Sedimentary Geology, 50 (1987) 135-165 135

Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands

DESERT SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS, PRESENT AND PAST-

A SUMMARY

K.W. GLENNIE
Shell Exploration and Production, Shell Mex House, Strand, London (Great Britain)
(Received October 8, 1986)

ABSTRACT

Glennie, K.W.,1987. Desert sedimentary environments, present and past--Asummary. Sediment. Geol.,
50: 135-165.

Tropical deserts develop where the potential rate of evaporation exceeds that of precipitation, where
rainfall is too low or spasmodic to support vegetation. These usually occur in the trade-wind belts north
and south of the equator and in the rain shadow of mountain ranges. About half the area of deserts
comprise outcrop subject to erosion and deflation. The rest consists of sediments of fluvial (wadi),
lacustrine (salina), paralic (coastal sabkha) and aeolian origin, and of evaporites.
Ephemeral streams deposit sands.and gravels over basin-margin alluvial fans, and over desert plains
where sub-surface cementation commonly takes place~ Evaporation of basin-centre temporary lakes
results 'in a crust of halite (inland sabkha). Fluvial sands are an important source of dune sand; the finer
fractions are removed from the desert in suspension to become loess and the coarser grains remain as a
deflation lag. Tl~.e axes of sand dunes are transverse to moderate winds and parallel to strong winds.
Giant forms of the latter dune type were prevalent during the last ice age, and in coastal areas
carbonate-cemented dune sands extend below present sea level; this suggests a causal relationship
between polar glaciations and strong desert winds. Desert fl6vial sediments rarely reach the sea, so the
warm and clear coastal waters are ideal for the mantifacture of organic carbonates. Longshore currents
sweep them into offshore bars behind which evaporitic lagoonal conditions develop. The lagoons become
sabkhas as they are infilled with algally bound marine and wind-blown sediment.
Although there are desert sequences as old as about 2000 Ma, they seem to have occurred only
sporadically during the earth's history. It seems likely that their occurrence was controlled by the past
size of continents, their location relative to the equator, by the freedom of circulation of global oceanic
water and by the presence of ice caps. The Permo-Triassic was a time of extensive evaporite deposition
and dune activity. By implication, other known occurrences of evaporites may be marginal to wadi and
dune sequences that have yet to be identified.

INTRODUCTION

T h e c l a s s i c a l d e s e r t is a n a l m o s t b a r r e n t r a c t o f l a n d , w i t h i n o r b o r d e r i n g the
t r o p i c s , o v e r w h i c h r a i n f a l l is t o o l i m i t e d a n d spasmodic to support vegetation
a d e q u a t e l y . T h e u p p e r l i m i t f o r r a i n f a l l is a b o u t 25 c m y r - 1 a n d b e c a u s e o f t h e h i g h

0037-0738/87/$03.50 © 1987 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V.

136

temperature and general lack of humidity, the potential rate of evaporation,

especially during periods of strong dry winds, far exceeds precipitation.
Tropical deserts cover about one fifth of the world's present land surface and
tend to be concentrated in the regions of prevailing trade winds, which flow between
the latitudes of roughly 10 and 3 0 ° N and S of the equator (Fig. 1). The reasons for

I.', " . ' , . . , ' ~ . ' , • ~," • ' ! ' . ~ - - b " ' T O E P A C K ' ~ E " " " / • " ' "
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . / '- " " ";..,- / ' "
k, :. _~ . . . . . . . . . . ~r_,~'4", . 7,,-" k ~ I ' - ~ -

It IT'-~.¢i"~_l I 1",2,~'~'%d"~' /F~q""""":"""~rJ.I--L4>lS- ~ .~'t7~-f -"

I o ~ _ ~/- / .~"""-OE~____~OOLD'~'"- U ~ ~ % < < -"l ~ ~ 4 ~' /
I%'''~ ~ , ' ~ "~+,.~~.~,-,I \ <~ - ~ --,.r.,. ~ ....

t30 "~L\;:;/ ~ ' ~ . ~ HOUSE _ _ " ~ , ~"L . Z . ~ " ~ \ :::::::::::::::::::::

t " "~ ICE CAPS % ...... ~' O FORT,,I

JANUARY -- -- 760rams . "',-" ]'. ~ " " "- "

>. " ', " " " ~,', " 'H " /--''~ - ~ . .

