Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T17:30:48.506Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

An analysis of cross-stratification of Gargaresh Calcarenite (Tripoli, Libya) and Pleistocene palaeowinds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

Mominul Hoque*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

Summary

The Pleistocene Gargaresh Calcarenite is a series of fossil dunes parallel to the Mediterranean coast of Tripoli; it is composed of medium-grained skeletal carbonate sand with abundant cross-stratification. Analyses of 321 azimuthal readings show that the distribution is bimodal with modes in the NE and the SE sectors. The distribution of modes indicates that the morphology and the orientation of eolian dunes were largely controlled by the then prevailing winds, and that the overall palaeowind pattern, although generally similar to the present-day system, might have undergone periodic changes due to Pleistocene climatic ups and downs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bagnold, R. A. 1941. The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes. Methuen & Co., London.Google Scholar
Coque, R. & Jauzein, A. 1967. The geomorphology and Quaternary geology of Tunisia. In Martin, Lewis (Ed.): Guidebook to the Geology and History of Tunisia, pp. 227–57. Petroleum Exploration Soc. Libya, Tripoli.Google Scholar
Desio, Ardito. 1971. Outlines and problems of the geomorphological evolution of Libya from the Tertiary to the Present Day. In Gray, Carlyle (Ed.): Symposium on the Geology of Libya, pp. 1336. Fac. Sci., Univ. Libya, Tripoli.Google Scholar
Fabricius, F. H. 1970. Early Holocene ooids in modern littoral sands reworked from a coastal terrace, southern Tunisia. Science 169, 757–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flohn, Hermann. 1969. Climate and Weather. World Univ. Press, London.Google Scholar
Folk, R. L. & Ward, W. C. 1957. Brazos River bar: a study in the significance of grain size parameters. J. sedim. Petrol. 27, 326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hey, R. W. 1968. The Quaternary geology of the Jabal Al Akhdar coast. In Barr, F. T. (Ed.): Geology and Archaeology of Northern Cyrenaica, Libya, pp. 159–65. Petroleum Exploration Soc. Libya, Tripoli.Google Scholar
Land, L. S. 1970. Phreatic versus vadose meteoric diagenesis of limestones: evidence from a fossil water table. Sedimentology 14, 175–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Land, L. S. 1973. Holocene meteoric dolomitization of Pleistocene limestones, north Jamaica. Sedimentology 20, 411–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipparini, T. 1940. Tectonics and geomorphology of Tripolitania, Libya. Ministry of Education, Govt. of Libya, Tripoli, Bull. No. 4, 1965, 40 pp. (English translation of Bull. Soc. Geol. Italia, LIX, 221301).Google Scholar
Opdyke, N. D. 1961. The paleoclimatological significance of desert sandstone. In Nairn, A. E. M. (Ed.): Descriptive Paleoclimatology, pp. 4559. Interscience, New York.Google Scholar
Mackenzie, F. T. 1964. Bermuda Pleistocene eolianites and paleowinds. Sedimentology 3, 5264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKee, E. D. 1963. Problems on the recognition of arid and of hot climates of the past. In Nairn, A. E. M. (Ed.): Problems in Paleoclimatology, pp. 367422. John Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
McKee, E. D. 1971. Primary structures in dune sand and their significance. In Gray, Carlyle (Ed.): Symposium on the Geology of Libya, pp. 401–7. Fac. Sci., Univ. Libya, Tripoli.Google Scholar
McKee, E. D. & Weir, G. W. 1953. Terminology for stratification and cross-stratification in sedimentary rocks. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 64, 381–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Selim, Amer A. 1974. Origin and lithification of the Pleistocene carbonates of the Salum area, western coastal plain of Egypt. J. sedim. Petrol. 44, 70–8.Google Scholar
Sharp, R. P. 1966. Kelso dunes, Mojave desert, California. Bull. geol. Soc. Am. 77, 1045–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolman, M. G. & Miller, J. P. 1960. Magnitude and frequency of forces in geomorphic processes. J. Geol. 68, 5473.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yaalon, D. H. & Laronne, J. 1971. Internal structures in eolianites and paleowinds, Mediterranean coast, Israel. J. sedim. Petrol. 41, 1059–64.Google Scholar