DOCSLIB.ORG

Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy Formation in Outcrops of Central Saudi Arabia

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy Formation in Outcrops of Central Saudi Arabia GeoArabia, 2015, v. 20, no. 4, p. 67-122 Gulf PetroLink, Bahrain Facies analysis and sequence stratigraphy of the uppermost Jurassic– Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy Formation in outcrops of central Saudi Arabia Philipp Wolpert, Martin Bartenbach, Peter Suess, Randolf Rausch, Thomas Aigner and Yves-Michel Le Nindre ABSTRACT Uppermost Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous carbonates of the Sulaiy Formation are well exposed at the type locality Dahal Hit, and along the entire natural escarpment near Ar Riyad, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This study provides a facies and sequence-stratigraphic analysis based on detailed sedimentological and gamma-ray logging of 12 outcrop sections. The sections represent the Sulaiy Formation along a 60 km-long outcrop belt, including the Hith-Sulaiy transition in a large solution cavity named Dahal Hit, situated south of Ar Riyad. The latter section is studied in detail because it is the only locality in Saudi Arabia where the Hith Anhyrite (Hith Formation in this study) to the Sulaiy Formation transition crops out. Ten lithofacies types were identified for the Sulaiy Formation including potential reservoirs such as oolitic cross-bedded grainstones, biostromal boundstones, and bioclast-rich, graded pack-to-grainstones. Lithofacies types are grouped into five facies associations: (1) offshoal, (2) transition zone, (3) foreshoal, (4) shoal margin, and (5) shoal, distributed along a carbonate ramp. Their vertical stacking pattern revealed a systematic hierarchy of cyclicity consisting of small-scale cycles, medium-scale cycle sets and two large-scale sequences for the Sulaiy Formation. Four cycle motifs, with an average thickness of 2–4 m, are present: (1) offshoal to transition zone cycle motif, (2) offshoal to foreshoal cycle motif, (3) transition zone to shoal margin cycle motif, and (4) foreshoal to shoal margin cycle motif. A total of 15 cycle sets, ranging between 8 and 12 m in thickness each, were interpreted. They were correlated, where possible, across the study area. Three types of medium-scale cycle sets are observed: (1) offshoal to shoal cycle set motif, (2) offshoal to foreshoal cycle set motif, and (3) shoal margin to offshoal cycle set motif. The Lower Sulaiy Sequence consists of twelve cycle sets and is interpreted to contain two Arabian Plate maximum flooding surfaces (MFS): (1) Upper Tithonian MFS J110 (147 Ma) in its lowermost part, which is interpreted to be the time-equivalent of the Manifa reservoir in subsurface Arabia. (2) Lower Berriasian MFS K10 (144 Ma) in the seventh-up cycle set. The Upper Sulaiy Sequence is only represented in the Wadi Nisah Section and is believed to be incomplete because the Sulaiy/Yamama Formation boundary was not included in our study. It is presumed to contain Upper Berriasian MFS K20 (141 Ma). INTRODUCTION The Upper Tithonian–Berriasian Sulaiy Formation crops out in a broad crescent-shaped belt parallel to the Arabian Shield in central Saudi Arabia (Powers et al., 1966). It consists of a massive limestone, more than 100 m thick, that marks the return to an open-marine setting following the deposition of the Late Jurassic Hith Anhydrite (hereafter Hith Formation) evaporites across the interior of the Arabian Plate (Murris, 1980; Al-Husseini, 1997; Sharland et al., 2001). The Sulaiy Formation is an important formation for several reasons as explained below. 67 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/20/4/67/4571081/wolpert.