Journal of Petroleum Geology, Vol.15, No.2, pp. 135-156, 1992

©Copyright 2000 Scientific Press, Ltd.

THE RED SEA--GULF OF ADEN: BIOSTRATIGRAPHY,
LITHOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALAEOENVIRONMENTS

G. W. Hughes* and Z. R. Beydoun**

* Simon-Robertson, Llandudno, Gwynedd. LL30 1SA, Wales, UK
Present address: Saudi Aramco, Research and Development Division, PO Box 5000, Dhahran 31311, Saudi Arabia.

** American University of Beirut, Lebanon, and Marathon International Petroleum (GB) Ltd, London, UK
(Project Scientific Director, UNDP/World Bank Red Sea -- Gulf of Aden Regional Hydrocarbon Study Project).

Abstract

Sediments of Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and early Palaeogene ages experienced a similar geological history in Ethiopia, Yemen and Somalia. During the late Eocene, however, uplift and differential erosion took place, prior to rift development in the middle Oligocene, when the proto-Gulf of Aden became established. To a certain extent, a similar sequence of events had also taken place in those regions of Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia which border the Red Sea, but post-Eocene subsidence is now believed to have commenced during the late Oligocene in the southern Red Sea and progressed later, during the early Miocene, in the northern Red Sea and Gulf of Suez. Timing of this progressive development of the Gulf of Aden rift complex through the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez is well constrained by biostratigraphy, and provides a new approach to the understanding of lithological variations within the region.