The Paleozoic sandstones of the Rub Al Khali Basin, Arabia : a review

In Southern Arabia, the Paleozoic is represented by sheets of virtually unfossiliferous siliciclastic deposits laid down in depositional environments which grade from braided stream in the south to shallow littoral in the north. Different formation names and ages have been assigned by different authors. The confusion resulting from the recovery of Late Carboniferous-Early Permian palynomorphs and the presence in some locations of Tigillites in what was believed to be the same unit is resolved here by proposing the existence in outcrop of two formations, the Cambro-Ordovician Wajid and the Permo-Carboniferous Bani Khatmah formations. The Cambro-Ordovician Wajid Formation represents the continuation south of the Central Arabian Arch of the sand sheets found in northern Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The Bani Khatmah Formation is proposed as the fluvial and shallow-marine deposits derived from the melting Permo-Carboniferous ice sheets.