Lower Cretaceous ammonites in marine intercalations in the "Nubian Sandstone" of the Eastern Desert of Egypt

Abstract

In 1910, the late Dr. W. F. Hume, Director of the Geological Survey of Egypt, reported Cretaceous fossils from limestones intercalating the “ Nubian Sandstones ” at the head of Wadi Qena, about 205 kilometres (128 miles) north of the town of that name in the Nile Valley. He divided the strata into three typical sandstone beds, namely (1) an upper Nubian at the base of the Campanian, (2) a middle Nubian above the Turonian ammonite bed, and (3) a lower Nubian below the Cenomanian strata and closely related to them (Hume 1911). During the season 1950–51, while a topographical survey expedition was mapping an area lower down the same Wadi Qena, one of us (G. W. M.) noted a considerable extension of the fossiliferous limestones intercalating the Nubian Sandstones and brought in a good collection of specimens from them to the Geological Survey of Egypt. The area covered by this note lies between latitudes 27° 00' and 27° 30' and longitudes 32° 35' and 32° 52'. The Nubian Sandstone in this area outcrops as a narrow stretch running roughly N.-S. and is overlaid on the west by Middle and Upper Cretaceous limestones etc., and rests in the east on granites etc. forming the Red Sea hills. Fossils were collected from eight separate localities, four of which were near the base of the Nubian Sandstone where it rests on the granite while the rest were from higher horizons. The four localities near the base yielded :— Diplopodia cf. variolaris