Papers by Belal S . Amireh
The major, trace and REE geochemistry of glauconites (as members of the trioctahedral micas) from... more The major, trace and REE geochemistry of glauconites (as members of the trioctahedral micas) from the early Cretaceous Kurnub Group of Jordan are discussed. The investigated glauconites, with 7.1 to 9.2 % K2O, are ranked as evolved to highly evolved as defined by Odin and Matter (1981). Al2O3 contents show a significant inverse relationship with K2O and Fe2O3. The trace element contents show a broad range of variation in contrast to the major elements and a consistent relationship with major elements is lacking. The studied glauconites show a very wide range in the total amount of REE (∑REE = 4.5 to 564.5 ppm). Two distinct groups have been differentiated accord-ingly: I. REE-poor group with ∑REE < 15 ppm and with a weak to moderate LREE/HREE fractionation (1.2 to 8.2); II. REE- rich group with ∑REE up to 565 ppm and with moderately to highly fractionated chondrite-normalized patterns (LREE/HREE ratios 3.5 to 64). The group I glauconites are set in an arena-ceous (detrital quartz...
The Ordovician System, cropping out in southern and west-central Jordan, consists entirely of a 7... more The Ordovician System, cropping out in southern and west-central Jordan, consists entirely of a 750 m thick clastic sequence that can be subdivided into six formations. The lower Disi Formation starts conformably above the Late Cambrian Umm Ishrin Formation. According to Cruziana furcifera occurring in the upper third of the Disi Formation, an Early Ordovician age is con®rmed. The Disi Formation, consisting mainly of downstream accretion (DA) ̄uvial architectural element, was deposited in a proximal braidplain ̄owing N±NE from the southerly-located Arabian±Nubian Shield towards the Tethys Seaway. The braidplain depositional environment evolved into a braidplain-dominated delta through the middle and upper parts of the Disi Formation and the lower part of the overlying Um Saham Formation. The delta was replaced by siliciclastic tidal ̄ats, that in turn evolved into an upper to lower shoreface environment through the upper part of the Um Saham Formation. The depositional environment a...
Al-Sirhan area in southeast Jordan is studied for its hydrocarbon potentiality. Petrophysical stu... more Al-Sirhan area in southeast Jordan is studied for its hydrocarbon potentiality. Petrophysical studies including porosity, permeability, water saturation, and hydrocarbon saturation are done using wire line logs for candidate reservoirs. Total organic carbon analysis is done for two candidate source intervals. Seismic investigation is also done using seventeen seismic sections that cover almost the central and eastern part of the area. Finally, closures, reserves, and proposed migration pathways of hydrocarbons are studied in order to assess the hydrocarbon potentiality of the study area. Within the Cambrian sequence, Salib Formation is found to contain good porosity due to partial dissolution of feldspars, very low permeability, and high water saturation. This formation is capped by the shales of the overlying Burj Formation. Possible source rock is the carbonates of the Burj Formation. Several types of closures with good capacities exist within the Salib Formation. The major risks,...
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte
Neues Jahrbuch für Geologie und Paläontologie - Monatshefte
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Abstract Whole rock major elements, detrital and authigenic light, heavy, and clay minerals, and ... more Abstract Whole rock major elements, detrital and authigenic light, heavy, and clay minerals, and neoformed zeolite minerals of the NE Gondwana lower Cambrian-Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic succession of Jordan were investigated to evaluate the factors controlling the chemical composition of the sandstone. The provenance source rocks, controlled by the tectonic setting at the time of deposition of the subarkosic arenites and the quartzarenites were the principal mineral- and chemical-governing factor, followed by an interplay of chemical weathering, recycling, hydraulic sorting, diagenesis, and very-low grade metamorphism/hydrothermal metasomatism. The sandstone provenance was mainly granitoids of the Arabian Shield formed during the Neoproterozoic Gondwana amalgamation, and minor Paleozoic and Mesozoic siliciclastic strata. High CIA and low WIP weathering index values indicate an intensive chemical weathering event that affected the provenance during the early Cambrian-Middle Ordovician, and gave rise to mature first-cycle quartzarenites. High CIA/WIP and SiO2/Al2O3 ratios indicate a pronounced recycling in the Early Cretaceous responsible for super mature second-poly-cycled quartzarenites. The subarkosic arenites were formed either under a thorough chemical weathering, coupled with a high rate of erosion and a rapid deposition in adjacent braidplains, or an arid, glacial climate devoid of chemical weathering. Hydraulic sorting caused enrichment of Al and K in the detrital clay minerals, Ti in the silt-sized Ti-bearing minerals and Si in the sand-sized quartz. The very low-grade metamorphism/hydrothermal metasomatism, recorded here for the first time, is indicated by illite crystallinity (IC = 0.36° 2θ), illite-sericite-muscovite transformation, zeolites-apatite-authigenesis, and alteration of monazite and titanite-ilmenite into thorite and leucoxene/hematite.
