Basement Mapping for Mineral Exploration in Unexposed Sectors in and Around the Arabian Shield, Saudi Arabia

The Arabian Shield is comprised of Neoproterozoic geology with a wide distribution and variety of mineral resources. This study identifies areas of the Arabian Shield that are overlain by younger strata but where the shield geology remains shallow enough to be accessible by mining. Shallowly-buried shield occurs in two settings: relatively thin Cenozoic volcanics and sediments within the general area of shield outcrop, and secondly where the shield dips below the Phanerozoic strata that extend eastwards to the main basins of eastern Saudi Arabia. A nominal burial depth cutoff of 2km is used here, being within the limits of proven mining technology. The area of shield geology that can be accessed on this basis represents an area increase of over 420,000 km2 (47%), nearly doubling the area of shield for mineral resource exploration. Existing datasets such as potential fields and reflection seismic can be leveraged in these zones to define intra-basement structures and extrapolate the known geological and mineral trends from the adjacent outcropping shield. In addition to providing insight into the internal structure of the basement, the subsurface data yield additional information about the geological evolution of these areas in the Neoproterozoic to early Paleozoic. For example, the paleogeomorphology of the top basement surface mirrors the present-day topography of the shield, where geomorphology gives a strong indication of bedrock geology. Together, the areas of buried shield identified in this study represent a substantial new mineral exploration frontier for Saudi Arabia, within which several aspects of geology can be readily constrained by extrapolation from adjacent shield outcrop, guided by existing information such as potential field data.