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 (45 m 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 (15 m 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 δ 18 O and δ 13 C 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.