Geomorphology of a Recent Shallow-Water Carbonate Province: Khor Al Bazam, Trucial Coast, Southwest Persian Gulf

Abstract

The east-west trending Khor al Bazam lagoon flanks the southwest Persian Gulf Coast west of Abu Dhabi. It is 130 km long and 8 to 16km wide. The east end is intertidal and terminates in a complex of shoals and channels. The west end is 25 m deep and is connected to the Persian Gulf. The lagoon is bounded on the north by an offshore bank, seaward shoals, and open sea. An essentially intertidal coastal terrace and a mainland plain lie on the landward side of the lagoon. Each of the above geomorphological units embraces a number of minor features that are controlled primarily by specific erosional and depositional agents. These agents and associated features include: (1) waves—intertidal sand flats, wave break-point bars, runnels and bars, intertidal spits and beaches; (2) currents—channels, submarine spits, megaripples and ebb creeks; (3) marine biological activity—coral reefs, mangrove stands, algal flats; (4) combined marine and subaerial agents—supratidal flats or “sabkha”; (5) wind—coastal dunes; (6) combined wind and fluvial processes—hills and alluvial fans. Many of the above sedimentary features are similar to those found in Recent shallow-water terrigenous sediments and other parts of the geological record.