Plant-controlled supratidal anhydrite from Al-Khiran, Kuwait

Gunatilaka, Ananda; Saleh, A.; Al-Temeemi, A.

doi:10.1038/288257a0

Cited by 31 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 4 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Butler (1966Butler ( , 1969 showed that, in the inner parts of the Abu Dhabi sabkha, reaction between continental groundwater, seeping from the Miocene rocks, and anhydrite causes the reversion or replacement of anhydrite by gypsum. Anhydrite has been described from sabkha sediments in Bahrain (Evans et al,1980), and has been observed in similar sediments by the author in Saudi Arabia near Dharhan, and as far north as Kuwait by Gunatilaka et al (1980) and Gunatilaka (1990Gunatilaka ( , 1991. However, so far, it has not been discovered in the sabkha sediments of Qatar and occurs rarely on the offshore barrier island sediments of Abu Dhabi.…”

Section: Anhydrite Gypsum Bassanite and Other Evaporite Mineralsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Later Gunatilaka and colleagues (Gunatilaka et al 1980;Gunatilaka, 1991) showed that anhydrite in the Kuwait sabkhas was formed by direct dehydration of gypsum around halophytic plants and that it reverted to gypsum on their death. Gunatilaka (1991) further discovered that in some very shallow brine-filled channels, prismatic gypsum is sometimes altered to anhydrite subaqueously, but reverts to gypsum when the salinity of the channels decreases after rain.…”

Section: Anhydrite Gypsum Bassanite and Other Evaporite Mineralsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

An historical review of the Quaternary sedimentology of the Gulf (Arabian/Persian Gulf) and its geological impact

Evans

2010

Quaternary Carbonate and Evaporite Sedimentary Facies and Their Ancient Analogues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Arabian Gulf is a foreland basin that lies between the Arabian Shield and the Zagros fold belt. Today, it is being infilled at its northern head by the Tigris-Euphrates-Karun delta, receives further detrital sediment from Iran on its NE flank, and along its Arabian flank is the site of carbonate and evaporite sedimentation. Other than a few preliminary surveys by officers of the Indian Geological Survey and other minor geological studies associated with archaeological excavations on the Mesopotamian Plains, prior to the 1950s the Quaternary deposits of the region received little attention. However, since the publication of pioneering sedimentological studies in the late 1950s and early 1960s, these sediments have attracted considerable interest. Today, the Arabian Gulf is quoted as a model for foreland basin sedimentation, carbonate evaporite-dune-fan associations and carbonate ramps. It has become a classic area for open-water spontaneous precipitation of calcium carbonate (whitings), formation of hardgrounds, ooid production, dolomite precipitation and, most famously, for the development of shallow-water carbonate-evaporite associations. The surprise discovery of anhydrite forming in the supratidal coastal plain sediments and not in the subaqueous environment of the Gulf had a profound effect on interpretations of ancient evaporites. This discovery caused considerable re-examination and reconsideration of these deposits.

show abstract

Section: Anhydrite Gypsum Bassanite and Other Evaporite Mineralsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Anhydrite Gypsum Bassanite and Other Evaporite Mineralsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An historical review of the Quaternary sedimentology of the Gulf (Arabian/Persian Gulf) and its geological impact

Evans

2010

Quaternary Carbonate and Evaporite Sedimentary Facies and Their Ancient Analogues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…2). The results of this research were published over several years (Gunatilaka et al, 1980(Gunatilaka et al, -1987bRobinson et al, 1983;Gunatilaka, 1984Gunatilaka, -1991Mwango, 1986;Reda, 1986;Gunatilaka & Mwango, 1987;Robinson, 1987;Gunatilaka & Mwango, 1988;Gunatilaka & Shearman, 1988;Saleh et al, 1999). Other studies have been published by Al Zamel (1983) and Cherif et al (1993).…”

Section: Introduction and Historical Perspectivementioning

confidence: 61%

“…In southern Kuwait, the prevailing wind is oblique to the shoreline, the topographic gradient is much steeper (1:400), and a series of five oolitic beach-dune ridges or "cheniers" formed between 5500-2190 BP trails the sabkha, thus progressively restricting marine flooding and reflux of the sabkha brines (Gunatilaka, 1986a). Mangrove vegetation is absent; instead there are wide zones of halophytic vegetation in the sabkha, which play an important role in converting gypsum to anhydrite (Gunatilaka et al, 1980). The geomorphological and stratigraphic setting of the Al Khiran sabkha is shown in Fig.…”

