-lived compressional tectonic event in mid-Carboniferous time. The
resulting erosion/non-deposition is represented by the pre-Unayzah unconformity. In contrast, the
great swells (Central Arabian Arch, Haushi-Huqf Uplift) consist of Proterozoic to Lower Silurian
successions that were uplifted without apparent regional faulting. The timing for their uplift could
have occurred during the mid-Carboniferous time and/or earlier.

Fault-bounded Basement Blocks

The NS-trending Hawtah structure provides a good example of an upper Palaeozoic, fault-bounded,
compressional block (Figures 10 and 11; McGillivray and Husseini, 1992; Simms, 1995). Figure 10 shows
EW-oriented seismic lines that image the NS-trending reverse faults along its flanks (Simms, 1995).
Based on well control and seismic data, the faults dislocate the Proterozoic basement through the Lower
Silurian Qusaiba Member of the Qalibah Formation, but not the Upper Carboniferous-Permian Unayzah
Formation (McGillivray and Husseini, 1992). Thus the Hawtah structure was uplifted sometime after
the Early Silurian and before the Late Carboniferous. To calibrate the timing of the dislocation more
precisely, it is necessary to review the more complete stratigraphic record in the east (Figures 5-9).

In Saudi Arabia, besides the Hawtah structure, several other extensive and parallel NS-trending blocks
were uplifted along regional fault systems during the late Palaeozoic. Starting east of the Hawtah
structure (Figure 2), the Summan Platform is about 500 km long and 50 km wide. It is bounded on both
flanks by NS-trending fault systems (Konert et al., 2001). Over its crest, the Permian Khuff Formation
directly lies on the Proterozoic basement (e.g. El-Haba and Jaham wells), thus attesting to pre-Khuff
uplift. Further east, a second uplifted fault block extends from Saudi Arabia’s Khurais structure in the
south, to Kuwait’s Burgan structure to the north (Figures 2 and 28; Strohmenger et al., 2003). The Khurais-
Burgan block is about 500 km long, and several tens of kilometres wide. Between the Khurais-Burgan
block and the Summan Platform, the intermediate region forms the NS-trending Dibdibah Trough.
Both the Khurais and Burgan structures are fault-bounded, with the Permian Khuff Formation overlying
Proterozoic and Lower Cambrian rocks (McGillivray and Husseini, 1992; Strohmenger et al., 2003).

The third, uplifted fault block is the great NS-trending En Nala structure (Figures 1, 2, 5-9); it extends
for about 200 km along the Ghawar field. On the basis of structural mapping and gravity data, the
structure extends another 150 km northwards from Ghawar field, to the Khursaniyah and Berri structures
(Figure 1). The east flank of this structure forms the edge of an infra-Cambrian Hormuz Salt basin, as
characterised by the Dammam and Bahrain salt domes (Figures 1 and 8).

The late Palaeozoic uplift of the Ghawar structure was documented by Wender et al. (1998). They
showed that in crestal wells, more than 3,500 ft (1,067 m) of the Palaeozoic succession was eroded prior
to the deposition of Permian Khuff Formation (Figures 5-9). In this structure, the pre-Khuff subcrop
consists of Cambrian to Lower Silurian formations. However, along the eastern flank of the Ghawar
structure, in the Shedgum and Hawiyah fields (Figure 8), the Permian Khuff Formation lies
unconformably on a complete Devonian section. This led Wender et al. (1998) to calibrate the tectonic
uplift of Ghawar field in the mid-Carboniferous time.

In the southern Haradh region of the Ghawar structure and the Tinat structure area, Wender et al.
(1998) mapped a southeasterly-thickening wedge of coarse siliciclastics (Figures 5-9). The wedge thickens
from 0 ft over the crest of Ghawar to 1,600 ft (487 m) at Tinat field. As discussed above (see Berwath
Formation), Al-Hajri and Owens (2000) and Owens et al. (2000) interpreted the interval 14,500-14,550 ft
in Haradh-601 (in the Unayzah wedge) as the Lower Carboniferous Berwath Formation. The revised
Late Carboniferous (post-Visean) age interpretation of the same interval by J. Filatoff (written
communication, 2003), places the tectonic uplift of the Ghawar structure after the deposition of the
Berwath Formation. The pre-Unayzah unconformity would therefore reflect a hiatus in mid-
Carboniferous (approximately Namurian-early Westphalian, about 327-311 Ma).

