Badr Fm

Period:

Quaternary

Age Interval:

Pleistocene, Sa3

Province:
Red Sea (Saudi Arabia)

Type Locality and Naming

The Badr Formation refers to the carbonate sediments of the upper Lisan Gr. The Badr Formation is named and defined after the subsurface carbonate section encountered in the Arabian Sun exploration well Badr-1 (BADR-1; 23°35′52.3″N, 38°26′22.7″E) between 1,075–2,556 ft, offshore coastal Saudi Arabian Red Sea. "The Badr Formation is represented in the Tenneco Rayaman-1 exploration well (RYMN-1: 27°51′35″N, 35°06′00″E) between 122–2,487 ft. This well has been selected as a reference section because its basal contact with the Ifal Fm is penetrated, and there is a more complete suite of logs available." (Hughes and Johnson, 2005). Uppermost formation in Lisan Gr

Synonym: Bahr (spelling)

Lithology and Thickness

The Badr Formation consists of bioclastic carbonates. "Seven uplifted carbonate reef terraces in Midyan region (junction of Red Sea with Gulf of Aqaba). … The highest terrace is 120 ft above sea level " (Hughes et al., 1999). The Badr Formation is 1,481 ft (451.5 m) at the type section, and 2,365 ft (721 m) at the reference section.

Lithology Pattern:

Sandy limestone

Relationships and Distribution

Lower contact

The Badr Formation conformably overlies the Ifal Fm of the Lisan Gr at the type section.

Upper contact

This is the youngest unit in the Red Sea

Regional extent

While widely distributed along the Saudi margins of the Red Sea, the Badr Formation is less well developed in both the surface and the subsurface than the underlying Ifal Fm.. The Badr Formation is equivalent to the Shagara Fm of the Gulf of Suez and Red Sea (Hughes and Beydoun, 1992).

GeoJSON

{"type":"Feature","geometry":{"type":"MultiPolygon","coordinates":[[[[32.99,29.06],[32.36,28.64],[33.44,26.94],[35.21,21.35],[40.02,14.49],[43.03,16.84],[34.87,28.59],[32.99,29.06]]]]}}

Fossils

Age

Badr Formation spans the Pleistocene according to schematic column of Hughes and Johnson, 2005. However, their text seems to separate the Quaternary deposits on the coasts, such as the uplifted carbonate reef terraces, from the Badr Fm. Their strata-time diagram is assumed here, with Badr Fm including the Planktonic Foraminifera Zone N23 of late Pleistocene.

Age Span:

Beginning stage:

Gelasian

Fraction up in beginning stage:

0.8

Beginning date (Ma):

1.96

Ending stage:

Holocene

Fraction up in the ending stage:

0.0

Ending date (Ma):

0.01

Depositional setting

The depositional environment of the Badr Formation is shallow marine, based on shallow marine benthonic foraminiferal evidence recovered from the Gulf of Suez

Depositional pattern:

Additional Information

Compiler:

Hughes, G.W., Johnson, R.S., 2005. Lithostratigraphy of the Red Sea Region. GeoArabia, 10: 49-126. And Middle East Geological Timescale 2008 Al-Husseini, Journal of Middle East Petroleum Geosciences v 13. no. 4. Plus Hughes, G.W., Grainger, D.J., Abu-Bshait, A-J., and Jarad, A-R. M., 1999. Lithostratigraphy and depositional history of part of the Midyan Region, northwest Saudi Arabia. GeoArabia, 4: 503-542..