Reconnaissance geology of the Jabal Hashahish Quadrangle, sheet 17/41 B, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

The Jabal Hashahish quadrangle (sheet 17/41 B) lies between lat 17?30' and 18?00' N. and long 41?30' and 42?00' E. and encompasses an area of 2,950 km2, of which only about 600 km2 is land; the remainder is covered by the Red Sea. The geologic formations exposed in the quadrangle include Precambrian layered and intrusive rocks, Tertiary gabbro dikes, Quaternary basaltic lavas and pyroclastic rocks, and Quaternary surficial deposits.

The Precambrian rocks include layered sedimentary and volcanic rocks that have been assigned to the Baish, Bahah, and Ablah groups. These rocks have been folded, metamorphosed, and invaded by intrusions. They are cut by Miocene gabbro dikes that were intruded during the initial stages of the opening of the Red Sea rift. The Quaternary rocks also include basalt that was extruded during a continuation of that opening, after the uplift that formed the escarpment that parallels the eastern shore of the Red Sea, but before the Holocene erosional cycle. Coastal, pediment, and alluvial, and eolian deposits of various kinds are also of Quaternary age.

The economic potential of the quadrangle lies essentially in the agricultural value of its flood-plain deposits, though these are not so widely used as those in Wadi Hali and Wadi Yiba, which are located in the Manjamah quadrangle. The coral reefs possibly could provide raw materials for use in a cement industry, if any such industry were ever required in this area.