The Tayiba Red Beds: Transitional marine-continental deposits in the precursor Suez Rift, Sinai, Egypt

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The Tayiba Red Beds, exposed in the Abu Zenima area, west-central Sinai, have been intensively studied for their clay mineralogy and charophytes assemblages. Three surface sections exposed at Wadi El-Tayiba and Wadi Nukhul were studied. The Tayiba Formation uncomformably overlies the Middle Eocene Khaboba Formation at Wadi Nukhul and the Late Eocene Tanka Formation at Wadi El-Tayiba and commonly underlies the Early Miocene Nukhul Formation with unconformable relationships. The Tayiba Formation at Wadi Nukhul consists predominantly of continental coarse clastic sediments represented by polymictic conglomerates, alternating with red to pinkish mudstone, ferruginous sandstone and varicoloured mottled siltstone with plant remains. At Wadi El-Tayiba, the Tayiba Formation is represented by marine, yellow mudstone and red siltstone, alternating with greyish and reddish-yellow argillaceous to sandy limestone, highly fossiliferous with reworked Nummulites spp. and molluscan shell fragments. The mineralogical composition of the studied clay size fraction showed that most samples are dominated by illite, together with smectite, kaolinite and illite/smectite mixed layers. The relative proportion of these constituents shows wide variation. Smectite is more abundant than other constituents at Wadi El-Tayiba. The high content of smectite is usually accompanied by a terrigenous influx in the form of kaolinite and illite, reflecting deposition in an inner neritic shallow marine environment. The sediments of Wadi Nukhul are characterised by an appreciable proportion of illite, together with an illite/smectite mixed layer and minor amounts of kaolinite, suggesting deposition in fluviatile environments. The detailed investigation of charophytes (green algae) in the investigated sections showed that Wadi El-Tayiba is nearly barren of these microflorae, except for some benthic foraminifera from a shallow marine environment. In contrast, Wadi Nukhul yielded a high frequency and great diversity of charophytes, where 15 species have been identified, described and illustrated for the first time. The utilisation of the ranges of these species allowed the subdivision of the section into three charophyte zones, which are correlated with other zones recorded in Europe, as well as the standard mammal levels in the world. These biozones strongly assign the Tayiba Formation to the Late Eocene to Late Oligocene (Late Priabonian to Chattian). A depositional model was suggested for the Tayiba Formation in west-central Sinai.