52
 Global tectonics, Carboniferous Period

Asia
N30 N30 Carboniferous Period

e Southwest Northeast

nd
rop

nla
North Eu A A'
America rth Podataksasi Arc

ree
No

G
back-arc rift
Palaeo-Tethys Ocean
L A U R A S S I A
EQUATOR
Iapetus Sea
Africa Arabia Iran
Hercynides Palaeo-Tethys Ocean SW subduction
zone?
?
South
Europe
A'
S30 S30
South Turkey
America Africa Podataksasi Arc

53
Arabia Palaeo-Tethys Ocean
G O N D W A N A ?
A Cental Iran/Afghan
Terranes?

S60 S60

Tibet/Lhasa? Australia
ar India
g as c
da
Ma
Antartica Antartica

Figure 27: In the late Palaeozoic times, the Hercynian Orogeny resulted from the collision of Gondwana and Laurassia and the closure of the
intervening Iapetus Sea. The closure of this equatorial sea and the formation of the combined Gondwana-Laurassia (Pangea) supercontinent
may have triggered global cooling, and the Late Carboniferous-Early Permian glaciation of Gondwana. Sengör (1990), based on a review of
the successions related to the Palaeo-Tethys and Neo-Tethys suture zones, concluded that an important episode of orogenic deformation,
metamorphism, and arc-type, calc-alkaline magmatic activity, characterised the northeastern Middle Eastern margin of Gondwana in Early
Carboniferous through Permian times. The plate tectonic regime of the late Palaeozoic Tethyan margin, near the Arabian Plate, may have
consisted of SW-directed subduction below the Podataksasi Arc (a term introduced by Sengör that is derived from the first letters of its
tectonic units: Pontides, Dzirula, Adzharia-Trialeti, Artvin-Karabagh and Sanandaj-Sirjan). These tectonic units are shown in Figure 2.
Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia
Al-Husseini

Epeirogenic Swells and Sags

Besides the fault-bounded blocks described above, another upper Palaeozoic structural style in Arabia
consists of broad swells like the NE-trending Central Arabian Arch and Haushi-Huqf Uplift. These
highlands were separated by the broad NE-trending Rub’ Al-Khali Basin (Figures 1-3; e.g. McGillivray
and Husseini, 1992; Konert et al., 2001). These structural features do not appear to be controlled by
regional faults and may therefore be characterised as epeirogenic highlands and lowlands. Their structural
style may not necessarily have been caused by the mid-Carboniferous compressional event, but possibly by
thermal processes (e.g. hot spots). Epeirogenic thermal uplift can occur at a rate of 10-20 cm/1,000 year; i.e.
a 1,000-m-high swell like the Central Arabia Arch could have formed in about 10-20 million years.

Central Arabian Arch and Rub’ Al-Khali Basin

The subcrop pattern along the northern and southern flanks of the Central Arabian Arch indicate that
it formed as a late Palaeozoic NE-trending swell with a wavelength of about 1,000 km (approximately
from the axis of the Nafud and Rub’ Al-Khali basins), and a vertical amplitude of about 1,000 m or so
(Figures 1-3). In the outcrops of central Saudi Arabia, the palaeocrest of the arch is mapped as the
region where the Permian Khuff Formation directly overlies the Proterozoic basement. North-westwards
and south-eastwards from the palaeocrest, the flanks of the arch show the outcropping Khuff Formation
in direct contact with successively younger Palaeozoic rocks (ranging in age from Cambrian to Early
Silurian). In the subsurface, the NE-trending palaeocrest extends east of Riyadh; here the Proterozoic
basement subcrops the Khuff Formation. In the subsurface, the flanks of the arch are overlain by the
Unayzah Formation in direct contact with Cambrian to Lower Silurian rocks.

