Permian to Late Cretaceous allochthonous sedimentary and volcanic rocks
exposed in the Batain area (eastern Oman Margin) have received
comparably little attention in the past. They largely were considered as
part of the Hamrat Duru Group (Hawasina Complex) of the northern Oman
Mountains. Structural, kinematic and biostratigraphic results from our
mapping campaign in the Batain area have now revealed, that emplacement
of these units occurred in a WNW direction during latest
Cretaceous/Early Paleogene time. This clearly contrasts with previous
models that postulated a S-ward directed obduction in Campanian times
such as recorded from the Hawasina Complex and Semail Ophiolite in the
Oman Mountains. We herewith establish the `'Batain Group'' comprising
all Permian to Late Cretaceous allochthonous units in the Batain Area.
These are: 1.) the Permian Qarari Formation deposited in the toe of a
slope setting; 2.) the Late Permian to late Liassic Al Jil Formation
comprising periplatform detritus and very coarse breccias; 3.) the
Scythian to Norian Matbat Formation formed by slope deposits; 4.) the
Early Jurassic to early Oxfordian Guwayza Formation with high energy
platform detritus; 5.) the Mid-Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous Ruwaydah
Formation seamount; and 6.) the Oxfordian to Santonian Wahrah Formation,
mainly radiolarites; and 7.) the Santonian to latest Maastrichtian Fayah
Formation built by flysch-type sediments. These sedimentary and volcanic
rocks represent deposits of the former ``Batain basin'' off
eastern-Oman, destroyed by compressional tectonics at the
Cretaceous/Paleogene transition. For tectono-stratigraphic reasons the
Batain Group does not form part of the Hawasina Complex.