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Volume :19 Issue : 1 1992
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Brine and sediment chemistry of the Holocene coastal sabkha at Ras Shukeir, Gulf of Suez, Egypt
Auther : G. PHILIP, A. M. A. WALI AND A. G. TAHER
Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
ABSTRACT
The coastal sabkha at Ras Shukeir is an elongated, almost flat and low-lying area with a semi-arid climate. It is biologically barren and encloses eastern and western saline and hypersaline pools. Both western and eastern pools are slightly alkaline (pH range 6.8-8.0), and groundwater has a pH higher than that of both sea water and saline pools. The eastern pools have lower salinity than the western pools, and seepage from the sea is believed to have had a greater effect on the nearer, eastern pools. Gypsum is the only sulphate mineral present and halite represents the highest evaporative rank in the sequence. Celestite is a minor constituent. Evaporative pumping is believed to be the hydrodynamic process responsible for formation of the sabkha evaporites.