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ABSTRACT
The Aquitanianearly Burdigalian (lower Miocene) Nukhul Formation at Gebel el Zeit, Egypt, was deposited during early stages
of Gulf of Suez rifting. The unit dips 815 less than underlying
prerift strata, indicating that signicant rotation and extension preceded subsidence of the Gebel el Zeit fault block. The Nukhul Formation at Gebel el Zeit is up to 75 m thick in outcrop and consists
of a lower sandstone and an upper carbonate unit. The formation
varies considerably along strike because of syndepositional differential movement of small fault-bounded blocks. The lower clastic
unit at South Gebel el Zeit contains poorly sorted, conglomeratic,
marly sandstone that commonly displays grading and Bouma sequences. Beds were deposited below storm base by sediment gravity
ows. Thicker intervals are inferred to ll small, structurally controlled, submarine gullies that funneled sand and gravel southwestward to a half-graben basin. In contrast, an inferred correlative, thin,
basal conglomeratic unit in North Gebel el Zeit was deposited in a
shallow-marine setting. The presence of basement clasts in Nukhul
strata indicates early syndepositional uplift due to structural tilting.
The upper carbonate unit consists of bioclast, peloid, and intraclast packstone, wackestone, and grainstone with minor oatstone,
rudstone, and coral-algal boundstone. Carbonate strata were deposited variously in deep-marine, low-energy peritidal and subtidal,
and reefal environments. Deeper submerged blocks were the site
of carbonate resedimentation or deeper shelf deposition. Reefs and
shallow-marine bioclast shoals formed on higher submerged blocks.
Nukhul strata show that synrift reservoir prediction in the Gulf of
Suez, the Red Sea, and presumably in other rifts requires mapping
of synrift cross faults and fault block by fault block facies analysis.
Copyright 2001. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Manuscript received October 22, 1999; revised manuscript received October 23, 2000; nal acceptance
January 8, 2001.
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AUTHORS
Robert D. Winn, Jr. Geology
Department, University of Papua New Guinea,
N.C.D., Papua New Guinea; current address:
1777 Larimer St., #807, Denver, Colorado,
80202-1543; winnrd@earthlink.net
Robert Winn is a consulting geologist. He
received a Ph.D. from the University of
WisconsinMadison in 1975 and joined
Marathon Oil Company as a research
geologist in 1977. He left Marathon in 1994
for the University of Papua New Guinea,
where he was senior lecturer and then
associate professor. He was head of the
Geology Department from 1996 to 2000. His
primary interests are in clastic sedimentology
and sequence stratigraphy.
Paul D. Crevello Petrex-Petrogeos, P.O.
Box 2905, Bandar, Brunei S.B.;
crevello@compuserve.com
Paul Crevello is a consulting geologist and
technical director of PetrexAsia, which he
formed in 1997. He received an M.S. degree
from the University of Miami (1978) and a
Ph.D. from Colorado School of Mines (1989).
He was employed by Marathon Oil as a
research geologist from 1978 to 1994 and by
the University of Brunei as senior lecturer
from 1994 to 1997. His specialties are in
sequence stratigraphy and sedimentology of
carbonate and turbidite systems and the
integrated calibration of 3-D reservoir models.
William Bosworth Marathon Petroleum
Egypt, Ltd., P. O. Box 52, Maadi, Egypt;
wpbosworth@marathonoil.com
William Bosworth is employed by Marathon
Oil Company. He joined Marathon in 1984
and has worked principally on international
exploration and development projects. From
1980 to 1984 he taught structural geology and
tectonics at Colgate University in Hamilton,
New York. His research interests are
principally in extensional tectonics, continental
stress eld evolution, and the
paleogeodynamics of the African plate.
INTRODUCTION
Numerous sedimentologic and structural studies of rift
evolution have involved the Gulf of Suez (Figure 1)
because of the presence of well-exposed, synrift marine
strata, which can be relatively well dated, and because
of the existence of abundant hydrocarbon exploration
data. More than 80 oil elds in the Gulf of Suez produce approximately 600,000 BOPD. Production occurs from basement, prerift Paleozoic and Mesozoic
units, and synrift Miocene clastic and carbonate strata.
