Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Microbial mats and evaporite facies variation in a supralittoral, ephemeral lake, Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Facies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study documents the deposits of an ephemeral, shallow lake that is recharged mainly from floods and torrential rainfalls from the Red Sea Mountains, in addition to seawater seepage at its western margin. The lake is desiccated in the summer months into several smaller, ephemeral pans and sabkhas due to excessive evaporation of its waters and decreased inflow of seawater seepage accompanied by the lowered hydraulic gradient between the Red Sea and the lake floor. The formation and distribution of microbial mats, gypsum and halite are discussed with respect to water supply and salinity. Microbial mats dominate the floor of the wintertime lake, and in the summertime, coastal pans where salinity is less than 126%. Gypsum crystals encrust microbial mats at salinities in excess of 182%. The central and eastern pans are floored with halite crusts at a salinity > 250% that develop into tepee polygons through desiccation. The slightly higher topographic sabkha areas around these pans contain subsurface, displacive, lenticular and tabular gypsum crystals, and clear, mosaic halite cement. Most of the water supplied to the supralittoral lake is during the wintertime, from episodic floods from the hinterland with a general increase in salinity towards the sea. However, the pattern of distribution and abundance of microbial mats-gypsum-halite facies are in a reverse order to the direction of water supply and increases in salinity. This ambiguity can be explained by the intermittent supply of seawater seepage from the Red Sea through an artificial barrier that is controlled by tidal range and fluctuations of sea level.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdel Wahab S (1991) Ras Shukeir sabkha and associated salina deposits: comparison with a Holocene depositional equivalent. Carbonates Evaporites 61:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alsharhan AS, Kendall CGStC (2019) Interpretations of Holocene carbonate-evaporites of coastal and inland sabkhas of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) from Landsat satellite images and field survey. In: Gul B, Böer B, Khan M, Clüsener-Godt M, Hameed A (eds) Sabkha ecosystems VI: Asia/Pacific, tasks for vegetation science 49. Springer, Berlin, pp 151–187

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Aref MA (1998) Holocene stromatolites and microbial laminites associated with lenticular gypsum in a marine dominated environment, Ras El Shetan area, Gulf of Aqaba, Egypt. Sedimentology 45:245–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aref MA, Mannaa AA (2021) The significance of gypsum morphology in interpreting environmental changes caused by human construction, Red Sea coastal evaporation environment, Saudi Arabia. Environ Earth Sci 80:47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aref MA, Taj RJ (2018) Recent evaporite deposition associated with microbial mats, Al-Kharrar supratidal–intertidal sabkha, Rabigh area, Red Sea coastal plain of Saudi Arabia. Facies 64:28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aref MA, Taj RJ, Mannaa AA (2020) Sedimentological implications of microbial mats, gypsum, and halite in Dhahban solar saltwork, Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia. Facies 66:10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arthurton RS (1973) Experimentally produced halite compared with Triassic layered halite-rock from Cheshire, England. Sedimentology 20:145–160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Attia OEA (2013) Sedimentological characteristics and geochemical evolution of Nabq sabkha, Gulf of Aqaba, Sinai, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 6:2045–2059

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basyoni M, Aref MA (2015) Sediment characteristics and microfacies analysis of Jizan supratidal sabkha, Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 8(11):9973–9992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bouougri EH, Porada H (2012) Wind-induced mat deformation structures in recent tidal flats and sabkhas of SE-Tunisia and their significance for environmental interpretation of fossil structures. Sediment Geol 263–264:56–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cody RD, Cody AB (1988) Gypsum nucleation and crystal morphology in analog saline terrestrial environment. Jour Sediment Petrol 58:247–255

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen Y, Krumbein WE, Shilo M (1977) Solar Lake (Sinai) 2—distribution of photosynthetic microorganisms and primary production. Limnol Oceanogr 22:609–620

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dehwah AHA, Jadoon KZ, Al-Mashharawi S, Missimer TM (2015) Effects of nearshore evaporation rates on the design of seabed gallery intake systems for SWRO facilities located along the Red Sea shoreline of Saudi Arabia. Desalination Water Treat 57(48–49):22726–22733

    Google Scholar 

  • El-Hames AS, Al-Ahmadi M, Al-Amri NA (2011) GIS approach for the assessment of groundwater quality in Wadi Rabigh aquifer, Saudi Arabia. Environ Earth Sci 63:1319–1331

