Phanerozoic evolution of the basins of Northern Egypt and adjacent areas

Abstract

The results of integrating geological well data and geophysical information from the subsurface of northern Egypt are presented in terms of basin dynamics. Recent biostratigraphic data from wells and scarce outcrops are shown to be critical to an understanding of syndepositional tectonics. Six tectonostratigraphic phases of basin evolution are recognized to span the Phanerozoic. These phases initially record the development of intracratonic subsidence, controlled by deep crustal strike-slip tectonics, as Nubian continental and Tethyan marine influences competed across the northern margin of Gondwanaland. Evidence is also presented for the formation of the present day continental margin to northern Egypt. After a phase of crustal stretching, oceanic rifting focused on the western margin of the Arabian Platform, propagating progressively westwards during the Early-Mid-Jurassic. Thereafter, the effects of passive subsidence on the continental margin were disturbed by discrete phases of intracratonic strike-slip, associated ‘Syrian Arc’ folding, and the formation of deep basins in the opening Red Sea and Gulf of Suez. Three structural fabrics persisted throughout Phanerozoic basin evolution, the result of repeated extensional reactivation and inheritance from Pan-African basement.