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Wolpert et al. Firstly, the Sulaiy Formation is water-bearing in the weathered subsurface zone or below the alluvium overburden. The weathered zone can apparently extend to 20–30 m below the top of the limestone. Due to the removal of anhydrite beds from the underlying Arab-Hith sequence by solution caused by meteoric water, the Sulaiy Formation is commonly fractured, brecciated, foliated and contains numerous cavities, vugs and openings. The Sulaiy limestone aquifer is mainly used in Ad Dilam. The limestone is more like a karst-type medium than a conventional porous medium because the water circulates in channels and cavities and not in the interstices of a granular medium. Although the normal water circulation relationship cannot strictly be applied in the usual way, this limestone can nevertheless be considered to approximately constitute a large-scale porous medium so that the concept of permeability can be applied if a sufficiently large aquifer volume is taken into consideration. In practice, the transmissibility and storage coefficient may be determined by pumping tests when the duration and flow are sufficient to affect a fairly large volume of the aquifer. Secondly, together with its lateral equivalents in other countries, it is a major source rock in the eastern Arabian Plate (Ayres et al., 1982; Sharland et al., 2001). Thirdly, below the Sulaiy Formation, the upper part of the Hith Formation contains oil in the 20–30 m-thick Manifa reservoir in several fields in Saudi Arabia (Powers, 1968) and the United Arab Emirates (Grötsch et al., 2003). However, the depositional setting and sequence-stratigraphic relationship between the Manifa reservoir and the transition between the Hith evaporites and Sulaiy limestones remains unresolved at outcrop and in the subsurface (Grötsch et al., 2003; Warren, 2006; Hughes and Naji, 2009). Therefore understanding the Sulaiy Formation stratigraphy at outcrop offers important insights for characterizing the petroleum geology of the interval spanning the Jurassic/Cretaceous boundary in the Middle East. In addition to the Manifa reservoir, Powers (1968) reported that the upper part of the Sulaiy Formation consists of an interval of porous calcarenite, about 60 m thick, at Haradh, Ma'aqala, El Haba, Hafar al-Batin and extends to the east and northeast at least as far as Manifa and Abu Sa'fah fields. In the discovery Manifa-1 Well, this interval is oil-saturated and corresponds to the Lower Ratawi reservoir. This paper presents the first high-resolution stratigraphic study of the formation in a region near Ar Riyad, the capital of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study area is situated along the natural Cretaceous escarpment, which is interrupted by the Wadi Nisah in its center (Figures 1 and 2). The geological map of the Ar Riyad Quadrangle (Figure 2; Vaslet et al., 1991) shows the location of the 12 litho-sedimentologic sections that were logged for the study. The paper starts by presenting the stratigraphic framework of the Sulaiy and its bounding formations, including the likely positions of the Arabian Plate maximum flooding surfaces (MFS, Sharland et al., 2001) as revised by Le Nindre et al. (2008, this paper; Figure 3). In particular this opening section discusses the transition between Sulaiy and underlying Hith Formation at Dahal Hit, the only locality where the two formations are exposed in one section (Figures 4 and 5). Next the paper documents the 12 sections that were logged and their properties in Figures 4 to 14; these include thickness, lithology, texture (Dunham, 1962; Embry and Klovan, 1971), grain size, components, sedimentary structures, degree of bioturbation and sequences. The logged sections were digitized with the software WellCAD. The location of each section and sample points (latitude, longitude and UTM coordinates) were recorded with a hand-held GPS. Natural gamma ray was recorded at 20 cm intervals with a hand-held spectral Gamma Ray with a bismuth germanium detector. Over 300 rock samples were taken for further microfacies analysis. Figures 15 to 28 characterize the lithofacies types (LFT) of the Sulaiy and Hith formations. They are grouped together into lithofacies associations (LFA) and placed into depositional environments. The final parts of the paper identify characteristic cycles, cycle sets and sequences, and correlate the resulting sequence-stratigraphic framework between the studied sections. 68 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/20/4/67/4571081/wolpert.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy Formation, central Saudi Arabia 34°E 38° 42° 46° 50° 54° 58° 38°N TURKEY Caspian 38° 46°50'E47° 47°10' Sea Ar Riyad CYPRUS SYRIA 34° LEBANON IRAN 34° HL Med IRAQ N EH Sea 0 300 JORDAN 24°30'N 24°30' 30° km 30° Gulf KUWAIT of Dahal Hit (DH) Suez BAHRAIN 26° 26° SAUDI ARABIA QATAR KW EGYPT UAE Arabian Study Area 22° Shield OMAN SUDAN Red Sea 18° 18° KP Arabian Sea ERITREA YEMEN 14° 14° SOCOTRA AH ETHIOPIA Gulf of Aden 34° 38° 42° 46° 50° 54° 58° 24°20' 47°20' 47°30' Wadi Nisah (NG) 24°10' 24°10' Al-Kharj 24° Ad Dilam 24° Al-Kharj Industrial City N 0 20 23°50' SI km 23°50' FI To Al Hawtah 46°50'47° 47°10' 47°20' 47°30' Figure 1: Satellite image of central Saudi Arabia with Ar Riyad in the northwest, Al-Kharj in the east, and Ad Dilam and Al-Kharj industrial city further to the south. A natural escarpment east of the highway between Ar Riyad and Al-Kharj and further south to Ad Dilam, provides excellent outcrops of the Sulaiy Formation. Especially at Dahal Hit, approximately 8 km south of Ar Riyad, the type locality of the Sulaiy and Hith formations are present. The escarpment is interrupted by the Wadi Nisah in the center of the study area. STRATIGRAPHIC FRAMEWORK Authors and Nomenclature The framework that is described in this section is based on a detailed review of earlier studies by the final coauthor, Y.-M. Le Nindre, with additional contributions by G.W. Hughes and M.I. Al-Husseini (personal communications, 2014, 2015), as well as the field observations of the other authors (Figure 3). 69 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/geoarabia/article-pdf/20/4/67/4571081/wolpert.pdf by guest on 30 September 2021 Wolpert et al.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Changing Sea-Level Along the North Coast of Kuwait Bay
    Durham E-Theses Changing sea-level along the north coast of Kuwait bay Al-Asfour, Taiba Abdulmuhsen How to cite: Al-Asfour, Taiba Abdulmuhsen (1975) Changing sea-level along the north coast of Kuwait bay, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8119/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk CHANGING SEA-LEVEL ALONG THE NORTH COAST OF KUWAIT BAY by Taiba Abdulmuhsen Al-Asfour B.A. (Cairo) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Geography; at the University of Durham 1975 I I TO MY PARENTS i ABSTRACT Field investigations have been carried out to study the changes of sea level-along the north coast of Kuwait Bay. Four zones have been studied in detail viz: Kathma, Ghidhai, Mudairah and Al-Bahra.
    [Show full text]
  • Detrital Zircon Provenance of North Gondwana Palaeozoic Sandstones from Saudi Arabia
    Geological Magazine Detrital zircon provenance of north Gondwana www.cambridge.org/geo Palaeozoic sandstones from Saudi Arabia Guido Meinhold1,2 , Alexander Bassis3,4, Matthias Hinderer3, Anna Lewin3 and Jasper Berndt5 Original Article 1School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG, UK; Cite this article: Meinhold G, Bassis A, 2Abteilung Sedimentologie/Umweltgeologie, Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum Göttingen, Universität Göttingen, Hinderer M, Lewin A, and Berndt J (2021) Goldschmidtstraße 3, 37077 Göttingen, Germany; 3Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften, Technische Detrital zircon provenance of north Gondwana 4 Palaeozoic sandstones from Saudi Arabia. Universität Darmstadt, Schnittspahnstrasse 9, 64287 Darmstadt, Germany; Eurofins water&waste GmbH, 5 Geological Magazine 158:442–458. https:// Eumigweg 7, 2351 Wiener Neudorf, Austria and Institut für Mineralogie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität doi.org/10.1017/S0016756820000576 Münster, Corrensstraße 24, 48149 Münster, Germany Received: 12 February 2020 Abstract Revised: 18 May 2020 Accepted: 18 May 2020 We present the first comprehensive detrital zircon U–Pb age dataset from Palaeozoic sand- First published online: 24 June 2020 stones of Saudi Arabia, which provides new insights into the erosion history of the East African Orogen and sediment recycling in northern Gondwana. Five main age populations Keywords: U–Pb geochronology; sediment provenance; are present in varying amounts in the zircon age spectra, with age peaks at ~625 Ma, detrital zircon; Palaeozoic; north Gondwana; ~775 Ma, ~980 Ma, ~1840 Ma and ~2480 Ma. Mainly igneous rocks of the Arabian– Saudi Arabia Nubian Shield are suggested to be the most prominent sources for the Ediacaran to middle Tonian zircon grains. Palaeoproterozoic and Archaean grains may be xenocrystic zircons or Author for correspondence: Guido Meinhold, Email: [email protected] they have been recycled from older terrigenous sediment.
