Bir Zekreet Shale Member Fm

Due to its very localized occurrence, this member^[1], described by Kok & LeBlanc (2012), has its own type locality at Lat. N 25°26’32.2”, Long. E 50°51’52.7”. The outcrop is at the bottom of the second Mesa directly behind the Islamic school of Zekreet (Fig. 1). The Member can also be found at the bottom of the many mesas on the Ras Abarug Peninsula. It is also well represented south of the Doha-Dukhan highway, slightly further south of the Naslat Umm Hadidah area at Lat. N 25°22'55.00", Long. E 50°52'47.98"E.

[Figure 1: General view of the Bir Zekreet Member type locality (Letter “B” in the section shown in Fig. 19). The Abarug Dolomitic Limestone and Marl Member is seen in the background.]

Synonym: Bir Zekreet Shale Member;

Reference Section:

The Bir Zekreet Member (Fig. 2) consists of 6.6 to 16.4 ft. (2 to 5 meters) of thinly laminated, very fissile, ferruginous shales. The shales are yellowish-brown-gray to beige, in places reddish or with a greenish hue. They are very soft and friable and, in some areas, show a typical “paper shale” weathering. They are non-calcareous in all locations, in places slightly gypsiferous, sometimes silty. They have a very low density and have a “light” feel. They resemble the Midra (and Saila) Shales very much but at the type locality do not contain any fossils, nor pseudomorphs of pyrite (they were observed at other localities), nor thin limestone layers.

[Figure 2: Stratigraphic position of the Bir Zekreet Member. Kok & LeBlanc (2012)]

The Bir Zekreet Member is interpreted as a low-stand supra-tidal, low energy deposit with minor supply (wind-blown?) of terrigenous clay material from a temporarily emergent hinterland.