The oldest, areally extensive synrift deposit in the Gulf
of Suez is the lower Miocene Nukhul Formation (Figure 2), which is a reservoir in more than 15 elds
(Saoudi and Khalil, 1986). The units presence and reservoir quality vary considerably across the basin. The
Nukhul Formation regionally includes a mixed assemblage of sandstone, conglomerate, limestone, shale,
and evaporite rock. According to most interpretations,
the unit was deposited in uvial, alluvial fan, lagoonal,
lacustrine, and shallow-marine environments in strucFigure 2. Stratigraphic column of Gebel el Zeit area (modied
from Evans, 1988). Maximum thicknesses of strata are for the
southern Gulf of Suez area. Major unconformities are indicated
by wavy lines. An erosional surface also occurs locally at the
base of the Rudeis Formation. Angular discordance between
prerift and synrift strata is shown schematically. UK FMS
Upper Cretaceous formations.
GEOLOGIC SETTING
The Gulf of Suez is the northern segment of a Tertiary
rift system that extends from northern Egypt through
the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. The Gebel el Zeit
structural block is located at the southern end on the
southwest, bounding-fault side of the Gulf of Suez
(Figure 1).
Rift Evolution
Most researchers have treated signicant rifting in the
Gulf of Suez as beginning in the late early Miocene
(e.g., Angelier, 1985; Steckler, 1985; Moretti and Colletta, 1987; Evans, 1988, 1990; ; Steckler et al., 1988;
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Figure 3. Detailed geologic map of a part of South Gebel el Zeit (see Figure 1 for location). Measured sections of the Nukhul
Formation (SGZ-A, SGZ-B, . . . , SGZ-3) are shown schematically in Figures 7 and 14. The Hammam Faraun is the upper member of
the Belayim Formation (see Figure 2). Rose diagrams to the left summarize measurements of long axes of pebbles in three conglomerate beds in the lower Nukhul Formation at section SGZ-3. Pebble measurements are bimodal but are shown as indicating unimodal
southwest transport because structural relationships suggest an approximate southwest-dipping depositional paleoslope. The arrows
on the rose diagrams are vector means. Faults synthetic to major bounding faults strike north-northwestnorth. Intrabasin transform
faults (such as cross faults W, X, and Y) strike northeasteast. Recent relative motion on faults is indicated. Note in Figures 3 and 4
that most cross faults do not extend through the Rudeis-Kareem interval.
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NUKHUL FORMATION
The Nukhul Formation is up to approximately 75 m
thick in exposures at North and South Gebel el Zeit
and consists of a lower sandstone and conglomerate
and a concordant upper carbonate interval (Figure 2)
(Saoudi and Khalil, 1986; Evans, 1988). Locally, the
lower clastic interval is absent in outcroppings (e.g.,
section SGZ-B in Figure 3). Nukhul strata are absent
elsewhere, and Rudeis-Kareem marl and shale locally
lie directly on pre-Nukhul units (e.g., section SGZ-A).
Clastic and carbonate units are assumed to be approximately time equivalent between South and North Gebel el Zeit, although biostratigraphic information conrming synchroneity is absent. The Nukhul Formation
is up to several hundred meters thick in the Gemsa
Zeit Bay Basin and East Zeit Basin (Saoudi and Khalil,
1986; Richardson and Arthur, 1988; Bosworth, 1995),
although maximum thicknesses are unknown because
of sparse data from the basin centers.
Age
16
6
67
1
3
2
3
1
1
100%
98
57
43
100%
100%
100%
*Clast identications on bed between sections SGZ-1 and SGZ-3, South Gebel el Zeit.
**Pebble identications on beds 19 and 24.5 m, respectively, above base of Nukhul Formation, section SGZ-3, South Gebel el Zeit.
