Abstract
The Middle-Upper Eocene rocks of the Fayum District are represented by Gehannam, Birket Qarun and Qasr El-Sagha formations. Both field studies and laboratory analyses on the concerned rocks have enabled to distinguish six lithofacies: (1) sheet-like grey silt-shale, (2) large-scale trough cross-bedded sandstone, (3) successive varicolored mud-shale/siltstone intercalation, (4) dark grey to black mud-shale/sandstone intercalation, (5) thinly bedded sandstone-shale intercalation and (6) very large-scale cross-stratified sandstone. These lithofacies proved that the present rocks were deposited in transitional paralic environment of active northward-prograding deltaic subenvironments contemporaneous with rabid but gradual sea level drop. The depositional system started with the delta front silt-shale (Gehannam Formation) of 20 m thickness, followed by distributary mouth bars of cross-bedded sandstone (Birket Qarun Formation, 50 m thick). Both the lower and upper delta plains attain thicknesses of 99 and 38 m, respectively, and are represented by the lower part of Qasr El-Sagha Formation. The deltaic sequence is topped with 45-m-thick eolian sandstones representing the upper part of Qasr El-Sagha Formation. This unit represents an extensive desertification phase that closes the depositional history of the succession examined.
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I wish to express my deep thanks and gratitude to my parents and to Heba and Omar for their support and encouragement during all stages of this work.
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El-Fawal, F.M., El-Asmar, H.M. & Sarhan, M.A.EF. Depositional evolution of the Middle-Upper Eocene rocks, Fayum area, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 6, 749–760 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-011-0386-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-011-0386-4