In contrast to the Central Arabian Arch, the Rub’ Al-Khali Basin and its western outcrop manifestation
in the Wajid region, was essentially an upper Palaeozoic lowland. Two significant unconformities are
manifested here (Figures 2, 3, 21-23): (1) pre-Unayzah unconformity between the Upper Carboniferous-
Lower Permian Juwayl and the underlying Devonian-Carboniferous Khusayyayn members of the Wajid
Formation; (2) an unconformity that separates the Khusayyayn and the Lower Silurian Sanamah Member
(Qalibah, Sarah and Zarqa formations).

The stratigraphic pattern from central Saudi Arabia to the Rub’ Al-Khali Basin, shows that the Proterozoic
to Lower Silurian succession above the Central Arabian Arch was uplifted, exposed, and then eroded.
This event could have occurred during mid-Carboniferous time, and therefore be coeval with the mid-
Carboniferous compressional event (pre-Unayzah unconformity). Alternatively, the uplift may have
occurred earlier (e.g. Late Silurian time) due to thermal uplift, with the Devonian-Carboniferous
Khusayyayn Member onlapping the arch.

Haushi-Huqf Uplift and Folds in Oman

Like the Central Arabian Arch, the Haushi-Huqf Uplift was another NE-trending late Palaeozoic swell
prior to the Late Carboniferous glaciation of Oman (Figures 2 and 3). In the subsurface, the oldest-
dated Upper Carboniferous glaciogenic rocks of the Al Khlata Formation overlie Proterozoic and lower
Palaeozoic sequences (Osterloff et al., 2004b). The Haushi-Huqf Uplift, like the Central Arabian Arch,
can be characterised as epeirogenic in style, and its formation may have occurred sometime after the
Early Silurian and before the Late Carboniferous.

Evidence for a mid-Carboniferous tectonic event is also present in Oman. In the Oman Mountains
(Figure 1), upper Palaeozoic folds have been mapped in the Amq depression, Rustaq map area. These
open folds are about 100 m in amplitude and trend N50oE-N70oE in the Precambrian Mistal and Hajir
formations (Beurrier et al., 1986). The folds have near-vertical axial planes and are cut by an unconformity
at the base of the Permian Saiq Formation (= pre-Khuff unconformity). No cleavage was positively
identified in association with these structures. Radiometric K/Ar dating of two chlorite samples yielded
ages of 329 ± 11 and 321 ± 10 Ma (Beurrier et al., 1986). Also in the Saih Hatat area near Muscat, NNE-
trending anticlinal structures have been dated by K-Ar as 327 ± 16 Ma (Glennie et al., 1974; Moichard,
1982, 1983; Lippard, 1983; Mann and Hanna, 1990).

The radiometric age estimates of 329-321 Ma suggest a tectonic event involving metamorphic
recrystallisation occurred at about Namurian time according to the geological time scales of Harland et
al. (1990) and Gradstein and Ogg (1996), and Visean time according to the calibration of Wright and

54
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

West
Burgan Arch, Kuwait East
Summan Dibdibba Trough Burgan Anticline
Platform
UG-X BG-A BG-C BG-Cs

Datum: Top Khuff Formation

0

PKU/PUU Khuff Formation pre-Khuff

unconformity
2,000 Unayzah Formation

pre-Unayzah
DEVONIAN unconformity
4,000
Thickness (feet)

6,000 SILURIAN

8,000
infra-Cambrian
salt
CAMBRO-
ORDOVICIAN
10,000

Crystalline
12,000 basement
Economic
basement

14,000

Figure 28: The Burgan Arch of Kuwait forms the northern extension of the Khurais-Burgan upper Palaeozoic
uplifted fault block. It was uplifted during the mid-Carboniferous compressional tectonic event, and more
than 8,000 ft of Palaeozoic section is estimated to have been eroded (Strohmenger et al., 2003). The Dibdibah
Trough separates the Khurais-Burgan fault block from the Summan Platform fault block.

Vanstone (2001). The coincidence of the radiometric dates of the folding event in Oman, to the mid-
Carboniferous compressional event in Saudi Arabia, further highlights its regional nature.

