Quaternary Beach Dunes in Daryanah Area NW of Al Jabal al Akhdar, NE Libya

Abstract

The present study has shown that the Quaternary beach dunes of Daryanah area are composed of four distinctive lithological facies, these are the planer cross bed calcarenite facies, lenticular calcarenite facies, massive calcarenite, and alluvial deposits facies. The planer cross-bedding and the lenticular bedding are interpreted to reflect aeolian deposits. The massive calcarenite is thought to have been accumulated in shallow marine. The interbedded calcarenites and alluvial deposits interpreted to represent cycles of prograding alluvial system associated with Eustatic sea-level changes. The paleo-winds in the area were mostly unimodal blowing between 290and 330, which were influenced by the escarpment position and orientation. The age of these deposits has been attributed to Early Pleistocene (Calabrian) based on its occurrence above the sea level and correlation with previous studies.