.....,
,'iU ~ / r
g..
i~
,.<
dt ~
,
• si::::::. - ====================== ,t~
>
30 / I' i .~ii~G~ HOARSE L A T I T U D E S .G':':'. " ' : i : . . . " ..... ~ - -

___,. ° ,,. ,d ~ ~" - - ~ _....4;~ - " " " - - ---- . . . . -, ~ .... __-- I -'~o-- ~ i
- - WESTERLIES R
~ ,~ OARING FORlff. ~
F:-~ iCE c A . s .-.- "

DESERTS .._ . ~ " 7-,- :. u t ~ t X . ~ F PA O~ ~-O~- - " " " " - + " - - " : " : ' " - " " " - " "

Fig. 1. Global wind systems and distribution of deserts and ice caps--January and July. 760 mm isobar
separates areas of prevailing high and low pressure. Note that anticyclonic wind systems are clockwise in
the northern hemisphere and anticlockwise in the southern.
 137

theft occurrence are essentially meteorological and are the outcome of the vastly
different conditions occurring at the equator and at the poles:
(1) An atmospheric convection system is driven by their marked differences in
temperature, so that air tends to flow towards the equator at ground level and
towards the poles at altitude.
(2) Belts of high-pressure air develop about 3 0 ° N and S of the equator (Horse
Latitudes) and at the poles, as equatorial air is concentrated into latitudes that are
shorter in circumference than the equator.
(3) There is an inertial deflection of these ideal wind systems by the Coriolis
force, which is associated with differences in the earth's surface rotational velocity
between the equator and the poles. Thus, as the trade winds flow towards the
equator, they are deflected to the west as they fail to match the ever-increasing
rotational velocity.
Desert conditions result from the ability of the relatively dry high-pressure air of
the Horse Latitudes to absorb more moisture as it warms on its trade-wind route
towards the low-pressure equatorial Doldrums (Fig. 2). Desert conditions also occur
in other latitudes such as in the rain-shadow of mountain ranges and in areas like
the Gobi Desert of Central Asia which are far from the sea. Cold deserts occur in
the frozen wastes of the Arctic and Antarctic and in high mountains, where the
ground temperatures are generally too low to permit much growth of vegetation.

Fig. 2. Ideal distribution of planetary belts of high and low air-pressure and the related pattern of
prevailing winds. These belts shift latitudinally about 10° between polar winter and summer.
138

Despite popular belief, only about one fifth of the tropical desert surface is
covered by sand dunes. The. remainder comprises the deposits of ephemeral streams,
salt-encrusted sabkhas and large areas of outcrop, which are subjected to processes
of desert weathering and erosion (Oilier, 1969; Glennie, 1970; see also Esteban and
Klappa, 1983).

DESERT WEATHERINGAND EROSION

Areas of outcrop are continually subjected to processes of weathering. Apart

from the well-known misty coastal areas of the Namib (Logan, 1960) and northern
Atacama deserts, the relative humidity in other desert areas may reach 100% before
dawn. Heavy dews lead to chemical corrosion (Clark et al., 1974) and perhaps to the
attack of carbonate rocks by micro-organisms (Esteban and Klappa, 1983). Mois-
ture, in very small quantities, reaches the surface from the water table, and its
evaporation close to the surface results in the growth of gypsum and halite crystals,
which by their crystallisation cause the surrounding host rock to split. In some
cases, subsurface humidity seems to have brought about the complete disintegration
of mostly Palaeozoic shales and reduced them to dust-size particles known in the
Sahara as "fesh-fesh". This is possibly the result of a diagenetic rather than a
physical process, as can be inferred in Oman from the alteration to dolomite of
conglomerates of former ophiolitic rocks (Glennie et al., 1974, p. 206).
Large and rapid diurnal changes in temperature, especially if accompanied by a
rainstorm, cause differential expansion and contraction stresses between the surface
and underlying rock, resulting in spalling of the rock surface and even the splitting
of boulders. Tucker (1974) cites a possible Triassic example of this phenomenon.
With time, the size of many boulders and pebbles exposed on the desert surface
becomes considerably reduced (Fig. 3). Siliceous rocks and fine-grained homoge-
nous limestones tend to form angular boulders whereas more argillaceous boulders,
granites and dolerites become rounded by exfoliation. Softer rocks can be abraded
by wind-driven sand and silt to a height of one or two metres above the level of the
surrounding land, and eventually streamlined surface shapes known as yardangs
may be sculptured (McCauley et al., 1977; Whitney, 1985).
The wind can force dry silty and sand-sized products of weathering into motion.
With removal of the finer weathering products by the wind (deflation), the larger,
more resistant pebbles and boulders form a lag deposit (Fig. 3) that may be abraded
into ventifacts. Permian examples of these occur in northeast England (Smith,
1972).
In parts of Africa and Arabia the better-cemented channel sands and gravels of
old fluvial systems have now been exhumed and stand out in inverted relief because
the finer and poorly cemented sediments of the intervening areas have been
removed by deflation (Glennie, 1970, figs. 19 and 20; Maizels, in press).
 139

