Quaternary lacustrine dolostones of Sahara: New geoheritage evidence from the Farafra Oasis (Egypt)

Abstract

Oases of the Western Desert of Egypt host numerous geoheritage features. Field investigations in the Farafra Oasis have permitted to establish the presence of brown dolostones occurring in channels incised in the Upper Cretaceous rocks, on slopes of topographic highs, as fills of the karst features, and directly on wide depressions floor. Their origin is linked to carbonate deposition in a palaeolake that existed in the pluvial conditions of the Pleistocene. Such dolostones are rare on regional, national, and even global scales, and, thus, they constitute a high‐value geoheritage feature. The latter can be assigned to sedimentary, palaeogeographical, and stratigraphical geoheritage types. The most typical locality of these lacustrine dolostones is North Ain El‐Wadi that is proposed as a geosite. This new evidence extends the previous knowledge of the geoheritage of the Farafra Oasis. Although the main utility of the proposed geosite is scientific, this object can also be used for the purposes of geoeducation and geotourism in combination with the other geoheritage resources of the central part of the Western Desert of Egypt.