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New lithofacies and stable isotope records from the Middle Jurassic succession of northwestern Jordan: stratigraphic implications

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Abstract

The Hamam and Mughanniyya formations of northwestern Jordan form part of the major carbonate shelf that existed over Arabia and the associated southern Tethyan margin during the Jurassic, but their precise age context and depositional setting have not yet been firmly established. To address this issue, the Hamam and Mughanniyya formations are compared with better biostratigraphically constrained successions in adjacent countries using a sequence stratigraphic framework. Two stratigraphic sections of the Hamam and Mughanniyya formations are shown by analysis of vertical trends from new lithofacies descriptions to comprise two primary depositional sequences that equate to the Bathonian and Middle-Late Callovian J30 and J40 Arabian Plate sequences sensu Sharland et al. (2001). New carbon (δ13C) and oxygen (δ18O) isotope records (amongst the first published for the Jurassic of Arabia) are helpful in locating sequence boundaries by means of diagenetically induced abrupt shifts in values and provide general support to the age interpretations of the formations/sequences.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support by the Hashemite University to FA is gratefully acknowledged. MDS wishes to thank Dr. Roger Davies (Davies Geoconsulting) and colleagues past and present at Landmark Exploration Insights and Halliburton for their helpful discussions on the Jurassic stratigraphy of Arabia. Dr. Joyce Neilson (Aberdeen University) and Dr. Francois-Nicolas Krencker (Halliburton) provided helpful advice on interpretation of the isotope record. Allie Newell and Helen Ding are thanked for their help with drafting. Comments by two anonymous reviewers greatly improved an earlier draft of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The Hashemite University, PO Box 150459, Zarqa, 13115, Jordan

    F. Ahmad

  2. Exploration Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Nasr City, 11727, Egypt

    S. Farouk

  3. Geology Department, Menoufia University, Shibin El Kom, Egypt

    M. A. Khalifa

  4. Halliburton, 97 Jubilee Avenue, Milton Park, Oxford, OX14 4RW, UK

    M. D. Simmons

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Correspondence to M. D. Simmons.

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Ahmad, F., Farouk, S., Khalifa, M.A. et al. New lithofacies and stable isotope records from the Middle Jurassic succession of northwestern Jordan: stratigraphic implications. Arab J Geosci 10, 162 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-2931-2

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