Gulf of Suez

GOS in Egypt is the northwestern arm of Red Sea

It is rift basin that started to form in the Oligocene due to- extension between Arabian plate and North Africa

The oldest rift deposits are red beds of fluvial sandstone and- mudstone that lies unconformable on pre-rift Eocene limestone strata

-Basaltic dykes and sills and lava amongst these red beds indicate that a small amount of igneous activity occurred during the initial rifting phase

Flooding of rift basin in early Miocene times is indicated by- shallow marine facies that directly overlie the red beds

Clastic detritus eroded from the flanks of the rift supplied coarse debris to fan delta along the margins of the basin and sand to tide-influenced shore face environment. In shallow marine areas protected from Clastic input carbonate reefs formed and in deeper central part of the basin mud and turbidite sands accumulated. Widespread late Miocene evaporates beds indicate that the restriction of the connection to the marine water of the Mediterranean occurred at this time

-The gulf of sues is no longer actively extending because the movement between African and Arabian plates is now taken up along the Gulf of Aqaba on the eastern side of the Sinai Peninsula