Journal of Asian Earth Sciences
Abstract Detrital framework modes of the NE Gondwanan uppermost Ediacaran-Lower Cretaceous silici... more Abstract Detrital framework modes of the NE Gondwanan uppermost Ediacaran-Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic sequence of Jordan are determined employing the routine polarized light microscope. The lower part of this sequence constitutes a segment of the vast lower Paleozoic siliciclastic sheet flanking the northern Gondwana margin that was deposited over a regional unconformity truncating the outskirts of the East African orogen in the aftermath of the Neoproterozoic amalgamation of Gondwana. The research aims to evaluate the factors governing the detrital light mineral composition of this sandstone. The provenance terranes of the Arabian craton controlled by plate tectonics appear to be the primary factor in most of the formations, which could be either directly inferred employing Dickinson‘s compositional triangles or implied utilizing the petrographic data achieved and the available tectonic and geological data. The Arabian-Nubian Shield constitutes invariably the craton interior or the transitional provenance terrane within the NE Gondwana continental block that consistently supplied sandy detritus through northward-flowing braided rivers to all the lower Paleozoic formations. On the other hand, the Lower Cretaceous Series received siliciclastic debris, through braided-meandering rivers having same northward dispersal direction, additionally from the lower Paleozoic and lower-middle Mesozoic platform strata in the Arabian Craton. The formations making about 50% of the siliciclastic sequence represent a success for Dickinson‘s plate tectonics-provenance approach in attributing the detrital framework components primarily to the plate tectonic setting of the provenance terranes. However, even under this success, the varying effects of the other secondary sedimentological and paleoclimatological factors are important and could be crucial. The inapplicability of this approach to infer the appropriate provenance terranes of the remaining formations could be ascribed either to the special influence of local intracratonic syn-rift rhyolitic extrusions, where their plate tectonic setting is not represented by the standard plate tectonics-provenance diagrams, or to the rather unusual effect of the Late Ordovician glacial event.
Arabian Journal of Geosciences
Three sections from the Al-Hisa Phosphorite Formation (AHP) were measured in the southeastern des... more Three sections from the Al-Hisa Phosphorite Formation (AHP) were measured in the southeastern desert of Jordan: Batn El-Ghoul, Nagb Etayyeg, and Zgaimat Al-Hasah. A fourth section, Wadi Arfa, is added from a previous work. The three sections differ from the typical AHP Formation in central Jordan by having highly reduced thicknesses, omission/non-deposition of the underlying formations, rarity of fossils, abundant sand, and their stratigraphic ages. A Paleocene-Early Eocene age, based on calcareous nannofossils, has been assigned to the AHP Formation of the sections studied in the southeast desert. This Paleocene-Early Eocene age is younger than the Early Maastrichtian age of the AHP deposits in central Jordan. The published ages of the phosphorite deposits in the eastern Mediterranean countries suggest a younging to the east due to an interplay between paleodepositional environments and plate tectonics (paleohigh formation). The minor phosphorite deposits of Turkey and Iran are not involved in the discussion because they were not part of the Afro-Arabian Plate or the later Arabian Plate. The abovementioned differences between the southeastern desert phosphorites and the central Jordan deposits are here explained by the formation of paleohighs on the Neo-Tethys seafloor during the Late Cretaceous-Eocene. These include the Sirhan Paleohigh where the southeast desert phosphorites were deposited. The formation of the highs was due to the compression associated first, with the subduction of the Afro-Arabian Plate, below the Eurasian Plate and later with their collision.
