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Microbialite formation in southern Sinai (Egypt)

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Abstract

Ongoing microbialite formation is described at two previously unreported sites in southern Sinai, Egypt. Samples were collected in the peritidal tropical environment of Nabq Bay and Hidden Bay (southern Sinai, Egypt). Field observations and sample analyses show evidence of both sediment trapping and biostabilization in bacterial mucilaginous sheaths and microbially induced mineralization, producing a suite of increasingly lithified material: from agglomerated, consolidated sand to lithified crusts and oncoids. Thin-sections show evidence of bacteria (cyanobacteria and sulphate-reducing bacteria) among the constituent grains in the form of gelatinous filaments (green and red sheaths), and microalgal colonies along the outer edge, accompanied by a very high grade of clast alteration. The alternation of planar to irregular dark, superposed layers, and clastic layers is visible at the surface and/or inside some crusts. Widespread filaments of Schizothrix among grains have been identified, as well as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), sheaths stabilizing particles, and calcareous tubular encrustations around cyanobacteria filaments. Carbonate precipitates include diffuse micrite, microcrystals of high-Mg calcite precipitating in the EPS matrix, and acicular aragonite as isopachous rims around grains. Cementation is accompanied by partial dissolution and progressive alteration of original grain boundaries. We describe four microbialite categories on the basis of their macroscopic morphology combined with different texture and lithification grade. The occurrence of the southern Sinai microbialites is explained by the interplay of local sedimentary dynamics and accommodation space in a peritidal tropical environment undergoing large temperature and salinity variations.

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Acknowledgments

Robert Riding and an anonymous referee are warmly acknowledged for the revision of the manuscript. The authors are grateful to The National Parks of Egypt, South Sinai Sector (NCS/EEAA), for field work permit. We thank P. Gentile for SEM imaging and L. Galimberti for her help in preparation of the petrographic thin-sections. Funds F.A.R. 2011 to DB from the University of Milano-Bicocca are gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Section of Geological Sciences and Geotechnologies, University of Milano-Bicocca, P.za della Scienza 4, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Daniela Basso, Valentina Alice Bracchi & Andrea Noemi Favalli

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  1. Daniela Basso
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  2. Valentina Alice Bracchi
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  3. Andrea Noemi Favalli
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Correspondence to Daniela Basso.

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Basso, D., Bracchi, V.A. & Favalli, A.N. Microbialite formation in southern Sinai (Egypt). Facies 59, 7–18 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-012-0330-4

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