    [Show full text]
  • JURASSIC, CRETACEOUS, and TERTIARY MEGAFOSSILS from the RIYADH REGION of EAST-CENTRAL SAUDI ARABIA SENIOR THESIS Presented in Pa
    JURASSIC, CRETACEOUS, AND TERTIARY MEGAFOSSILS FROM THE RIYADH REGION OF EAST-CENTRAL SAUDI ARABIA SENIOR THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment • of the Requirements for the Degree, Bachelor of Science By Richard E. Mccutchen The Ohio State University Department of Geology and Mineralogy 1985 • TABLE OF CONTENTS • PAGE ABSTRACT-------------------------------------------- 1 INTRODUCTION----------------------------------------- 1 GEOLOGY OF THE AREA---------------------------------- 2 LOCALITY INFORMATION--------------------------------- 7 PRESERVATION OF THE MACROFOSSILS--------------------- 8 BIOSTRATIGRAPHY-------------------------------------- 8 FOSSIL DESCRIPTIONS---------------------------------- 12 PHYLUM MOLLUSCA CLASS GASTROPODA GENUS PLANORBIS PLANORBIS sp.----------------------------- 12 GENUS MITRA MITRA sp.------------------------------------- 13 GENUS ARCHITECTONICA • ARCHITECTONICA sp.---------------------------- 14 GENUS CYPRAEA CYPRAEA sp.----------------------------------- 15 GENUS BOLIS BOLIS LISBOA---------------------------------- 16 GENUS AMAUROPSIS AMAUROPSIS BULBIFORMIS------------------------ 17 GENUS TURRITELLA TURRITELLA sp.-------------------------------- 18 GENUS EPITONIUM EPITONIUM sp.--------------------------------- 19 GENUS GYRODES GYRODES CONRADI------------------------------- 19 GENUS NERITOMA NERITOMA (NERIDOMUS)sp.----------------------- 20 GENUS OLIVA OLIVA sp.------------------------------------- 21 • i PAGE • GENUS NATICA "NATICA" WILLIAMSI----------------------------- 21 GENUS POLINICES POLINICES
    [Show full text]
  • Paleozoic Stratigraphy and Petroleum Systems of the Western and Southwestern Deserts of Iraq
    GeoArabia, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1998 Paleozoic Stratigraphy and Petroleum Systems, Iraq Gulf PetroLink, Bahrain Paleozoic Stratigraphy and Petroleum Systems of the Western and Southwestern Deserts of Iraq Adnan A.M. Aqrawi Smedvig Technologies ABSTRACT A stratigraphic scheme for the Paleozoic of the Southwestern Desert of Iraq is proposed based upon the review of recently published data from several deep wells in the western part of the country and from outcrops in other regions in Iraq. The main formations are described in terms of facies distribution, probable age, regional thickness, and correlations with the well-reported Paleozoic successions of the adjacent countries (e.g. Jordan and Saudi Arabia), as well as with the Thrust Zone of North Iraq. The Paleozoic depositional and tectonic evolution of the Western and Southwestern Deserts of Iraq, particularly during Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian, shows marked similarity to those of eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. However, local lithological variations, which are due to Late Paleozoic Hercynian tectonics, characterize the Upper Paleozoic sequences. The Lower Silurian marine “hot” shale, 65 meters thick in the Akkas-1 well in the Western Desert, is believed to be the main Paleozoic source rock in the Western and Southwestern Deserts. Additional potential source rocks in this region could be the black shales of the Ordovician Khabour Formation, the Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous Ora Shale Formation, and the lower shaly beds of the Upper Permian Chia Zairi Formation. The main target reservoirs are of Ordovician, Silurian, Carboniferous and Permian ages. Similar reservoirs have recently been reported for the Western Desert of Iraq, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia.
