Carbonate platform facies development of the Turonian Wata Formation in central and eastern Sinai, Egypt

Abstract

The Wata carbonate platform in central and eastern Sinai show a clear pattern of evolutionary development during sedimentation. Three facies are recognized in the carbonate platform. Inner-platform in the south, inter-platform basin in the middle, and outer-platform in the northwest. Such classification was probably performed by the effect of Syrian Arc System that culminated during Turonian in Sinai. Inner-platform includes fining-upward cycles, each begins with packstone, followed by wackestone and capped by lime-mudstone or claystone or molluscan bioclastic wackestone at the base capped by sandy oolitic packstone or dolostone. The dominant faunal associations are molluscs, and echinoids. Inter-platform basin occurs north of inner-platform and extends northwest-southeast direction and comprises fining-upward cycles, each of which begins with bioclastic ostracodal packstone, calcisphere packstone, bioclastic packstone, capped by wackestone and lime-mudstone The faunal association includes, sponge spines, ostracodes, molluscan debris and calcispheres. They were deposited in shoal marine and barrier. The outer-platform occurs at Gebel Giddi and extended northwestwards. The lithofacies are entirely represented by calcisphere wackestone/packstone, with a reduced thickness of 20 m.