Ediacaran Arabia complex of Jordan

The Ediacaran Araba Complex in Jordan is defined and described for the first time in lexicon style, with an emphasis on the sedimentary, volcanic and volcaniclastic units outcropping adjacent to Wadi Araba, and from seismic and deep exploration well data. The Araba Complex ranges in age from ca. 605 to 550 Ma and comprises a major cycle of sedimentary, volcanic and volcaniclastic, and igneous rocks emplaced in an overall extensional tectonic regime that followed intrusion and amalgamation of the granitoid and metamorphic Aqaba Complex, a part of the Gondwanan Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS; ca. 900 to 610 Ma). The Araba Complex is bounded by two major erosional unconformities, the newly defined Ediacaran Araba Unconformity (ca. 605 Ma) at its base, underlain by the Aqaba Complex, and the post-extensional, regional lower Cambrian Ram Unconformity (ca. 530 Ma) that is marked by the widespread deposition of thick alluvial and marginal-marine siliciclastics (Ram Group)

Neoproterozoic Rosetta Gabbro from northernmost Arabian–Nubian Shield, south Jordan : Geochemistry and petrogenesis

An Ediacaran mafic intrusion of south Jordan is a distinctive appinitic igneous rock with a possibly unique texture, characterized by spherical clots up to 40 mm in diameter composed of amphibole cores from which plagioclase euhedra radiate; we call it the Rosetta Gabbro. It is exposed as a small (ca. 750 m(2)) outcrop in the Neoproterozoic basement of south Jordan. A second outcrop of otherwise similar gabbro is located about 400 m to the north of the Rosetta Gabbro, but it lacks the distinctive texture. The Rosetta Gabbro could represent a magma pipe. It intrudes the Aqaba Complex (similar to 600 Ma) granitoids and metasediments of the Janub Metamorphic Complex (633-617 Ma). The gabbro is an 01- to QZ tholeiite with the following chemical characteristics: SiO2 = 46.2-47.8 wt.%; Al2O3 = 16.4-17.7 wt.%, TiO2 = 1.70-2.82 wt.%, Na2O = 1.27-2.83 wt.%. K2O = 0.82-1.63 wt.%; Mg# 58-63; Sigma REE = 70-117 ppm; La/Yb similar to 6 to 8; and Eu/Eu* = 1.05-1.2. The investigated gabbro has the geochemical features of a continental flood tholeiitic basalt emplaced in a within-plate tectonic setting. Two varieties of amphiboles are found: 1) large, 3-5 mm, brown ferri-titanian-tschermakite K0.09Na0.28) (Na020Ca1.80) (Mn0.04Fe1.13+Mg2.34Fe0.902+Ti029Al0.22)(Al-1.Si-85(6.15))O-22(OH)(1.95) of the calcic amphibole group which is riddled with opaques; and 2) acicular yellowish-light green ferrian-magnesiohomblende (K0.04Na0.153)(Ca1.755Na0245) (Fe(0.66)(3+)Mn(0.01)Fe(1.01)(2+)mg(3.03)Ti(0.06)Al(0.22))(Al1.03Si6.97)O-22(OH)1.95. Scattered flakes of phlogopite also occur. Tabular radiating plagioclase (An(64-79)) are complexly twinned, with broad lamellae that show no zoning. Laser-ablation ICP-MS analyses of amphibole and plagioclase reveal considerable variation in trace element abundance, in spite of more subtle major element variations except for TiO2 in amphibole. The REE in the amphibole shows an order of magnitude variation with a concave-downward pattern and a positive Eu anomaly Eu/Eu* = 0.6-2, though far less pronounced compared to the Eu/Eu* = 5-45 of plagioclase. The 3D dandelion-like texture of the rosettas is broadly similar to "Chrysanthemum Stone", which is a diagenetic growth in sedimentary rock, but we can find no description of similar textures in igneous rocks. The formation of the rosettas is thought to reflect loss of magmatic water resulting in supersaturation of plagioclase, which grew rapidly around amphibole and may havelloated in the magma. This implies magmatic evolution in shallow (10 to 12 km deep) crust where temperatures were nevertheless in the range of ca. 750 to 900 degrees C