Paleoenvironmental Synthesis of the Simsima Formation (Maastrichtian, Late Cretaceous), Arabian Peninsula
Megan Hooker
Department of Geology, The College of Wooster
Wooster, Ohio 44691

The fluctuating paleoenvironments of the Simsima Formation (Late Cretaceous, Maastrichtian, Oman Mountains) have not been studied in detail. The Simsima Formation is a fossiliferous carbonate unit deposited in the tropical Tethys on the southeastern Arabian Peninsula in present-day Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It is an important petroleum reservoir rock. Previous work shows that the Simsima Formation was formed mostly below wave base with numerous rudist clam build-ups. Studying the Simsima Formation is useful because it will further our knowledge about ancient tropical marine communities, particularly those living just before the Cretaceous mass extinction. It will also show how tectonic events correlate with sea level changes in the region. During the spring semester of last year I studied the literature on the geologic setting and stratigraphy of the Oman Mountains. This year I will be reconstructing the paleoenvironments of the Simsima Formation through sedimentary petrology and invertebrate paleontology.

Link here for the text of Megan's April 2000 Geological Society of America abstract on her I.S. work.

 

   
Megan Hooker is a senior geology major at The College of Wooster. Her hometown is Flagstaff, Arizona. She is working with rocks and fossils collected in the United Arab Emirates in 1999 by her advisor Mark A. Wilson and his colleague Paul D. Taylor. Their fieldwork was supported by a grant from the Abu Dhabi Oil Corporation.

The Simsima Formation exposed in western Oman. The dark hill in the foreground is the top of the Semail ophiolite, composed of pillow basalts and peridotite.

 

The top of the Qahlah Formation and the base of the Simsima Formation at Jebel Huwayyah. The irregular base of the limestone appears to have resulted from local loading on incompetent beds; the top of the Qahlah may have been gypsiferous.

 

The lowermost few meters of the Simsima Formation. The contact with the dark-colored Qahlah Formation can be seen near the very bottom of the image. The view here is about 15 meters high. Note the occasional rubbly beds in the limestone.

 

A closer view of the above outcrop of the Simsima Formation. The light-colored objects near the coin are rhodoliths. The dark brown, broken beds near the top are bits of carbonate hardground.

 

The Simsima Formation in western Oman. Note the normal faults in the center of the image. This outcrop is approximately 50 meters high.

 

 

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