    [Show full text]
  • Geological Society of London Library Book Sale – Updated 23 March 2015
    Geological Society of London Library Burlington House, Piccadilly, LONDON W1J 0BG e-mail: [email protected] Book Sale – updated 23 March 2015 The following items are available for purchase. Postage & Packaging will be added to the cost of the items purchased, unless collected from the Library. We accept payment by cheque or card, or cash if collecting from the Library. Pre-payment will be required from non-members. E-mail [email protected] to order/check availability. General Titles Geological Society Special Publications USGS Professional Papers SEPM CD-Roms – Special Publications SEPM CD-Roms – Short Course Series SEPM CD-Roms – Core Workshop Series Other CD-Roms GeoArabia Maps Free spare journals General Titles 1. Abstracts of papers submitted: International Ophiolite Symposium, Nicosia – Cyprus, 1-8 April, 1979 Nicosia: Geological Survey Department, 1979 Sale Price: £5.00 (Ex-Library copy) 2. Advances in physical geochemistry Volume 2 / S.K. Saxena, ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982 Sale Price: £5.00 (Ex-Library copy) 3. Alkali feldspars of the Wiborg rapakivi massif in southeastern Finland / A. Vorma (Bulletin de la Commissions Geologique de Finlande No. 246) Otaneimi: Geologinen tutkimuslaitos, 1971 Sale Price: £2.50 4. Alkaline rocks and carbonatites of the World Part 2: former USSR / L.N. Kogarko et al. London: Chapman & Hall, 1995 Sale Price: £200.00 (Ex-Library copy) 5. Amphiboles and other hydrous pyriboles – mineralogy / D.R.Veblen, ed. (Reviews in Mineralogy Volume 9A) Washington, D.C.: Mineralogical Society of America, 1981 Sale Price: £5.00 (Ex-Library copy) 6. Anais do XXIC Congresso Brasiliero de Geologia / E.A.
    [Show full text]
  • Petroleum Reserves and Undiscovered Resources in the Total Petroleum Systems of Iraq: Reserve Growth and Production Implications
    GeoArabia, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2004 Petroleum Systems, Iraq Gulf Petrolink, Bahrain Petroleum reserves and undiscovered resources in the total petroleum systems of Iraq: reserve growth and production implications Mahendra K. Verma, Thomas S. Ahlbrandt and Mohammad Al-Gailani ABSTRACT Iraq is one of the world’s most petroleum-rich countries and, in the future, it could become one of the main producers. Iraq’s petroleum resources are estimated to be 184 billion barrels, which include oil and natural gas reserves, and undiscovered resources. With its proved (or remaining) reserves of 113 billion barrels of oil (BBO) as of January 2003, Iraq ranks second to Saudi Arabia with 259 BBO in the Middle East. Iraq’s proved reserves of 110 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCFG) rank tenth in the world. In addition to known reserves, the combined undiscovered hydrocarbon potential for the three Total Petroleum Systems (Paleozoic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous/Tertiary) in Iraq is estimated to range from 14 to 84 BBO (45 BBO at the mean), and 37 to 227 TCFG (120 TCFG at the mean). Additionally, of the 526 known prospective structures, some 370 remain undrilled. Petroleum migration models and associated geological and geochemical studies were used to constrain the undiscovered resource estimates of Iraq. Based on a criterion of recoverable reserves of between 1 and 5 BBO for a giant field, and more than 5 BBO for a super-giant, Iraq has 6 super-giant and 11 giant fields, accounting for 88% of its recoverable reserves, which include proved reserves and cumulative production. Of the 28 producing fields, 22 have recovery factors that range from 15 to 42% with an overall average of less than 30%.
    [Show full text]
  • Use of Geophysical and Remote Sensing Data for Assessment of Aquifer Depletion and Related Land Deformation
    Surv Geophys https://doi.org/10.1007/s10712-017-9458-7 Use of Geophysical and Remote Sensing Data for Assessment of Aquifer Depletion and Related Land Deformation 1,2 1 3 Abdullah Othman • Mohamed Sultan • Richard Becker • 4 5 1 Saleh Alsefry • Talal Alharbi • Esayas Gebremichael • 4 1 Hassan Alharbi • Karem Abdelmohsen Received: 6 September 2017 / Accepted: 30 December 2017 Ó The Author(s) 2018. This article is an open access publication Abstract An integrated approach [field, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), hydrogeology, geodesy, and spatial analysis] was adopted to identify the nature, intensity, and spatial distribution of deformational features (sinkholes, fissures, differential settling) reported over fossil aquifers in arid lands, their controlling factors, and possible remedies. The Lower Mega Aquifer System (area 2 9 106 km2) in central and northern Arabia was used as a test site. Findings suggest that excessive groundwater extraction from the fossil aquifer is the main cause of deformation: (1) deformational features correlated spatially and/or temporally with increased agricultural development and groundwater extraction, and with a decline in water levels and groundwater storage (- 3.7 ± 0.6 km3/ year); (2) earthquake events (years 1985–2016; magnitude 1–5) are largely (65% of reported earthquakes) shallow (1–5 km) and increased from 1 event/year in the early 1980s (extraction 1 km3/year), up to 13 events/year in the 1990s (average annual extrac- tion [ 6.4 km3). Results indicate that faults played a role in localizing deformation given that deformational sites and InSAR-based high subsidence rates (- 4to- 15 mm/year) were largely found within, but not outside of, NW–SE-trending grabens bound by the Kahf fault system.
