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Volume :19 Issue : 2 1992
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Indirect evidence of a diastem within the Eocene Dammam Formation in Kuwait
Auther : ISMAIL OZKAYA AND EMAN AL-AWADI
Department of Geology, University of Kuwait, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait
ABSTRACT
The Middle Eocene Dammam Formation is underlain by evaporites of the Rus Formation and overlain uncomformably by sands of the Miocene Ghar Formation. The Formation is subdivided into three members. The lowest member is a nummulitic limestone with shale interlayers, whereas vuggy and cherty fossiliferous limestone and laminar, silty dolomite with lignitic interlayers constitute the partly silicified middle member. The uppermost member is a white, porous, granular or powdery dolomite containing chert interlayers and fossiliferous zones. It is capped by a silicified and karstified zone below the unconformity with the Ghar Formation. The Dammam is traditionally believed to form a continuous deposit of Middle Eocene age, bounded by an unconformity at the top. However, our study shows that another diastem exists within it because the boundary between the middle and upper members is karstified, silicified and was subjected to late-stage dolomitization. This indirect evidence suggests a brief period of non-deposition during Eocene time.