Journal of African Earth Sciences
Abstract Representative samples from the Al-Hisa Phosphorite Formation (AHP) in the SE desert of ... more Abstract Representative samples from the Al-Hisa Phosphorite Formation (AHP) in the SE desert of Jordan, are selected from three sections: Batn El-Ghoul, Nagb Etayyeg, and Zgaimat Al-Hasah. The samples are investigated geochemically and petrographically. Geochemistry is discussed through the analysis of the major, trace and rare earth elements (REEs), loss on ignition (LOI), sulphur, and organic matter. The studied sections differ from the AHP in central Jordan by having highly reduced thicknesses, omission of underlying formations, abundant detrital quartz sand and age. The phosphate particles are of authigenic and biogenic origin. Early reworking from phosphate mud is evident from the shape and sorting of the phosphate particles. Major and trace elements are distributed into five factors: upwelling, provenance, redox potential, sea level changes, and resistates. The studied sediments were formed under oxic marine conditions because their REEs patterns preserve the REEs seawater linear pattern: depletion of LREEs, a negative Ce anomaly, and an enrichment of HREEs. This signature seems to have persisted through reworking and late diagenetic cementation, dolomitization and silicification. The SE desert phosphorite-siliciclastic sequence is better correlated with the Paleocene Jalamid Formation of northwestern Saudi Arabia because of similarities in age and lithology due to being both deposited on the western flanks of the Sirhan Paleohigh and the Rutba Paleohigh, respectively. The siliciclastics were delivered from a mixed mafic-felsic-older cycle siliciclastic provenance, and subjected to intensive chemical weathering under tectonic quiescence giving rise to mature quartzarenites.
The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series, 2017
This work is a first step on the way to characterize raw sandstone in Jordan, and to extract sili... more This work is a first step on the way to characterize raw sandstone in Jordan, and to extract silica and silicon for the use in solar cells and other industries. Seven samples of raw sandstone were brought from Disi in Jordan. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The XRD diffractograms showed that silica is the main constituent of the samples, and two samples contain Kaolinite Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4. EDS reports showed that all samples contain aluminum and carbon, but some of them contain calcium. XRF measurements revealed that some samples contain more than 97% silica, while one sample contains more than 90% silica, and the main impurity is Al2O3. FTIR revealed the known bands of silica, and this sandstone is free of organic compounds impurities.
Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 2016
Applying geostatistical techniques, semivariogram function, and kriging interpolation on the Lowe... more Applying geostatistical techniques, semivariogram function, and kriging interpolation on the Lower Cambrian–Lower Cretaceous siliciclastic sequence of Jordan yielded a discriminatory diagram that can be utilized to discriminate between the fluvial channel, fluvial floodplain, and shallow marine depositional environments. The mean-sorting index contour values equal to 2.5 or below were found to be indicative of a fluvial channel depositional environment, mean-sorting index contour values above 4.5 may indicate a shallow marine depositional environment, whereas mean-sorting index contour values ranging between 2.5 and 4.5 could indicate a fluvial floodplain depositional environment. The validity of the suggested technique stems from its ability to discriminate between the studied samples of already proven sedimentary environments. Similar studies on other clastic sedimentary rocks would indicate whether this conclusion is valid only for the case study or for all other clastic deposits of different ages, at different locations and of other depositional environments.
Cretaceous Research, 2016
Abstract Large intervals of the Cretaceous are considered as a ‘high-fire’ period in Earth's ... more Abstract Large intervals of the Cretaceous are considered as a ‘high-fire’ period in Earth's history. However, so far most studies dealing in greater detail with the fossil evidence of palaeo-wildfires, i.e. fossil charcoal, originate from the northern hemisphere (i.e. North America, Europe, Asia) whereas there are large stratigraphic and geographic gaps on the Cretaceous southern continents. The present paper deals with the fossil contents (plant macro-remains, palynomorphs and charcoal) of a lignite lens from the lower part of the Lower Cretaceous Kurnub Group near King Talal Dam in Jordan. The data provide evidence for the repeated occurrence of palaeo-wildfires in coastal ecosystems on the northern margin of Gondwana during the Barremian. The fossil content of the lens indicates that the vegetation, which was repeatedly affected by fire, has been dominated by the matoniaceous tree fern Weichselia reticulata . Palynological data from the lignite, as well as the repeated occurrence of wildfires point to an at least seasonally dry (or at least less humid) climate during deposition of the lignite.
Sedimentary Geology, 1991
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Papers by Belal S . Amireh