Fossil cyclic calcrete in the Kuwait Group clastic deposits (Mio-Pleistocene) of Kuwait, Arabian Gulf

Abstract

An investigation of the upper Kuwait Group clastic sequence (Mio-Pleistocene) exposed along the Jal Az-Zor escarpment in north Kuwait revealed several horizons of fossil calcrete. Field occurrences and textural characteristics of the studied sequence indicated that the fossil calcrete was hosted in cyclic fluviatile muddy sandstones and developed through diagenesis during inter-fluvial periods. Depositional and diagenetic features of the calcretized fluviatile sandstone units suggested that each cycle started with the deposition of a fluviatile muddy host sandstone during a humid period. This was followed by a period of semi-aridity during which calcrete profiles developed. The upper part of the calcrete profiles was weathered and terra rosa type soil was formed during wet seasons. This was succeeded by a severe arid climate and the deposition of desert aeolian sand sheets. Fossil nodular calcrete was only developed within the fluviatile muddy sandstones. The calcretized sandstones were lithified in two stages of diagenesis-an early stage that was responsible for the authigenesis of microcrystalline calcite and the development of calcrete nodules, and a later stage during which macrocrystalline calcite cement was precipitated as an intergranular cement displacing and replacing the clay matrix of the host sediments and filling fractures and cavities in the calcrete nodules. The findings and conclusions of the present study will help in understanding the lithostratigraphic setting of the Kuwait Group clastic sequence in the northern Arabian Gulf region.