'THE GEOLOGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES OF DHUFAR PROVINCE, MUSCAT AND OMAN' [‎29v] (48/96)

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in
Pliocene conglomerates which overlie Oligocene Eocene,
Cretaceous and Jurassic beds unconformably and may in
some cases include Miocene strata and also perhaps sub-
recent deposits; ^ ^. i .
Miocene and Oligocene of Meifa, Neifa, Gizwal, Kanina, etc. ,
Eocene (Lutetian) or middle Eocene limestone which caps
the more conspicuous cliffs in the hinterland of Makalla
and generally overlies Cretaceous beds , ^
Cretaceous sandstone series (? Neocomian) of Asfal el’Ain,
Kasai and ’Arnuf el Oik, which include the lignite
occurrences of Makalla and resemble the so-called Nubian
sandstones ’; . TTT ,. .
Jurassic (Corallian?) of Neifa, Hisn Baqirdan, Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Arus,
etc. and includes the carbonaceous limestones and the
oil shale horizon of Makalla; and
Crystalline (Metamorphic) rocks of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. el’Arit consist of an
igneous complex and exposed as a peneplain, and
evidently include granite (near el Reish) at the base of
Hisn Baqirdan and felsite porphyry at el Humar. Ras
Makalla consists of dolerite and basalt into which veins
of fine granite have been intruded. The exposures
between Huta and Fakhida consist of mica-schist, talc-
schist and chlorite-schist. These contain a little hema
tite, pyrite and malachite in association with veins of
pegmatite and calcite.
64. In view of the rock formations of the Oman mountains
about Muscat and the Hadhramaut in Makalla, it is of some impor
tance to notice carefully what representatives of these occur in the
intermediate area of Hhufar. The basal crystalline rocks occur in
the peneplain of Murbat and these are the oldest rocks known in
south-eastern Arabia. The next oldest rocks are believed to be
brownish sandstones and greenish to buff-coloured shales which
Dr. Lees has termed the Murbat sandstones and hinted at as
Mesozoic in age (Trias to Cretaceous), and therefore the probable
equivalents of the Hawasina series or the middle-upper (Corallian)
beds of Hisn Baqirdan (Makalla). The nearest equivalent of the
upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian) from near Murbat and the Samhan
hills are the Maestrichtian beds at Jabal Abyadh on the one hand
(Muscat region) and Little’s lignite-bearing sandstones (lower
Cretaceous: ? Portlandian) on the other (Makalla side). Neither
can be correlated with the Dhufar upper Cretaceous. No lower
Eocene (Laki: Ypresian to Landenian? or Ranikot: Landenian to
Montian ?) have been found either in the Muscat (Oman) area (except
perhaps some massive limestone overlying the upper Cretaceous near
Kalhat) or in Makalla (Hadhramaut) region, so far as I know. The