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206172

Morphotectonic Evolution of Qaret El Sheikh Abdallah Depressions and Denuded Paleo-Karst in the White Desert, El Bahariya-Farafra Karst Territory, Egypt.

Article

Last updated: 28 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

Geomorphology, Geography, Soil Science, Glaciology, Geoarchaeology, Geoheritage.

Abstract

The Late Cretaceous-Early Eocene carbonate sequences of the White Desert of Egypt exhibit amazing complex paleo-humid karst landforms, so it was declared as a nature-protected area since 2002. Two karst depressions of El Sheikh Abdallah and the Crystal Mountain (Qaret El Sheikh Abdallah) are identified by detailed fieldwork and GIS morphometric analysis of the digital elevation model of the northern part of the White Desert. These depressions are verified as two separate karst uvalas between the major karst poljes of El Bahariya and Farafra karst territory with northeast alignment. The sea-level drops and uplifting phases of the carbonate sequences of the uvalas, associated with the major compressional events of the Syrian arc (Cretaceous-Paleogene) and Oligo-Miocene extensional tectonics in north Egypt caused the development of three major stratigraphic breaks (fossilized paleo-karst surfaces) of Late Cretaceous-Palaeocene, Palaeocene-Early Eocene, and post-Early Eocene (Oligocene-Miocene). Along these fossilized surfaces, paleo-karst features and sediments are detected and described. El Sheikh Abdallah and the Crystal Mountain depressions (uvalas) are also dominated by exposed (surface) complex karst features such as unroofed caves, widened joints, sinkholes, collapse breccia's, and solution channels, together with sporadic remains of uncovered autochthonous and allochthones paleo-cave sediments. The recognized stratigraphic breaks and their paleokarst features and the subsequent surface denudation helped to propose a morphotectonic evolutionary model for the exposed karst landscape and the denuded karst features of El Sheikh Abdallah-Crystal Mountain uvalas.

DOI

10.21608/egjg.2021.103324.1011

Keywords

Fossilized paleo-karst, Crystal Mountain, uvalas, stratigraphic breaks, surface karst, unroofed cave facies, Protected Area, Egypt

Authors

First Name

Mortad

Last Name

El-aref

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

Cairo University

Email

elarefmortada@yahoo.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Ahmed

Last Name

Salama

MiddleName

S

Affiliation

Nature Conservation Sector, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Maadi, Cairo, Egypt

Email

maazapark@yahoo.com

City

cairo

Orcid

-

First Name

Mohamed Saleh Hassan

Last Name

Hammed

MiddleName

-

Affiliation

geology department, faculty of science, Cairo university-Egypt

Email

salehhammed@cu.edu.eg

City

cairo

Orcid

0000-0001-9706-7831

Volume

65

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

28512

Issue Date

2021-12-01

Receive Date

2021-10-29

Publish Date

2021-12-01

Page Start

27

Page End

53

Print ISSN

0022-1384

Online ISSN

2805-2617

Link

https://egjg.journals.ekb.eg/article_206172.html

Detail API

https://egjg.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=206172

Order

3

Type

Original Article

Type Code

2,013

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of Geology

Publication Link

https://egjg.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Morphotectonic Evolution of Qaret El Sheikh Abdallah Depressions and Denuded Paleo-Karst in the White Desert, El Bahariya-Farafra Karst Territory, Egypt.

Details

Type

Article

Created At

23 Jan 2023