Thickness ~100m Country Egypt Region Libyan Desert | Underlies El Heiz Formation Named by Said 1962 | |
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The Bahariya Formation (Baharija Formation) is a fossil bearing geologic formation dating back to the Early Cenomanian, which outcrops within the Bahariya depression, and is known from oil exploration drilling across much of the Western Desert where it forms an important oil reservoir.
Contents
Extent
The Bahariya Formation forms the base of the depression, the lower part of the enclosing escarpment and all of the small hills within. The type section for the formation is found at Gebel El-Dist, a hill at the northern end of the Bahariya depression.
Stratigraphy and sedimentology
Four depositional sequences have been recognised in the Bahariya Formation in the Bahariya depression, separated by three sub-aerial unconformities. The formation was deposited during a period of relative rise in sea level, with each unconformity representing a relative fall in sea level. Each of the individual sequences contains sediments deposited under fluvial, shoreline and shallow marine conditions.
Sauropods
Indeterminate sauropod remains.
