Mid-Eocene alluvial-lacustrine succession at Gebel El-Goza El-Hamra (Shabrawet area, NE Eastern Desert, Egypt): Facies analysis, sequence stratigraphy and paleoclimatic implications

Abstract

This study aims to provide the depositional facies, sequence stratigraphic and paleoclimatic characteristics of the Mid-Eocene (Bartonian) continental succession exposed at Gebel El-Goza El-Hamra (Shabrawet Area, NE Eastern Desert, Egypt). The studied succession consists of siliciclastic rocks followed upward by carbonate rocks. Detailed field observation and petrographic investigation indicate accumulation in floodplain-dominated alluvial and shallow lacustrine systems. The floodplain-dominated alluvial facies (45m thick) is composed mainly of carbonate nodules-bearing, mottled mudrock with subordinate sandstone and conglomerate beds. The conglomerate and pebbly sandstone bodies interpreted as ephemeral braided channel deposits. The massive, laminated, planner cross-bedded, fine- to medium-grained sandstone bodies interlayered within mudstone reflect sheet flood deposits. The mudrocks associated with paleosols represent distal floodplain deposits. The shallow lacustrine facies (15m thick) is made up of an alternation of marlstone, micritic limestone, dolostone and mudrock beds with charophytes and small gastropods. Both the alluvial and lacustrine facies show evidence of macro-and micro-pedogenic features. Pollen assemblages, stable δ18O and δ13C isotopes, and paleopedogenic features reflect prevalence of arid to semi-arid climatic conditions during the Bartonian.The sequence stratigraphic framework shows an overall fining-upward depositional sequence, consisting of Low- and High-accommodation Systems Tracts (LAST, HAST), and is bounded by two sequence boundaries (SB-1, SB-2). Conglomerate and pebbly sandstone deposits (braided channel and sheet flood deposits) of the lower part of the alluvial facies reflect a LAST. Mudrock and silty claystone facies (distal floodplain deposits) of the upper part of alluvial facies and its overlying lacustrine facies correspond to a HAST. The LAST, HAST and SB were formed during different accommodation-to-sediment supply (A/S) ratio phases. The variation in A/S ratios was mainly controlled by sea-level change as well as by local tectonic subsidence and uplift of the basin coincident with the reactivation of the Syrian Arc System during the Bartonian.