This also includes the well-known Saudi offshore portion of the Persian Gulf which was the focus of much interest and debate during the first Gulf War in early 1990's as a result of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Geologically, these oil fields "are mostly the result of what is known as extensional block faulting" in ancient sedimentary rock layers (i.e., sandstone and shale) "in the crystalline Pre-Cambrian basement (or subfloor)" which runs approximately along a north-to-south axis deep beneath the Arabian desert. This gigantic structure "underlies the world's largest oil field Ghawar and other major oil fields, such as Khurais, Mazalij and Abu Jifan (Rickard, 156). To the trained geographer/geologist, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia in the region of Al-Dahna with its as Summan Plateau, greatly eroded with deep gorges, is very indicative of oil reserves lying far beneath the surface, extending to depths of some 11,000 feet (Rickard, 157)....
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