| Summary: | A minimum 5000-km long obduction-driven orogeny of medial to late Cretaceous age is located between Cyrenaica in eastern Libya and Oman. It is herein called the Ayyubid Orogen after the Ayyubid Empire that covered much of its territory. The Ayyubid orogen is distinct from other Alpide orogens and has two main parts: a western, mainly germanotype belt and an eastern mainly alpinotype belt. The germanotype belt formed largely as a result of an aborted obduction, whereas the alpinotype part formed as a result of successful and large-scale obduction events that choked a nascent subduction zone. The mainly germanotype part coincides with Erich Krenkel's Syrian Arc (Syrischer Bogen) and the alpinotype part with Ricou's Peri-Arabian Ophiolitic Crescent (Croissant Ophiolitique péri-Arabe). These belts formed as a consequence of the interaction of one of the now-vanished Tethyan plates and Afro-Arabia. The Africa-Eurasia relative motion has influenced the orogen's evolution, but was not the main causative agent. Similar large and complex obduction-driven orogens similar to the Ayyubids may exist along the Ordovician Newfoundland/Scotland margin of the Caledonides and along the Ordovician European margin of the Uralides. © 2014 GAC/AGC®. Received July 2013; Accepted as revised January 2014. We are extremely pleased and honoured to contribute this paper in memory of a great geologist, Professor Harold ('Hank') Williams, a master of ophiolite geology, among other subjects. For Şengör, the pleasure and honour are related to a long friendship with Professor Williams. Williams was among his earliest field instructors. When Şengör was only a second-year student, his teacher John F. Dewey sent him to work under Williams and W.S.F. Kidd for a month in Newfoundland. That was his first encounter with ophiolites in the field. That initial acquaintance turned into a life-long friendship, during which he continued to learn from Williams. We thank Jim Hibbard, who was the other student with Şengör during that memorable field ...
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