MASTERS PROJECT - RESOURCES

Structure of the Asir and Jiddah terrane boundary of the Arabian- Nubian Shield using Sentinel2 satellite imagery and correlations with eastern Sudan

This Master's project was designed for Kristoffer Jørgensborg who started the Master's program in Earth Sciences, UiB, in the spring semester 2024. The Master's project is given by the research group Geodynamics and basin studies.

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Project description
Sentinel 2 imagery is a powerful tool to unravel lithological and structural complexities of basement in arid climates. Since 2015, the ESA Sentinel2 satellites offer high quality satellite imagery with 13 bands some of which are sensitive to lithological composition.

In this project we will use Satellite2 L2A images to evaluate and map the terrane boundary between the Asir and Jiddah terranes in Saudi Arabia close to Taif. The anticipated terrane boundary is represented by the dextral Ad Damm shear zone (Fig. 1). The two terranes on either side of the shear zone are part of a Neoproterozoic oceanic arc terrane assemblage that originate in the Mozambique Ocean and which have higher grade counterparts in Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, the focus of previous studies. Across the Red Sea, the terrane boundary can be traced into eastern Sudan. The study area close to Taif, Saudi Arabia, has recently been sampled and these samples will be used for ground-truthing of the satellite imagery. The island arc rocks are generally poorly studied and robust geochronology is missing. Four to six critical samples on either side of the anticipated suture zone will be selected for petrological, structural and geochronological studies in order to reveal whether this region really is a terrane boundary. Zircons will be separated and will undergo U-Pb characterization at GEO’s LA-ICPMS facility. Most of the samples are already at GEO. Additional samples may be taken later this year.