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Sedimentary Structure and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Upper Paleocene-lower Eocene (Ayaycha Formation) from the Eastern Gafsa Basin, Southern Tunisia

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Abstract

Detailed sedimentological and sequence stratigraphic analysis of the upper Paleocene–lower Eocene shallow-marine limestones exposed in the Eastern Gafsa basin in southern Tunisia provides a new insight into the sedimentary response to climate and sea-level changes revealed in the southern Tethysian margin. The 81 m thick Ayaycha Formation is composed of three units. The lower unit is built up of channelized fossiliferous limestones superposed by the sequence of alternated thin–to medium-bedded limestone and marls. The second unit is dominated by marls, and the third unit is formed by channelized limestones lying within bioclastic limestones. Based on their lithological features and strata geometries, the Ayaycha Formation exhibits seven facies evolving from offshore to intertidal environments. Clay paragenesis shows that the lower unit was accumulated under the warm and seasonally contrasting climate, or probably, repeated change of dry and humid seasons. The lower unit corresponds to the upper Paleocene deposits. The upper Paleocene-lower Eocene, middle and upper units were accumulated under warm climate and cover the time interval of global paleoecological crisis known as the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). The consequence of this global warming was the sea level rise, which correspond to the transgressive pulse occurred prior to the Paleocene–Eocene boundary. Integrated sequence stratigraphic analysis showed that the Ayaycha Fm is formed by the stacking of thirteen third-order depositional sequences. Each depositional sequence results from a transgressive-regressive cycle in shallow marine environments.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank the workers of the Civil Engineering department at the National Engineering School of Sfax (ENIS), the Physics Department of the Faculty of Science of Bizerte and the Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Sfax for their technical support. The thankful to Ms. Ahmed Ben Rguiga, English professor at the FSEG (Faculty of Economics and Management of Sfax), for patiently proof-reading version of this manuscript. We are also grateful to the anonymous journal reviewers for their constructive comments, which helped to improve this paper. The authors extend their thanks to the editor, who greatly improved and clarified the manuscript.

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  1. Laboratory Water Energy and Environment (L3E ENIS), Faculty of sciences of Sfax, Sfax, Tunisia

    Abdel Majid Messadi

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Messadi, A.M. Sedimentary Structure and Sequence Stratigraphy of the Upper Paleocene-lower Eocene (Ayaycha Formation) from the Eastern Gafsa Basin, Southern Tunisia. Lithol Miner Resour 57, 568–583 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490222060049

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