    [Show full text]
  • Library Book Sale – Autumn 2016
    Geological Society of London Library Burlington House, Piccadilly, LONDON W1J 0BG e-mail: [email protected] Library Book Sale – Autumn 2016 The following items are available for purchase. Postage & Packaging will be added to the cost of the items purchased, unless collected from the Library. We accept payment by cheque or card, or cash if collecting from the Library. Pre-payment will be required from non-members. E-mail [email protected] to order/check availability. Items are second-hand unless otherwise stated. Items marked Ex-Library copy will have library stamps/markings. General Titles GeoArabia Geologists’ Association guides Notes et mémoires. Compagnie Française des pétroles Memorie Descrittive della Carta Geologica D’Italia Memoir Geological Survey Department Cyprus Investigation Geothermal Potential of the UK SEPM CD-Roms Other CD-Roms Maps General Titles 1. Accretion and evolution of an Archaean high-grade grey gneiss-amphibolite complex: the Fiskefjord area, southern west Greenland / A.A. Garde (Geology of Greenland Survey Bulletin 177) Copenhagen: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, 1997 Sale Price: £8.00 (Ex-Library copy) 2. AD 1995: NW Europe’s hydrocarbon industry / K.W. Glennie & A. Hurst, eds. London: The Geological Society, 1996 Sale Price: £10.00 (Ex-Library copy) 3. Advanced geological map interpretation / F. Moseley London: Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd., 1979 Sale price: £3.50 4. Advances in physical geochemistry Volume 2 / S.K. Saxena, ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1982 Sale Price: £5.00 (Ex-Library copy) GSL Book Sale – Page 1 of 38 5. Advances in reservoir geology / M. Ashton, ed. (Geological Society Special Publication 69) London: Geological Society, 1993 Sale Price: £10.00 6.
    [Show full text]
  • Saudi Arabia Investigation Report (IR) SA-126 RECONNAISSANCE GEOLOGY of the BI'r AL BADRIYAH QUADRANGLE KINGDOM of SAUDI ARABIA
    UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROJECT REPORT Saudi Arabia Investigation Report (IR) SA-126 RECONNAISSANCE GEOLOGY OF THE BI'R AL BADRIYAH QUADRANGLE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA by William C. Overstreet and Jesse W. Whitlow U. S. Geological Survey and Viktor P. Kahr and Abdullah 0. Ankary Saudi Arabia Directorate General of Mineral Resources U. S. Geological Survey OPEN FILE REPORT This report is preliminary and has not been edited or reviewed for conformity with Geological Survey standards or nomenclature 1972 In 1963, in rccponca to a request fro.n the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Rc^ourcco, the Saudi Arabian Government and the U. S. Geological Survey, U. S. Dcpartvr.ani: of the Interior, with the -approval of the U. S. Department of Str.to, undertook a Joint and cooperative effort to tiap and evaluate the mineral potential of central and western Saudi Arabia. The results of this program are being released in USGS open files in the United States end are aloo available in the Library of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. Also on open file ' in that office is a large amount of material, in the fora of unpublished manuscripts, naps, field notes, drill logs, annotated aerial phodi­ graphs, etc., that has resulted from other previous geologic work by Saudi Arabian government agencies. The Government of Saudi Arabia cakes this information available to interested persons, and has set up a liberal mining code which is included in "Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, a Guide for Investment and Development," published in 1965 as Bulletin 1 of the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Directorate General of Mineral Resources, Jiddah, Saudi Arabia.