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavish E (1974) Geochemistry and mineralogy of a recent sabkha along the coast of Sinai, Gulf of Suez. Sedimentology 21:397–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gavish E, Krumbein W, Friedman GM (1985) Geomorphology, mineralogy and groundwater geochemistry as factors of the hydrodynamic system of the Gavish Sabkha. In: Friedman GM, Krumbein WE (eds) Hypersaline ecosystems. Springer, New York, pp 186–217

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Handford CR (1982) Sedimentology and evaporite genesis in a Holocene continental sabkha playa basin, Bristol Dry Lake, California. Sediment 29:239–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khawfany AA, Aref MA, Taj RJ (2017) Human-induced changes in sedimentary facies and depositional environments, Sarum area, Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia. Environ Earth Sci 76:61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langodan S, Cavaleri L, Viswanadhapalli Y, Hoteit I (2014) The Red Sea: a natural laboratory for wind and wave modeling. J Phys Oceanogr 44:3139–3159

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lokier SW, Steuber T (2009) Large-scale intertidal polygonal features of the Abu Dhabi Coastline. Sediment 56:609–621

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lowenstein TK, Hardie LA (1985) Criteria for recognition of salt pan evaporites. Sediment 32:623–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magee JW (1991) Late Quaternary lacustrine, groundwater, aeolian and pedogenic gypsum in the Prungle Lakes, southeastern Australia. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclim Palaeoecol 84:3–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Masoud M (2015) Rainfall-runoff modeling of ungauged Wadis in arid environments (case study Wadi Rabigh—Saudi Arabia. Arab J Geosci 8:2587–2606

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morcos SA (1970) Physical and chemical oceanography of the Red Sea. Oceanogr Mar Biol Annu Rev 8:73–202

    Google Scholar 

  • NCAR (The National Center for Atmospheric Research) (2020) RAL real-time weather data. http://weather.rap.ucar.edu. Accessed 10 Aug 2020

  • Orszag-Sperber F, Plaziat JC, Baltzer F, Purser BH (2001) Gypsum salina-coral reef relationships during the Last Interglacial (Marine Isotopic Stage 5e) on the Egyptian Red Sea coast: a quaternary analogue for Neogene marginal evaporites. Sediment Geol 140:61–85

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perilloa V, Maisanoa L, Martinezd AN, Quijadaf IE, Cuadrado DG (2019) Microbial mat contribution to the formation of an evaporitic environment in a temperate-latitude ecosystem. J Hydrol 575:105–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porada H, Bouougri EH (2007) Wrinkle structures-a critical review. Earth Sci Rev 81:199–215

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shalev E, Lyakhovsky V, Yechieli Y (2006) Salt dissolution and sinkhole formation along the Dead Sea shore. J Geophysic Res 111:B03102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shearman DJ (1963) Recent anhydrite, gypsum, dolomite, and halite from the coastal flats of the Arabian shore of the Persian Gulf. Proc Geol Soc London 167:5

    Google Scholar 

  • Sultan SAR, Ahmad F, Elghribi NM (1995) Sea level variability in the Red Sea. Oceanol Acta 18(2):607–615

    Google Scholar 

  • Taj RJ, Aref MA (2015) Structural and textural characteristics of surface halite crusts of a supratidal, ephemeral halite pan, South Jeddah, Red Sea Coast, Saudi Arabia. Facies 61:2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taj R, Aref MA, Schreiber BC (2014) The influence of microbial mats on the formation of sand volcanoes and mounds in the Red Sea coastal plain, south Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sediment Geol 311:60–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walter MR, Bauld J, Brock TD (1976) Microbiology and morphogenesis of columnar stromatolites (Conophyton, Vacerrilla) from hot springs in Yellowstone National Park. In: Walter MR (ed) Stromatolites. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp 273–310

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research (DSR) at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, under Grant No. (G: 192-150-1441). The authors, therefore, acknowledge with thanks DSR for technical and financial support .Many thanks to the Editor-in-Chief Maurice Tucker, and the reviewers Diana Cuadrado and an anonymous reviewer for their constructive comments and linguistic corrections that improved the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Geology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

    Ammar A. Manaa & Mahmoud A. Aref

  2. Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

    Mahmoud A. Aref

Authors
  1. Ammar A. Manaa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mahmoud A. Aref
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahmoud A. Aref.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Manaa, A.A., Aref, M.A. Microbial mats and evaporite facies variation in a supralittoral, ephemeral lake, Red Sea coast, Saudi Arabia. Facies 68, 3 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-021-00641-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-021-00641-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation