Geotrekking In Southeastern Arabia: A Guide To Locations Of World-Class Geology

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of theSpecial Publications Series.
Geotrekking in Southeastern Arabia presents theworld’s most diverse geology and reveals some ofthe unique rocks that were once covered under shallow seas and arenow sub-aerially exposed. This guidebook describes various routesthat leads to specific locations for viewing the distinctive andworld class geology of the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Eachroute includes specific directions, satellite images,illustrations, and explanations that can help with locating theoutstanding geology of the area. Certain sites preseve theworld class ophiolites - a section of the Earth's oceaniccurst and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted andexposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustalrocks, a unique process of the Earth described by platetectonics.

Some salient features of this guidebook include:

- UAE and Oman are situated in the south east coast of theArabian Peninsula, which is very well known for its vastreserves of oil and natural gas, hence this book is of greatinterest to exploration geologists
- Mountains of the UAE and Oman are the world’s largest andbest preserved ophiolite – a slice of the deep ocean crustthat has been forced by tectonic forces onto a continentalcrust
- Within the mountains of these regions are sections of thedeep Earth, rarely exposed anywhere – pieces of theEarth’s underlying mantle and the lower parts of its oceaniccrust
- Other characteristic features include deep sea sediments andvolcanic rocks that were erupted by submarine volcanoes
- Among mineral ores, cpper deposits were commonly formed atancient, deep sea, hydrothermal vents
- Some of the groundwater flowing out of ophiolite rocksreacts with the atmosphere to precipitate calcite and form vastpools of water that appear as blue swimming pools
- The shallow land and high evaporation conditions inthe western region of the UAE forms giant, salt-lined mudcracks andthe growth of gypsum clusters called “desertroses”
- Stromatolites, colonies of cyanobacteria thatare probably some of the oldest living species on Earth are alsovery common in this region
- Some dunes in UAE rise upto 160 m above evaporativesalt plains
- Rare occurrence of 100 million-year-old pillow lavas,which form underwater, uniquely preserved as if they eruptedyesterday
- Many other geologic marvels exist in a region known more for itsoil and gas geology

Benjamin Jordan, an eminent oceanographer and a volcanologist, is an Associate Professor?in the?Physical Science and Oceanography department at the Brigham Young University in Hawaii. His research?interests include?i) correlation of volcanic deposits with their sources using geochemical and geographic tracers, ii)?establishing and maintaining a database of local oceanographic variables, and iii) development of remote monitoring tools for lava-ocean interaction.