Tectonic Evolution and Key Geological Mineral Issues of Arabian Shield

The Arabian Shield, located in the southwestern Arabian Plate, constitutes the Nubia–Arabian Shield with the Nubia to the west of the Red Sea, and is an important part of the Pan–Africa Orogeny that formed during the convergence of eastern and western Gondwana in Neoproterozoic. During compiling the technical bid of “Detailed Geological Mapping of the Arabian Shield, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”, both progress on geological survey and researches of the Arabian Shield has been comprehensively analyzed. The geological structure of the Arabian Shield is characterized by eight terrenes and ophiolitic mélange zones or shearing zones between them, and is overlain by Neoproterozoic sedimentary basins. Based on these analyses, the tectonic evolution of the Arabian Shield can be classified into four tectonic stages, and a series of metal deposits have been formed during the ocean–continent tectonic transformational process in Neoproterozoic. Moreover, the geological problems related to strata, magmatism, tectonic evolution, and mineralization of the Arabian Shield have been sorted out, as well as suggestions have been put forward for the detailed geological mapping in the future.