Print this pageAbstract: Cretaceous-Holocene Sedimentation in Egyptian Red Sea and Gulf of Suez Area--Tale of Four Troughs
The Cretaceous-Holocene history of the Egyptian Red Sea and Gulf of Suez area is best explained without recourse to major shear or active plate separation. The pervasive vertical tectonics and concomitant sedimentation have been controlled by ancient northwest- or north-northwest-trending zones of weakness in the Nubia plate. Three areas ("intracratonic basins") show major northwest-southeast structural control (from south to north: Hafafit-Benas depression, Duwi trough, present Gulf of Suez). These zones most simply record crustal response to an arch which moved northward through time; all are syndepositionally or postdepositionally inclined toward the Red Sea axis.
The Hafafit-Benas area never developed as a major marine depocenter and has remained a relatively unwelded, block-faulted region; it now includes anomalous highs (Ras Benas Peninsula, St. John's Island). The Duwi area contains a moderately thick Cretaceous to early Eocene fill and was markedly affected by Eocene-Miocene block faulting. This latter time interval saw the development of the present Gulf of Suez, which has been modified by rifting associated with the fourth and major Red Sea (north-northwest) zone.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90961©1978 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma