Nubian Sandstone

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The Nubian Sandstone is a variety of

Lower Cretaceous.[1]

Formation

The Nubian Sandstone ranges in age from the Cambrian to Upper Cretaceous eras. Positioning of the

tropical to subtropical climate and formed under a variety of continental conditions, including eolian merging intermittently into shallow marine.[2]

Characteristics

Nubian Sandstone formation of Amram Columns, Eilat Massif, Israel

The Nubian Sandstone complex has a thickness varying from under 500 m to over 3000 m, resting on the

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) interpretations correlated with anomalies from groundwater in 383 wells, suggest a connection between the spatial organization of fluvial and structural features with low-salinity groundwater, which exists adjacent to alluvial fans and the south-west reaches of structurally enclosed channels. Wells in the vicinity of structures contained low-salinity water.[4]

Derived soils

Nubian Sandstone exposures in sub-humid, semi-arid, and

pedogenic neoformation. Aeolian material was probably introduced into the silt and fine sand fractions from semi-arid and arid soils. It is also possible that some contamination of clay fractions occurred.[5]

Nubian Sandstone in Arabia

When in contact with Upper Cretaceous

Hermon it is underlain by Jurassic limestone. Its upper strata is likely from the Lower or Middle Cretaceous age. However, Jurassic limestone is absent in southern areas. In Western Sinai, Nubian Sandstone rests on Carboniferous limestone, and by the Dead Sea on Cambrian limestone: at Petra and other locations it rests unconformably on crystalline rocks
. While age calculation for the Nubian Sandstone is relatively simple in Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon and Hermon, it is much more complicated in Western Sinai and the Dead Sea area. Since sandstone is assumed to form more rapidly than other rocks it is difficult to conceive that the 2,000 feet of sandstone in the southeastern Dead Sea was in the formative process from the Cambrian to the Cretaceous.

Appearance

Petra, Jordan

Nubian Sandstone is most commonly brown or reddish, but in places it shows a much wider variety of color. The ancient temples and tombs in Petra were carved from this rock. In certain places it is extremely

friable, and in others compact and hard. Sand in the Arabian deserts was primarily derived from it, carried by prevailing western winds. Where it is covered by a sheet of eruptive rock (charrah), it is protected from erosion. Nubian Sandstone frequently includes strata of clay and shale and thin seams of coal or lignite
. This indicates that it was deposited in seas that were relatively shallow at the time.

Etymology

The term Nubian Sandstone was first introduced to the Egyptian stratigraphy by Joseph Rüssegger in 1837, who used the term "Sandstein von Nubien" to designate nonfossiliferous sandstone sections of Paleozoic or Mesozoic age. Rüssegger followed and studied this series of sandstone formations from the Sudan, Egypt, Libya, and Arabia Petrsea (northeastern Arabia).[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Issawi 1973, p.1433
  2. ^ El-Shazly 1982
  3. ^ A. Shata
  4. ^ El-Baz & El-Shazly, 2007
  5. ^ A. Singer 1974, p. 310
  6. ^ R. Tate pp. 404-406

References

  • Bahay, I. (1972). "Review of Upper Cretaceous-Lower Tertiary Stratigraphy in Central and Southern Egypt". AAPG Bulletin. 56 (8): 1448–1463.
    doi:10.1306/819A40F2-16C5-11D7-8645000102C1865D
    .
  • El Shazly, Atomic Energy Establishment, Egypt 1982
  • A.A. Shata, Hydrogeology of the Great Nubian Sandstone Basin Desert Research Institute, Egypt 1982
  • Tate, R. (1871). "On the Age of the Nubian Sandstone". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 27 (1–2): 404–406.
    doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1871.027.01-02.47
    .
  • Essay and Maps: Groundwater Resources of the Nubian Aquifer System
  • El Sayed. A Study of Hydrogeological Conditions of the Nubian Sandstone Aguifer in the Area between Abu Simbel & Toschka, Western Desert, Egypt American Geophysical Union 2001
  • A.C. Seward: Leaves of Dicotyledons from Nubian sandstone of Egypt, Geological Survey, 1935.
  • Robinson, C. A.; Werwer, A.; El-Baz, F.; El-Shazly, M.; Fritch, T.; Kusky, T. (2007). "The Nubian Aquifer in Southwest Egypt". Hydrogeology Journal. 15 (1): 33–45.
    doi:10.1007/s10040-006-0091-7
    .
  • El Shazly, E. M.; Krs, Miroslav (1973). "Paleogeography and paleomagnetism of the Nubian Sandstone Eastern Desert of Egypt". Geologische Rundschau. 62 (1): 212–225.
    doi:10.1007/BF01826828
    .
  • International Atomic Energy Agency: NSAS Project
  • Singer, A.; Amiel, A. J. (1974). "Characteristics of Nubian Sandstone-Derived Soils". Journal of Soil Science. 25 (3): 310–319.
    doi:10.1111/j.1365-2389.1974.tb01127.x
    .

External links
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