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Figure 7. Schematic diagram of described sections of the Nukhul Formation, South Gebel el Zeit (see Figure 3 for section locations).
Section SGZ-2A is approximately 35 m south of section SGZ-2 (see Figure 10). Thicknesses of the lower clastic interval and upper
carbonate interval are shown separately. Centimeter measurements (cm) refer to the maximum sizes of pebbles and cobbles. Note
the large Nubia sandstone clasts. For carbonate strata in Figures 7 and 9, M micrite; G grainstone, packstone, or wackestone;
F oatstone; R rudstone; B boundstone.
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Figure 9. Schematic lithologic sections of the Nukhul Formation, North Gebel el Zeit (see Figure 7 for legend and Figure 4 for
locations of sections NGZ-1, NGZ-2, and NGZ-3). The location of the cross fault at Z on Figure 4 is shown below the cross section.
NGZ-4 is located 1.75 km north of NGZ-3. NGZ-5 is 3.4 km north of NGZ-4.
Figure 10. Outcrop view of the Nukhul Formation and an interpreted Miocene submarine gully at South Gebel el Zeit (view is to
the southwest). The locations of sections SGZ-2A and SGZ-2 are indicated (see schematic diagrams in Figure 7). The fault at W on
Figure 3 is in the gully on the left of the photograph. Nukhul strata unconformably overlie Nubia sandstone (white-appearing rocks
exposed in current gullies). Note the lenticularity of lower Nukhul strata. The upper Nukhul carbonate interval forms the small cliff
at the top of the ridge. Beyond the ridge in the upper right is Zeit Bay (see Figure 1), and in the far distance at the arrow is another
uplifted Miocene fault block (Gebel Esh el Mellaha).
Winn et al.
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consist of abraded fragments of oysters and platy echinoderms (sand dollars). The lower 30 m of overlying
carbonate beds consist of meter-scale cycles that
coarsen upward. In ascending order, the cycles contain
bioturbated, bioclast packstone and wackestone; bioturbated, whole bivalve and oyster-bivalve packstone
and oatstone; and bioclast-bivalve rudstone. Bioclasts
in the rudstone are moderately sorted and abraded, and
rudstone beds have erosional basal contacts and are
faintly horizontally stratied.
The upper approximately 30 m of the SGZ-1 section lacks cyclical bedding, and beds are structureless
and relatively thick. The interval consists of moderately
sorted, bioclast and peloid dolomite packstone and less
abundant whole oyster-bivalve dolomite packstone
and wackestone. Packstone contains grain-oriented,
comminuted, sand-size to granule-size, thin-walled bivalve and algal plate fragments. Bioturbation is common, and burrows include Ophiomorpha forms.
Carbonate strata in North Gebel el Zeit vary in
thickness from 8 to 45 m because of erosion at the base
of the overlying Rudeis-Kareem interval and northward depositional thinning from NGZ-3 to NGZ-5
(Figure 9). For example, erosion at the base of a submarine channel preceding Rudeis-Kareem deposition
at NGZ-2 left less than 10 m of Nukhul strata there.
At North Gebel el Zeit, the lower contact of the carbonate strata with the underlying Nukhul siliciclastics
is sharp and has tens of centimeters of relief in places.
This contact is interpreted as a marine ravinement.
Sandy to pebbly bioclast dolomite packstone to grainstone occurs immediately above the siliciclastics.
Sedimentology of the upper carbonate interval
varies less along strike at North Gebel el Zeit than it
does at South Gebel el Zeit. The lower almost 10 m
of carbonate strata in NGZ-1, the truncated NGZ-2
interval, and the lower approximately 30 m of NGZ-3
dominantly consist of 0.53 mthick beds of bioclast
and peloid dolomite wackestone and packstone and
micrite and minor grainstone. Bioclast grains are horizontally oriented in some zones. Beds are burrowed,
and complete bioturbation is common. The interval at
1730 m in NGZ-3 is marly and nodular.
