Diagenetic history of Cambrian quartzarenites, Ras Dib–Zeit Bay area, Gulf of Suez, eastern desert, Egypt

Abstract

In the northern corner of the El Zeit range, 370 m of sandstone overlie Precambrian granite and underlie Cretaceous marine strata. The sandstones include the marine Lower Cambrian(?) Araba Formation and the overlying, dominantly fluvial, Upper Cambrian(?) Naqus Formation. The framework compositions of both sandstones are almost entirely quartz, with trace amounts of muscovite, K-feldspar and heavy minerals. Up to 21% oversize pores, some filled with younger cements, attest to extensive dissolution loss of detrital grains. Because the final mineralogical maturation of these quartzarenites reflects diagenesis, they are diagenetic quartzarenites. During burial diagenesis, the introduction of up to 8% quartz cement (inhomogeneously distributed, mean = 3%) was followed by local, pore-occluding calcite cement, which halted compaction. Sandstones without calcite cement underwent additional mechanical and chemical compaction sufficient to develop sutured quartz grain contacts and reduce porosity (∼27%). These events were followed by: (1) extensive dissolution loss of carbonate cement, detrital feldspars, micas, and heavy minerals; (2) formation of local patches of kaolinite (mean = 3%); and (3) formation of extensive iron-oxide cements, including specular hematite. These features suggest extensive invasion by oxidizing meteoric water. The timing of this event can only be dated as post-Cambrian(?) and pre-Cenomanian. Some outcrop samples contain pore-occluding gypsum cement, or mixtures of gypsum and halite. Sr 87/Sr 86 ratios of four samples of gypsum cement have values (0.7079 and 0.7085) that indicate Miocene and slightly younger seawater. Evaporites were evidently leached by modern meteoric water from nearby outcrops of Miocene and younger marine evaporite-bearing strata, transported in surface and ground water to the topographically low terrain where the Cambrian sandstones crop out, and reprecipitated by evaporation. Initial primary porosity (45%) was reduced to ∼27% by compaction in sands with minor quartz cement; compaction ceased where calcite was precipitated. Subsequent dissolution of some calcite cement and unstable detrital grains generated considerable secondary porosity.