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).