Section: A Comparison Of the Arabian Gulf Sabkhasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Holocene evolution of Arabian coastal sabkhas: a re‐evaluation based on stable‐isotope analysis, forty years after Shearman's first view of the sabkha

Gunatilaka¹

2010

Quaternary Carbonate and Evaporite Sedimentary Facies and Their Ancient Analogues

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The location of Arabian Gulf sabkhas at the interface between seawaters, continental groundwaters and meteoric waters results in characteristic geochemical signatures that have been acquired over a single transgressive-regressive cycle of $10,000 years duration. The stable-isotope compositions (especially those of deuterium, sulphur and oxygen) of diagenetic evaporite minerals and coexisting sabkha groundwaters, when interpreted with respect to coastal geomorphological controls, give perhaps the best description of the hydrology and evolution of sabkhas with time. The hydrological framework of marine sabkhas in the southern Arabian Gulf (UAE) is controlled mainly by marine flood-recharge and reflux with a dominant marine isotopic signature in the sulphate evaporites. By contrast, in the northern Arabian Gulf (Kuwait) the marine sabkha sulphates show dominantly continental water-derived isotopic signatures. In the latter region, continental groundwaters have virtually reached the coast, displacing the marine waters in the sabkhas. As the coastline progrades, a given marine sabkha can have sulphate minerals with both isotopic signatures, but formed at different times. Similarly, the volumes of dolomite formed in sabkhas are dependent on their respective hydrological and geomorphological (i.e. open vs barriered coasts) frameworks. Low dissolved sulphate contents and organic matter availability in the environment are associated with dolomite precipitation. The current (late Quaternary) 100,000-year orbitally driven climatic cycle with its glacial-interglacial contrasts and resulting sea/base-level changes, and accompanying groundwater-table fluctuations in the sabkhas, indicate that their preservation potential is extremely poor. This accounts for the general absence of Pleistocene sabkha deposits. The Arabian Gulf and Peninsula region, which earlier was under the influence of the Indian Ocean Monsoon rainfall belt, went into a climatically hyper-arid phase just over 6000 years ago, more than a thousand years before sabkhas started forming ($4800 BP), thus priming the sabkhas for diagenetic evaporite mineral precipitation, which requires high groundwater salinities. Anhydrite, an index evaporite mineral, is limited to latitudes of 23 to 28 N in the Gulf. Climate and hydrology in conjunction with palaeogeography have important implications when discussing ancient sabkha analogues, which are known since the early Archaean, and were of a different order of magnitude from those forming today (e.g. the giant sabkhas of the Arabian Jurassic).

show abstract

“…To date there is only one publication, Al-Abdul- Razzaq & Bhalla, 1987, that specifically focuses on this subject, while o t h e r publications h a v e dealt with the m a c r o f a u n a , carbonate and evaporite sediments of Al-Khiran (Clayton & Pilcher, 1983;Collins et al, 1984;Gunatilaka et al, 1980Gunatilaka et al, , 1984Gunatilaka et al, , 1985Gunatilaka et al, , 1987Gunatilaka & Mwango, 1987;Jones & Clayton. 1983;Khalaf, 1984: Picha, 1978: Picka & Saleh, 1977.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ostracoda community in hypersaline channels in Al-Khiran, Arabian Gulf

Razzaq

1991

J. Micropalaeontol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-A community of ten ostracod species characterizes the hypersaline channels of Khor Al-Mufateh and Al-Mamlaha are divided into zones according to the distribution of ostracod species, which are dependant upon the richness and distribution of algae and the type of sediment. The ten ostrdcod species are salinitytolerant and occur in the upper third of Khor Al-Mufateh and the lower half of Khor Al-Mamlaha with salinity ranging between 55-70%~ and 45.709700, respectively. These zones are rich in algal growth with sediments varying from muddy carbonate sands to sandy mud. Most ostracod species are found in abundance during the summer exhibiting a rich diversity of algae genera and species.

show abstract

Plant-controlled supratidal anhydrite from Al-Khiran, Kuwait

Cited by 31 publications

References 4 publications

An historical review of the Quaternary sedimentology of the Gulf (Arabian/Persian Gulf) and its geological impact

An historical review of the Quaternary sedimentology of the Gulf (Arabian/Persian Gulf) and its geological impact

Holocene evolution of Arabian coastal sabkhas: a re‐evaluation based on stable‐isotope analysis, forty years after Shearman's first view of the sabkha

The Ostracoda community in hypersaline channels in Al-Khiran, Arabian Gulf

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About