Abstract

The extensive, very gentle Huqf-Haushi Uplift shows the effects of intraplate deformation from Infracambrian times onwards. The Uplift itself, apparently complementary to subsidence of the Ghaba Salt Basin to the west and the Masirah Trough to the east, began in the Infracambrian and continued intermittently until the Late Cretaceous. Local open folds are shown to be Palaeozoic, probably pre-Ordovician. The main deformation in the Uplift is by faulting. Two closely related sets, one NNE-SSW, the other N-S are essentially strike-slip in sense. The NNE-SSW faults, associated with half-domes and with folds making a small angle clockwise from the faults, are transpressional left-lateral strike-slip faults and the N-S set are probably also mainly left-lateral strike-slip faults. The array of faults is associated with the Masirah Fault, itself interpreted as a left-lateral transform fault. The faulting occurred in the Late Cretaceous. Subsequent deformation was slight.