oa Biofacies and Sedimentology of the Dammam Dome, Saudi Arabia

The Dammam Dome forms a significant topographic high on the east flank of the Arabian Peninsula, and consists of exposures of Tertiary sediments. This feature led to oil discovery in Saudi Arabia within the Upper Jurassic Arab Formation, and is attributed to episodic uplift by infra-Cambrian salt, comparable with the Awali Dome of Bahrain. While the Paleocene Umm Er Radhuma Formation is not exposed, the overlying succession is well exposed commencing with the Lower Eocene Rus Formation followed by the Middle Eocene Dammam Formation and then by the Middle Miocene Dam Formation. Despite representing a much thinner succession than is present off-structure, new measured sections reveal additional aspects of depositional cyclicity that, with biofacies, add new insights to the sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental history of the region.