From above approximately 10 m in NGZ-1 to the
upper contact, strata tend to consist of better sorted,
more distinctly bedded, 12 mthick, very coarse
grained bioclast grainstone and packstone, except for
two micritic intervals near the top of the Nukhul Formation. The grainstone and packstone contain abundant whole and broken bivalve debris. Section NGZ-3
at 3040 m consists of another bioclast grainstone
Winn et al.
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by lower energy, deeper shelf deposition. Multiple, cyclic, shallowing-upward carbonate beds in the lower 30
m of SGZ-1 record water-depth uctuation within individual cycles from shallow, low-energy, subtidal
depths upward to a wave- and current-worked intertidal environment. Rudstone at the top of coarseningupward cycles likely was reworked from muddier,
underlying oyster-bivalve beds during initial resubmergence. The cyclic strata are overlain by 30 m of
bioturbated, more thickly bedded packstone and
wackestone that we interpret as a deeper water, openmarine ramp facies.
Carbonate beds at North Gebel el Zeit directly
overlie a surface likely eroded during transgression.
Most of the carbonate beds at North Gebel el Zeit record open-marine, storm-inuenced ramp deposition
with local patch reefs and skeletal sand shoals (i.e., sections at NGZ-1, NGZ-2, most of NGZ-3, and the basal
part of NGZ-4 in Figures 9, 15). Boundstone in sections NGZ-3 and NGZ-4 represent patch reefs. Grainstone and some packstone in NGZ-1, NGZ-3, and
NGZ-4 record carbonate sand shoals (Figure 13a). The
basal scour contacts and dispersed pebbles within
grainstone and packstone beds are interpreted as the
products of storm reworking on a carbonate shelf.
More micritic, bioclast packstone and wackestone (Figure 13b) within the dominantly shallow-marine intervals record slightly deeper, open-shelf sedimentation.
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however, is that strike-slip, vertical, and oblique directions of movement may occur simultaneously or at different times on the same fault.
CONCLUSIONS
Gebel el Zeit at the southern end of the Gulf of Suez
represents an uplifted part of the central Gulf of Suez
rift. Discordance between prerift and rift strata there
indicates that 815 of rotation occurred in the latest
Oligoceneearly Miocene before subsidence and sedimentation began (Bosworth, 1995; Bosworth et al.,
1998). The oldest synrift strata at the gebel is the lower
Miocene Nukhul Formation, which preserves the early
sedimentary record of rifting. Greater angular discordance between prerift and synrift strata at South Gebel
el Zeit and facies relationships indicate that South Gebel el Zeit rotated more than North Gebel el Zeit during early Nukhul deposition. Clast composition of Nukhul conglomerate indicates unroong of basement
and also attests to early Miocene block rotation.
We interpret the lower clastic interval of the Nukhul Formation in South Gebel el Zeit as a relatively
deep-marine sediment gravity ow deposit, contrary to
previous interpretations of the unit as entirely shallow
marine. Sediment gravity-ow deposits partially ll
submarine gullies that funneled debris from uplifted
areas to the northeast into a deep GemsaZeit Bay Basin to the southwest. Gully location appears to have
been controlled primarily by the local down-dropping
of small blocks.
The upper carbonate unit of the upper Nukhul
Formation also changes considerably along strike in facies and thickness. Variation is also related to the differential movement of small crustal blocks. Sediment
gravity-ow deposition continued in some areas at
South Gebel el Zeit. Other blocks in South Gebel el
Zeit were higher standing, and strata record evidence
of block uplift as adjacent blocks subsided. North Gebel el Zeit behaved as a more coherent unit, and Nukhul strata record only slight local differential subsidence. Intrabasin block movement during extension
is due to differential rotation and is also the consequence of jostling and space conicts because of the
various shapes and orientations of structural blocks and
their bounding faults.
Deep basins, high relief, abrupt thickness and facies changes, and differential block movement were
unrecognized and are contrary to the majority of published interpretations of the early Gulf of Suez setting
Winn et al.
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