Gulf of Suez Rift

During its brief post-rift history, the deepest part of the remnant rift topography has been filled by the sea, creating the Gulf of Suez.

These red and white sandstone units have a combined thickness of about 500 m. They were deposited in a continental environment except in the northeastern part of the gulf where they become marine.

[3] The next preserved sequence is the Umm Bogma or Abu Durba Formations of lower Carboniferous age, which sit apparently conformably on the Cambrian, although the base represents a hiatus of about 150 Ma.

The Qiseib Formation is found throughout the Gulf varying in thickness between 8 m and 300 m. It is thought to be mainly Triassic in age, although it is considered to include Permian strata near its base near Wadi Araba.

[3] The continental sandstones and siltstones of the Abu Zenima Formation represent the earliest syn-rift deposits of late Oligocene (Chattian) to early Miocene (Aquitanian) age.

The lower Miocene age conglomerates, sandstones and marls of the Nukhul Formation were deposited in shallow marine conditions as the sea began to flood the developing rift.

The Kareem Formation saw the first development of evaporites, indicating basin restriction, followed by open marine shales, as coarse clastic deposition began to reduce in the middle Miocene.

[3] The Pliocene–Recent postrift sequence reaches up to 2000 m in thickness in the southern part of the rift and is formed of interbedded sandstones, limestones and evaporites.

A series of WSW-ENE trending extensional basins were inverted, creating isolated uplifted and folded areas known as Syrian Arc structures.

[4] The Morgan accommodation zone marks a switch in fault polarity from NE-dipping to the north to SW-dipping to the south in the Amal-Zeit province.

The main source rock in the Gulf of Suez is the Campanian age Brown Limestone or Duwi Member of the Sudr Formation.

Marine shale of the middle Miocene Magna Formation is the most important of these younger source rocks with a TOC ranging from 1–2 wt %.

[10] The dominant play type in the Gulf of Suez is tilted fault blocks with pre-rift Early Cretaceous sands sealed by syn-rift sequences and source from the Duwi limestone.

This is due to the generally good exposure within the onshore part of the rift coupled with the availability of hydrocarbon exploration wells and seismic reflection datasets within the gulf itself.