Sedimentological aspects and environmental conditions recognized from the bottom sediments of al-Kharrar lagoon, Eastern Red Sea coastal plain, Saudi Arabia

Abstract EN

Most of the Red Sea lagoons have received little attention and none of these lagoons is particularly studied from sedimentological point of view.

Al-Kharrar Lagoon, north of Jeddah is a subtropical lagoon on the Red Sea coastal plain.

An attempt has been made to study the textural composition and the gross mineralogy of the bottom sediments.

Conditions of sedimentation, facies changes and source of rocks have also been studied.

On the basis of sedimentological and mineralogical investigations, two sedimentary facies could be recognized in the bottom sediments of Al-Kharrar Lagoon ; a carbonate facies appears coarser and prevailed in the northern half of the lagoon which is affected by the longshore currents of the open Red Sea through the inlet.

A second fine grained clastic facies characterized the southern end of the lagoon and is dominated by the land derived material drifted by the flash floods through the ancient wadies during the rainy seasons.