The Mesozoic sequences of the Oman Mountains experienced only weak post-obduction overprint and deformation, thus they offer a unique natural laboratory to study obduction. We present a study of the pressure and temperature evolution in the passive continental margin under the Oman Ophiolite, using numerical basin models calibrated with thermal maturity data, fluid inclusion thermometry and low-temperature thermochronology.

Early Triassic deposit resulted from subduction of the Paleo-Asian oceanic plate and collision between the North China and Yangtze cratons. Late Triassic deposit resulted from final closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean in the Middle Triassic and exhumation of the Su–Lu Orogenic Belt. Early Jurassic change in provenance was related to uplift of the Xing'an–Mongol Orogenic Belt and the subduction of the Paleo-Pacific Plate.

Metamorphic fine-grained reaction products make continental crust rocks weaker. Microstructural processes related to the transformation of strong K-feldspar into weak aggregates of plagioclase and quartz during crustal deformation have been investigated through electron microscopy. Rheological calculations show that the occurrence of even small amounts of weak aggregates, whose deformation is mainly diffusion-assisted, would lead to a decrease in rock viscosity of several orders of magnitude.

The Caledonian mountains formed when Baltica and Laurentia collided around 450–400 million years ago. This work describes the history of the rocks and the dynamics of that continental collision through space and time using field mapping, estimated pressures and temperatures, and age dating on rocks from northern Norway. The rocks preserve continental collision between 440–430 million years ago, and an unusual pressure-temperature evolution suggests unusual tectonic activity prior to collision.

Sinkholes are round depression features in the ground that can cause high economic and life loss. At the Dead Sea shoreline hundreds of sinkholes form each year driven by the fall of the water level and subsequent out-washing and dissolution of loose sediments. This study investigates the mechanical formation of sinkholes by numerical modeling. It highlights the role of the material strength in the formation of dangerous collapse sinkholes and compares it to findings from a field site in Jordan.

Based on ring-shear test and analogue experiment, we show that material properties have important influence on the geometry and kinematics of the accretionary wedge, of which the geometry and kinematics appear to be significantly influenced by relative brittle and ductile strengths, and, to a lesser degree by the layering anisotropy. We also show the repeat experiments.

We present in this manuscript an original multi-disciplinary workflow involving various tools (e.g. seismic profiles, satellite images, well-logs) and techniques (e.g. photo-geology, seismic interpretation, well correlation, geophysics, geochronology, backstripping) as a basis for discussing the potential factors controlling the tectono-stratigraphic architecture within the Palaeozoic intracratonic basins of the Saharan Platform through the example of the Ahnet and Mouydir basins.