Dispersal of Mediterranean and Suez Bay sediments in the Suez Canal

Abstract

This study determines the extent to which sediments of Mediterranean, Suez Bay, and in-situ (authigenic, eroded channel) derivation have been displaced along the Suez Canal. Sediment transport is largely a response to hydrodynamics controlled by markedly different oceanographic conditions at both ends of the channeled byway. Petrology of sand, silt and clay fractions determine distributions of diagnostic tracer minerals. These are used to identify five sediment provinces in the canal which indicate long-term dispersal patterns. Sediments of Mediterranean origin (largely terrigenous from the Nile River) are transported southward to Ballah Bypass, while those of Suez Bay—southern Canal derivation (mixed carbonate and terrigenous) are transported northward to the northern edge of Great Bitter Lake. In-situ derived Bitter Lakes sediments, mostly carbonates, are not transported extensively from the lakes area. Similarly derived Lake Timsah sediment is transported into the short stretches of the canal to the north and south of the lake. The canal south of Little Bitter Lake is a zone of erosion, while the Bitter Lakes are sinks for sediments from several sources.