ARABIAN PLATE GLACIATION 3 (AP G3)

Following the mid-Carboniferous tectonic event, the palaeotopography of the southern Arabian Plate
consisted of broad uplands along the Central Arabian Arch and Haushi-Huqf Uplift. Between them,
the Rub’ Al-Khali Basin formed the main depocentre for the AP G3 deposits. In the Omani side of the
Rub’ Al-Khali Basin, the Al Khlata Formation is found in a region south of about 22oN that is some 800
km long from southwest to northeast, and at least 200 km wide from southeast to northwest (Osterloff
et al., 2004a). According to Levell et al. (1988), the exposed basement in Yemen may represent the
continuation of the margin of the basin where the Akbra Shale was deposited. Petrographic data indicate
that the three main sources of sediment were (Levell et al., 1988): (1) Precambrian granitic and low-grade
metamorphic and volcanic rocks in Yemen; (2) Precambrian limestones of the Huqf Supergroup along the
Haushi-Huqf Uplift; and (3) lower Palaeozoic sandstones of the basin margins and intrabasinal palaeohighs.

The generally decreasing trend of the coarser facies of the Al Khlata Formation towards the northeast
led Hughes-Clarke (1988) to conclude that the direction of regional ice advances was from the southwest.
Schonicke (1999), using borehole images and dipmeter logs from the vicinity of the Rima field in south
Oman, interpreted a similar direction of palaeoflow for the outwash braidplain facies in the lower part
of the Al Khlata Formation. The interpreted regional ice-flow advances from the southwest, however,
are not consistently observed elsewhere in Oman. For example, across the Eastern Flank of south Oman,
seismic data demonstrate WNW-oriented glacial valley scours (P. Osterloff, 2002, written communication:
from R. Knight and C. Hartkamp-Bakker, 1998 PDO Report).

In the outcrop of the Haushi-Huqf Uplift, Al Belushi et al. (1996) concluded that the ice advances were
opposite to the regional direction, i.e. towards the southwest. In north Yemen, Kruck and Thiele (1983)

55
Al-Husseini

also concluded that the ice advances were from the opposite direction relative to the palaeogeographic
distribution of the Gondwana glaciation. They estimate the azimuth of advance as towards 220o
(southwest), based on ‘palm-of-the-hand’ tests on a granite surface near the settlement of Kohlan, and
on a polished gabbro surface in Wadi Yannat.
The correlation of the Unayzah C and B members to the Al Khlata Formation implies that the AP G3
basin extended across the Rub’ Al-Khali to south of the Central Arabian Arch (i.e. 23o to 24oN). The
Unayzah C Member and Al Khlata Production Unit 9 (DS C30) are nearly coeval, and represent the first
units to have infilled the highly-variable, post-tectonism palaeotopography. The Unayzah B Member
and coeval Al Khlata Production Unit 1 (DS P6 and DS P8) are regionally widespread, and represent
the final meltdown phases of the ice sheets in southern Arabia.
The differing reported directions of ice advances in the southern Arabian Plate, suggests that AP G3
was probably both alpine and polar. The highland regions of the Hadhramaut Arch in Yemen, and
Haushi-Huqf Uplift in Oman formed an ideal elevated setting for Alpine glaciation. Simultaneously,
their higher polar latitude (about 45o to 50oS) in southern Arabia placed them close to the South Pole
(Figure 27; Scotese et al., 1977, 1990; Ziegler et al. 1997; Konert et al., 2001; Sharland et al., 2001). It
remains to be documented whether parts of the Central Arabian Arch or other uplifted highlands in
Saudi Arabia accumulated ice sheets during the AP G3 glaciation.

