Abstract
•Miocene sediments in the Cairo–Suez District, Egypt represent an epiric ramp.•The Miocene sediments were subdivided into three third-order sequences, named S1, S2 and S3.•S1, is interpreted to correspond to the Late Burdigalian stage (18–16.38My).•S2 corresponds to the Late Burdigalian–Early Langhian stage (16.38–14.78My).•S3 represents the Late Langhain–Early Serravallian stage (14.78–13.66My).
The shallow-water siliciclastics and carbonates of the Miocene sediments in the Cairo–Suez District, Egypt represent an epiric ramp. The facies are characterized by stacked high-frequency cycles with restricted ramp to shoal margin sequences. Based on an extensive micro- and biofacies documentation, six lithofacies associations were defined and their respective depositional environments were interpreted. A sequence-stratigraphic analysis was carried out by integrating lithostratigraphic marker beds, facies relationships, stratigraphic cycles, and biostratigraphy. The investigated sections were subdivided into three third-order sequences, named S1, S2 and S3. S1, is interpreted to correspond to the Late Burdigalian stage (18–16.38My), S2 corresponds to the Late Burdigalian–Early Langhian stage (16.38–14.78My), and S3 represents the Late Langhain–Early Serravallian stage (14.78–13.66My). Each of the three sequences was further subdivided into fourth order cycle sets and fifth-order cycles.