Mixed fluvial systems of the Messak Sandstone, a deposit of the Nubian lithofacies, southwestern Libya

Abstract

The Messak Sandstone is a coarse-grained to pebbly, tabular-crossbedded deposit of the widespread nubian lithofacies. It was deposited during Late Jurassic and/or Early Cretaceous time at the northern edge of the Murzuq basin, in southwestern Libya. Although the sedimentary record is predominantly one of braided fluvial systems, a common subfacies within the formation is interpreted to record the passage of straight-crested sand waves across laterally migrating point bars in sinuous rivers, similar to parts of the modern Ganga and Yamuna rivers. Because the sand waves were larger on the lower parts of the point bar, lateral migration created diagnostic thinning-upward cosets of tabular crossbeds, as well as fining-upward grain-size trends. Common thick, interbedded claystones, deposited in associated paludal and lacustrine environments, and high variance in crossbed dispersion patterns, also suggest the local presence of sinuous fluvial systems within the overall braided regime. The Messak Sandstone contains some of the features that led to the proposal of an unconventional low-sinuosity fluvial environment for the Nubian lithofacies in Egypt, and the continuously high water levels of this model may explain channel-scale clay drapes and overturned crossbeds in the Messak. However, most of the Messak characteristics are incompatible with a low-sinuosity model, suggesting instead that the fluvial channels in the Murzuq basin alternated between braided and high-sinuosity channel patterns.