DISCUSSION
The Summan Platform, Khurais-Burgan, Hawtah, and En Nala-Ghawar NS-trending fault blocks are
parallel, and span a region that extends some 500 km from north to south, by 400 km from east to west.
The mid-Carboniferous compressional stress field that raised them must have been regionally extensive.
These great structures are bounded by an ancestral system of NS-oriented faults that originated in the
late Proterozoic (Al-Husseini, 2000). Their NS structural orientation in the Carboniferous does not
therefore uniquely reveal the direction of the tectonic stress field that caused their uplift.
The mid-Carboniferous N50oE-N70oE-oriented folds in Oman, on the other hand, imply a principle
compressional stress direction of N40oW-N20oW. Such a principle stress direction would most likely
cause pre-existing NS-trending basement faults or weak zone (e.g. flanks of Ghawar and Hawtah
structures) to move in a transpressional (sinistrial strike-slip) direction (Figure 6). The mid-Carboniferous
plate tectonic event probably originated along the Tethyan margin of the Arabian Plate. Sengör (1990)
provided regional evidence in Iran and Turkey to show that the late Palaeozoic Tethyan margin, near
the Arabian Plate, was a southwest-directed subduction zone (Figure 27). The subduction zone extended
beneath an island arc located in parts of present-day Iran and Turkey (Podataksasi Arc), and apparently
underwent compressional tectonics in the Carboniferous Period.
The oldest biostratigraphically-dated Al Khlata deposits are Late Carboniferous (late Westphalian =
Moscovian: about 311 Ma; Harland et al., 1990; Gradstein and Ogg, 1996). However, the onset of the
Gondwana glaciation and its first expression in southern Arabia, may have been older. This is because
the oldest glaciogenic deposits may not be preserved due to widespread reworking during later glacial
advances. R. Penney (written communication, 2001), for example, suggests that perhaps 95% of
the Al Khlata Formation was eroded during the multiple phases of ice advance and retreat. Furthermore,
the oldest-dated Al Khlata sediments overlie undated glaciogenic rocks that may be Namurian in age
(Osterloff et al., 2003 written communication).
Wright and Vanstone (2001) emphasized the usefulness of low-latitide, highly depth-sensitive carbonates,
as proxies for detecting the first appearance of glacio-eustatic cyclothems. Based on their study of
Lower Carboniferous (Tournaisian-Visean) platform carbonates in the British Isles, they detected a
progressive increase in the amplitude of sea-level oscillations in the Visean stage (at about 332-330 Ma).
They note the coincidence between the onset of glaciation and global tectonics; particularly, the closure
of the equatorial seaway (Iapetus Sea between Laurassia and the pole-centered Gondwana, Figure 27)
may have favoured global cooling (Smith and Read, 2000).
It therefore seems possible that the AP G3 started at about 325 Ma (mid-Carboniferous, late Visean-
early Namurian) and persisted to about 285-280 Ma (Early Permian, Sakmarian); it lasted some 30-45
million years-a similar period of time to the estimate by Penneycard (PDO report, 1986) and Besems
and Schuurman (in their detailed study of the palynology of the outcrops at Wadi Al Khlata, 1987). The
start of the AP G3 glaciation is close to the estimated age of the mid-Carboniferous compressional
tectonic event (Namurian-early Westphalian, 327-311 Ma).

56
 Pre-Unayzah unconformity, Saudi Arabia

CONCLUSIONS
The stratigraphic review of the Lower Carboniferous Berwath Formation and Upper Carboniferous
Unayzah-C Member in ST-8 and Abu Safah-29 wells reveals that the intervening pre-Unayzah
unconformity highlights a mid-Carboniferous stratigraphic break (Namurian-early Westphalian =
Serpukovian-Bashkirian stages; approximately 327-311 Ma). Below this unconformity, the Berwath
Formation shows no indications of tectonic influences; above the unconformity the Unayzah C Member
(and coeval units in Oman, southwest Saudi Arabia and Yemen) infilled lowlands and channels in a
highly-structured domain during the third glaciation of Arabia (AP G3).
The mid-Carboniferous stratigraphic break coincides with the compressional uplift of the En Nala-
Ghawar block by more than 3,500 ft (1,067 m) along reverse and/or transpressional faults. The mid-
Carboniferous tectonic event also uplifted the great NS-trending Arabian structures (Khurais-Burgan,
Summan and Hawtah fault blocks), and caused folding in Oman with an implied principle stress direction
of N40oW-N20oW. The third glaciation of Arabia also started in the mid-Carboniferous probably due to
global cooling that was caused by the closure of the equatorial Iapetus Sea between Gondwana and Laurassia.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author would like to thank the following colleagues for their helpful comments: Gurhan Aktas,
Sadad Al-Husseini, Lucia Angiolini, John Filatoff, Joerg Mattner, Kent Norton, Peter Osterloff, Roger
Price, Mike Stephenson, Chris Strohmenger, and Denis Vaslet.

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