The Arltunga Nappe Complex trends east‐west along the northeastern margin of the Amadeus Basin, approximately in the centre of the Australian continent. The nappes formed in a stratigraphic sequence consisting of the crystalline Precambrian Arunta Complex overlain unconformably by Upper Proterozoic Heavitree Quartzite and carbonate rocks of the Bitter Springs Formation. The uppermost and largest nappe was transported at least 24 km across strike and developed by a combination of recumbent folding and overthrusting. The lower nappes formed by overthrusting alone. The nappes root to the north in a belt of crystalline rocks of the Arunta Complex, originally in the amphibolite facies, that are retrograded to the greenschist facies. North of the retrograded zone a belt of rocks belonging to the granulite facies and amphibolite facies is exposed.