Fig. 3. Boulders of ophiolitic rocks sprit by the effects of insolation to create a surface 'lag' of smaller
pebbles.

Many of the major erosional features of m o d e m deserts are probably relics of

Pleistocene polar glacial periods, when global wind-strengths were probably not
only stronger than today but, perhaps more importantly, blew with strength for a
much greater part of the year. The effects of the resulting deflation and abrasion
were very great and the associated aridity (desiccation) was probably more extreme
than anything experienced in today's deserts. Fluvial erosion and deposition in
existing desert areas was probably much more effective durin.g Pleistocene intergla-
cials or the early Holocene "climatic optimum" around 8000-5000 yrs B.P., when
the greater prevalence of convection-induced thunderstorms are thought to have
been responsible for building many of the major mountain-flank conglomerate fans
(see, for instance, H~tzl and ZStl, 1978, table 50; Jado and H/Stzl, 1984, table 48).
With today's considerably reduced precipitation in regions such as Arabia and the
Sahara, headward erosion is commonly coupled with downstream deposition being
confined within the channels of formerly more active streams.

WATER IN DESERTS

Fluvial sediments

Soil is thin or absent on the barren highlands, and little rainwater soaks into the
ground. Indeed, during rare desert rainstorms, water may have difficulty in penetrat-
ing sediment in which the pore spaces are filled with air; such entrapped air will
deform the wetted surface sediment when it eventually escapes (see section on
140

Fig. 4. Spliced Landsat images of the Eastern (Wahiba) Sands of Oman. Flanked to the east by older
cemented carbonate dune sands adjacent to the Arabian Sea coast and to the west by a system of wadi
channels extending south from the O m a n Mountains. Terminal points of the rare surface waters are the
Gulf of Masirah and the inland Sabkha Suwaidat. The former floodwaters of Wadi Batha seem to have
truncated the northern end of the main belt of dunes, which probably formed during the last polar
glaciation by strong north-blowing winds.
 141

Rotliegend). When rainfall ceases, the flow of surface water soon stops, and
ephemeral streams, along which sediment was being transported, dry out. The dry
watercourse is known as a wadi in Arabia (Fig. 4) and North Africa and an arroyo
in North America. After heavy rainstorms, flowing water m a y extend the length of
the wadi to reach the sea or the centre of a basin of inland drainage but, more
commonly, active sediment transport is limited to the upper reaches of the wadi or
to the vicinity of isolated thunderstorms.
Overloading occurs at the nickpoint between hill and plain, and braiding follows
with the formation of alluvial fans (Fig. 4). Over the plains, however, waters of a
major flash-flood may overflow the channel banks and cover the surrounding areas.
During the Central Australian floods of 1967, for example, all except the crestal
parts of a system of dunes were covered by water (Williams, 1970). The bed forms
of the resulting deposits of sand and clay were ascribed to both the upper and lower
flow regimes.
When there is a high sediment/water ratio, viscous muds, capable of transporting
large boulders, may fill the channel with mudflow conglomerates (Bluck, 1967). A
stream may also become overloaded as water soaks into the stream bed or channel
banks before reaching the lowest point in the channel, and the channel then
becomes dogged with sediment.

