oa Callovian to Valanginian Chemostratigraphy of the Eastern Arabian Plate Margin

Following the breakup of Gondwana the northeastern passive margin of the Arabian Plate entered during the Permian a period of long-term thermal subsidence that lasted until renewed tectonic activity in the Early Turonian. This resulted in the more-or-less continuous deposition of mainly carbonate shelf sediments with the section reaching a thickness of up to 4,000 m. A composite carbon-isotope profile for the Callovian to Cenomanian time period has been generated for the eastern Arabian Plate using more than 2,000 carbon-isotope data. The profile has some 1,800 m thickness, is anchored by biostratigraphy, Sr-isotope data and tightly sampled carbon-isotope profiles from various cross-correlated cored wells in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Further time control is provided by correlation with published curves of carbon-isotope ratio variations through time mainly form the northern Tethys carbonate sequences. A large data set of strontium-isotope data provides absolute time control via correlation with well-dated curves of strontium-isotope ratio variations in seawater over time.