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oa Quantitative Characterisation of Intertidal to Supratidal Sediments of the Abu Dhabi Coastline
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, GEO 2010, Mar 2010, cp-248-00005
Abstract
The Abu Dhabi coastline provides an ideal setting for the study of sedimentary systems inferred to be<br>directly analogous to those which deposited many of the regions Mesozoic petroleum reservoirs.<br>Improved understanding of these complex depositional environments, supported by quantitative<br>sedimentological data, is essential to the development of accurate depositional models and reliable<br>simulations for carbonate reservoirs.<br>The arid southern shore of the Arabian Gulf has an extremely low-angle ramp geometry. The coast is<br>locally protected from open marine conditions by a number of peninsulas and offshore shoals and<br>islands. Sedimentary processes in the supratidal zone are dominated by the precipitation of evaporite<br>minerals in the shallow sub-surface. A broad carbonate-evaporite intertidal setting, characterised by<br>complex depositional facies geometries, passes off-shore, into a subtidal carbonate depositional environment.<br>The coastline of the United Arab Emirates is currently undergoing massive infrastructure development<br>at an unprecedented scale, with huge dredging and island-building projects changing the sedimentary<br>dynamics of the coast beyond recognition. The impending loss of many of the natural coastal systems<br>gives further impetus to the need for accurately recording these sedimentary environments before they<br>are eradicated by the anthropogenic overprint.<br>This study employs a range of analytical techniques to investigate and characterise the surface.