    [Show full text]
  • Structural Geology of the Queseir Area, Red Sea Coast, Egypt
    STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY OF THE QUSEIR AREA, RED SEA COAST, EGYPT BY DAVID C. GREENE Gebel Ambog i Red Block Sea ('I 0 0 U'_.. o,.. 26°05' . " . ..... Southeast Block 1 N 1 km 34°15' '----' CONTRIBUTION NO. 52 DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY 8i GEOGRAPHY UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERS~MASSACHUSETTS STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY OF THE QUSEIR AREA, RED SEA COAST, EGYPT By David Carl Greene Contribution Number 52 Department of Geology and Geography University of Massachusetts Amherst, Massachusetts August, 1984 Prepared in cooperation with the Earth Sciences and Resources Institute of the University of South Carolina ..... ..... ..... 1 N Figure 1. Return-beam vidicon image of the Quseir region. Precambrian basement is dark in color, with large granitic bodies slightly lighter. Platform sediment blocks and the Red Sea coastal plain are very light in color. The large block on the west is Gebel Duwi; the study area comprises the east­ central portion of the image (see fig. 3). ABSTRACT The Quseir area of the Red Sea coast of Egypt (26° Ol'N lat. to 26° lO'N lat.) includes three major lithologic groups: (1) a late Precambrian basement complex consisting of highly deformed volcanics and volcanogenic sediments metamorphosed to lower greenschist f acies; ( 2) Cretaceous to early Eocene platform sediments consisting of up to 600 m of well-bedded sandstones, shales and limestones; and (3) Miocene to Recent Red Sea coastal plain sediments consisting of fanglomerates, marls, evaporites and calcareous reef deposits. The Precambrian volcano-sedimentary units appear to have been deposited in an oceanic island-arc environment. Subsequent deformation by predominantly northeast compression resulted in development of a tight synform plunging approximately 60° toward S40E, axial planar regional foliation trending N35W, and a quartz vein set trending N45E.
    [Show full text]
  • Arabian Plate Range in Age from Cambrian to Quaternary
    Sedimentary Cover of the Kingdom (Geo 385) Sedimentary Geology of Saudi Arabia (Geo 385) • Sedimentary cover rocks in the Arabian Plate range in age from Cambrian to Quaternary. • They reach a thickness of about 8000 m. Sedimentary Cover of the Kingdom (Geo 385) Student Learning Objectives: ▪ Develop an understanding of : • Sedimentary basins of Saudi Arabia • Phanerozoic stratigraphic units - Paleozoic successions of the Arabian shelf - Mesozoic successions of the Arabian shelf - Cenozoic successions of the Arabian shelf • Sedimentary cycles • Intra-basin stratigraphic correlations • Biostratigraphy • Major Structural trends • Economic geology of the cover rocks Geologic Time Scale Note that the major subdivisions such as eons represent major developments in the Earth’s history. The three eras (Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic) are all contained within Phanerozoic eon (largely defined by fossil preservation in the life record). Periods are defined by major evolutionary changes, such as the evolution of early fish in the Ordovician period (505-435 Ma ago) of the Paleozoic era (545- 245 Ma). Why do you think that the more recent portion of the geologic time scale has greater detail (defined by epochs)? Age numbers based on absolute age dates Textbook and further reading 2019 2017 2015 Geology of Arabian plate Geology of Arabian plate • Arabian plate is one of the youngest of the 10 or more plates that make up the present-day surface of the Earth. • Arabian plate is a small plate surrounded by African plate to the west, Eurasian plate to the north and east and Indian plate to the south. Boundaries of Arabian plate • Convergent boundary (Collision) between Arabian plate and the Eurasian Plate.
    [Show full text]
  • Petrography, Geochemistry and Provenance of Saudi Arabian Palaeozoic Sandstones
    Petrography, geochemistry and provenance of Saudi Arabian Palaeozoic sandstones vom Fachbereich Material- und Geowissenschaften der Technische Universität Darmstadt zur Erlangung des Grades Doktor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.) genehmigte Dissertation von Diplom-Geologe Alexander Bassis aus Malsch Referenten: Prof. Dr. Matthias Hinderer Prof. Dr. Christoph Schüth Tag der Einreichung: 05.12.2016 Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 18.04.2017 Darmstadt 2017 D17 Declaration of Authorship I hereby certify that the complete work to this PhD thesis 'Petrography, geochemistry and provenance of Saudi Arabian Palaeozoic sandstones.' was done by me and only with the use of the referenced literature and the described methods. …………………………….. ……………………………… Place, date Signature 'There is no real ending. It’s just the place where you stop the story.' Frank Herbert Index Abstract Zusammenfassung 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Aims ............................................................................................................................................ 1 1.2. Concept....................................................................................................................................... 2 1.3. Study areas ................................................................................................................................. 3 2. Geological background ....................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]