PHANEROZOIC EVOLUTION OF THE BASINS OF NORTHERN EGYPT AND ADJACENT AREAS

The results of integrating geological well data and geophysical inform ation from the subsurface of northern Egypt are presented in terms of basin dynamics. Recent biostratigraphic data from wells and scarce out crops are shown to be critical to an understanding of syndepositional tectonics. Six tectonostratigraphic phases of basin evolution are reco gnized to span the Phanerozoic. These phases initially record the deve lopment of intracratonic subsidence, controlled by deep crustal strike -slip tectonics, as Nubian continental and Tethyan marine influences c ompeted across the northern margin of Gondwanaland. Evidence is also p resented for the formation of the present day continental margin to no rthern Egypt. After a phase of crustal stretching, oceanic rifting foc used on the western margin of the Arabian Platform, propagating progre ssively westwards during the Early-Mid-Jurassic. Thereafter, the effec ts of passive subsidence on the continental margin were disturbed by d iscrete phases of intracratonic strike-slip, associated 'Syrian Arc' f olding, apd the formation of deep basins in the opening Red Sea and Gu lf of Suez. Three structural fabrics persisted throughout Phanerozoic basin evolution, the result of repeated extensional reactivation and i nheritance from Pan-African basement.