Holocene Sabkha and Coastal Systems of Qatar: Process Models for the Interpretation of Ancient Arabian Plate Carbonate Evaporite Reservoirs

Facies tracts, sediment types, stacking patterns, and diagenetic histories of Holocene sabkhas and coastal systems of Qatar<br>provide compelling analogues for the interpretation of ancient, carbonate-evaporite sequences of the Arabian Plate. The use<br>of modern analogues to aid in the interpretation of geological and engineering data is well established in the petroleum<br>industry. Analogue data are used in aid of recognition of time lines and depositional cycles, environmental interpretation,<br>dimensional data, and continuity. Comparison of sabkhas from different physiographic regions of Qatar that formed during<br>the latest Holocene cycle of sea level rise reveals new insights into the characterization of ancient rocks. These observations<br>provide a basis for a substantial update of the definition and characteristic features of facies tracts described in the geological<br>literature as sabkhas.