A tectono-stratigraphic framework for Yemen and its implications for hydrocarbon potential

The Late Jurassic Marib Al Jawf Basin is part of a rift system extending southeastwards into the less well known Wadi Hajar Basin. This rift system may be one arm of a Late Jurassic failed triple rift which also included the Masilah Basin to the east, and the Sir Basin to the north. Late Jurassic rifting is shown to be diachronous, younging eastwards. Renewed rifting during the Early to Mid Cretaceous was accompanied by deposition of the newly recognized Furt Formation. This second rift phase initiated movement on the N-S striking 47 degrees E Fault, which probably extends southwards into Somalia. Extension in the Jeza-Howarime Rift System may also have commenced at this time. Oman Mountain orogenesis led to renewed subsidence in the east, and was followed by polyphase Tertiary rifting, inversion and localized gravity-driven extension on the continental margins. As a result of these events, a number of distinct petroleum systems developed.