Lithostratigraphy and Depositional History of Part of the Midyan Region, Northwestern Saudi Arabia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Midyan region provides a unique opportunity in which to examine exposures of the Upper Cretaceous and Neogene sedimentary succession. Recent investigations have yielded new interpretations of its depositional environments, stratigraphic relationships, and structure. In this paper, all the lithostratigraphic units of the Midyan succession are considered to be informal in advance of an on-going process of formalization. The region is bounded to the north and northeast by mountains of Proterozoic rocks and to the west and south by the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, respectively. The Wadi Ifal plain occupies most of the eastern half of the region, beneath which is a thick sedimentary succession within the Ifal basin. The oldest sedimentary rocks are the fluviatile Upper Cretaceous Adaffa formation and marine siliciclastics and carbonates of the lower Miocene Tayran group, unconformable on the Proterozoic basement. The Tayran group is unconformably overlain by the deep-marine lower Miocene Burqan formation that, in turn, is overlain by marine mudstones, carbonates, and evaporites of the middle Miocene Maqna group. The poorly exposed middle Miocene Mansiyah and middle to upper Miocene Ghawwas formations consist of marine evaporites and shallow to marginal marine sediments, respectively. The youngest rocks are alluvial sands and gravels of the Pliocene Lisan formation. A complex structural history is due to Red Sea Oligocene-Miocene extension tectonics, and Pliocene-Recent anti-clockwise rotation of the Arabian Plate relative to Africa on the Dead Sea Transform Fault. The Upper Cretaceous succession is a probable pre-rift unit. The Oligocene?-Miocene syn-rift 1 phase of continental extension caused slow subsidence (Tayran group). Syn-rift 2 was an early Miocene phase of rapid subsidence (Burqan formation) whereas syn-rift 3 (early to middle Miocene) was another phase of slow deposition (Maqna group). The middle to late Miocene syn-rift 4 phase coincided with the deposition of the Mansiyah and Ghawwas formations. The Lower Pliocene to Recent succession is related to the drift (post-rift) phase during which about 45 kilometers of sinistral movement occurred on the Dead Sea Fault. The structural control on sedimentation is evident: the Ifal basin was formed by east-west lithospheric extension; pull-apart basins occur along major left-lateral faults on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Aqaba; and basin-bounding faults controlled deposition of the Burqan, Ghawwas, and Lisan formations. Pliocene to Recent earth movements may be responsible for activating salt diapirism in the Ifal basin. Extensive Quaternary faulting and regional uplift caused the uplift of coral reefs to at least 6 to 8 meters above sea level.