Sedimentological and Stratigraphical Studies

The Middle Eocene limestone succession (of Lutetian age) exposed at the area extends along the Western side of Gulf of Suez to the south western scarp of Gabel Ataqa, including Gabel Kahylia to the north and Gabel Okheider to the south, is differentiated from base to top into: Minia Formation and Mokattam Formation. The detailed petrographic analyses of 170 samples taken from two measured, stratigraphic sections in the study area, have led to the recognition of six main types of limestone depositional facies comprising 16 microfacies types. They are: Packstone - to gainstone (30%), grainstone (28%), packstone (22.4%), wackestone- to packstone (15%), wackestone (2.8%) and lime -mud to wackestone (1.8%).