Geology of a Place

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Geology of Gulf of Suez

The location of the place and a description of the landscape

The Gulf of Suez Basin is an area that covers the north-northwestern part of the Red Sea. The length of the area is approximately 320 km with a width of between 50 and 90 kilometers that extends from the Red Sea hills to the mountains of Sinai. The Suez Canal basin has an area of approximately 23, 000 square kilometers (Chew 95). The Gulf of Suez takes the shape of a simple, elongated, narrow, trench with two nearly symmetric shoulders (See figure 1 below). The internal structure of the Gulf of Suez, however, is characteristically complex and asymmetrical due to the interaction of longitudinal fault sets that have created a zigzag-shaped fault pattern and countless rhombic-shaped tilted blocks (see figure 2).

A discussion of the geologic processes that formed the bedrock 

The Gulf of Suez began to open in the early Oligocene and ended with the breakup of the Red Sea in the Serravalian period.  According to Saber (304), the extension of the Gulf of Suez started in the northern part before spreading to southward. The rift in the Gulf of Suez is believed to have been created as a component of the two complementary shear fractures of Aqaba (right-lateral) and Suez (left-lateral). These two shear fractures were created from the Early Tertiary persistence of the Northwestern-Southeastern shortening (Chew 97). Quick tectonic subsidence in the first half of the Burdigalian-Langhian period was followed by robust block faulting and elevation of the rift shoulders, approximately 17 to 19 million years ago. Tectonic shifts continued with more force until post-Miocene times (Chew 80).

Figure 1

[pic 1]

Source: Alsharhan (99)

Figure 2

[pic 2]

Source: Alsharhan (98)

The petroleum resources in the Gulf of Suez Basin petroleum have been a direct result of the depositional and Neogene tectonic processes (see figure 2). The prolonged dissection of the Palaeozoic-Eocene pre-rift area was followed by the filling of an unevenly subsiding rift, with a numerous alternating lithologies, and sudden lateral facies and breadth changes that arose from block faulting. The Mid-Carboniferous shales of the Gulf of Suez witnessed rapid subsiding and heating in the Miocene rifting period, and this contributed contribution toward the charging of the numerous traps in this area.

Human Interaction in the Landscape

Because of its petroleum deposits, the Gulf of Suez is Egypt`s major oil province, with oil production in the area ranked seventh among the globe`s petroliferous rift basins. As a result, there are major oil exploration activities in this area. Proven petroleum resources of the Gulf of Suez extend southwards toward the Red Sea. However, the most prevalent hydrocarbon in the area is gas (Downey, William and Jack 40). The thick middle Miocene marls and shales of the basinal facies of the Rudeis and Kareem formations are often regarded as the exclusive source of the Gulf of Suez oils. However, outstanding source-rock potential also occurs, in the Belayim Formation in the southern end of Gulf of Suez (Downey, William and Jack 42).
The Gulf of Suez`s Geothermal Gradients