Stratigraphic and structural architecture of the inner ramp carbonates in the Northern Galala Plateau, Egypt: synergizing remote sensing and field data

Abstract

Abstract The new high-altitude road in New Galala City offers a valuable opportunity to study the carbonate platform of the Southern Galala Formation at the Northern Galala Plateau in Egypt. The research examines this carbonate platform through remote sensing, structural, and stratigraphic methods. For the first time, remote sensing techniques using Landsat-9 have been applied to differentiate the carbonate platform rocks and their depositional environments. Tectonic uplift has shaped a complex topography and high structural elevation, resulting in a rimmed platform with varying slope angles. Lithostratigraphically, the Southern Galala Formation has been divided into three new formal members: Wadi Al-Rasis, Gebel Ealyan, and New Galala City. The Wadi Al-Rasis and New Galala City members are mainly composed of pale brown, thin, laminated dolostones with some siliciclastics. These members are characterized by microbial mudstone and wackestone microfacies of tidal flat environments. The Gebel Ealyan Member features grey, fossil-rich limestones with sediments that have undergone karstification. Key fossils include large benthonic foraminifera. Microscopic studies of this member reveal various bioclastic packstone/grainstone microfacies of lagoon and shoals’ environments. Critical diagenetic processes include micritization, cementation, and dolomitization, thereby enhancing the economic significance of the rocks as hosts to hydrocarbon reserves, groundwater aquifers, and industrial minerals. Tectonic uplift, eustatic sea-level changes, and sedimentary dynamics influence the structures that control the studied inner-ramp carbonates.