Desiccation

After surface flow has ceased, the water percolating through the stream bed is
commonly saturated with respect to calcium carbonate, and evaporation results in
early cementation of the sediment. The surface sands and silts dry out rapidly,
however, and generally are not cemented; they can be readily carried away by the
wind. Clay lags in stagnant pools may dry, curl and crack. Thin and fragile clay
flakes are removed by the wind but thicker and heavier flakes may be preserved in
place by a covering of wind-blown sand (e.g. Glennie, 1972, fig. 2); they are a
relatively common feature in some ancient sequences of desert sediment (e.g.
Glennie, 1972, fig. 10).
The depth of the water table beneath the desert surface can be particularly
important for the preservation or destruction of the reservoir potential of wadi
sediments. The Permian Rotliegend reservoir in the giant Groningen gas field in The
Netherlands, for instance, includes porous wadi sandstones and conglomerates.
They were probably deposited on a basin-margin alluvial fan well above the
permanent water table, and thus were not cemented. In the low-lying desert plains
to the west, however, where adhesion ripples (see next section), for example, indicate
that the water table was close to the surface, the wadi sandstones are tightly
cemented. In a more modern setting James (1985) has shown that in the outwash
sands of the Quaternary Allerton Formation in northern Indiana, diagenetic alter-
142

ation and carbonate cementation is limited to within 7 m of the present ground

surface.
In some areas, the desert surface is protected from erosion by a layer of
calcite-cemented sediment (caliche or calcrete). In both desert and non-desert areas,
the caliche comprises diagenetically altered sediment that apparently is related to
former soil horizons (Watts, 1980; Esteban and Klappa, 1983). The generally
horizontal distribution of caliche in deserts indicates that its formation is probably
related to cementation associated with near-surface ground water of probable higher
pH, possibly at a time of increasing aridity. Associated diagenesis can result also in
the downward migration and precipitation of silica to form a band of silcrete
beneath the calcrete (Watts, 1980).
Because stream-flow in a desert is a relatively rare event, the evidence of
intervening wind activity is widespread (e.g., Glennie, 1970, fig. 43). Indeed, HiStzl
et al. (1978) note that in Arabia, accumulations of aeolian sand contribute a
considerable portion of the infill of large wadi channels. During a flood, much of
that aeolian sand may be redeposited by fluvial action. The overall grain-size range
of the original aeolian sand will be retained in the new sediment but the well-de-
fined grain-size differences between adjacent laminae of aeolian sands will be
destroyed by mixing. Aeolian transport in wadi channels may well be opposed to
that of water (Fig. 4); this can result from a difference in direction of the prevailing
wind relative to streamflow or from the more localised effects of convection over
adjacent highlands.
The presence of well-developed plant-root structures in aeolian sands (dikaka;
Glennie and Evamy, 1968) is an indication of the nearby presence of water
(wadi-sand aquifer?) in an otherwise arid environment.

DESERT LAKESAND INLAND SABKHAS

Temporary lakes may form in the centre of a basin of inland drainage (Fig. 5) or
where aeolian sands block a stream channel (e.g. Glennie, 1970, fig. 49). As the
water evaporates, salts are concentrated, the sands, silts and clays become encrusted
with halite, and gypsum crystals grow within the sediment (Glennie, 1970). Such
saline areas are known in Arabia and North Africa as sabkhas and in North
America as playas, salinas or salars. Not all inland sabkhas are supplied by surface
water. In many stream channels, water continues to percolate through the sediment
long after surface flow has ceased, and is brought to the surface of the sabkha by the
pressure of the head of water or by capillary action, and then evaporated. Other
inland sabkhas appear to be supplied solely by ground water.
Two sedimentary structures characteristic of inland sabkhas are sand dykes and
adhesion ripples (see Glennie, 1970, figs. 55 and 62). The former seem to be
confined to inland sabkhas and desert fluvial environments, but the latter also occur
in non-desert areas. Examples of both these sedimentary structures have been
 143

Fig. 5. Pattern of transverse dunes extending into and preserved beneath the shallow waters of Lake
Chad. This lake was reputed to be almost dry in 1985. The dune-dorming wind was from the northeast.
Sides of photo represent approx. 340 km. (NASA 9-B-50.)

described from the Permian Rotliegend of the North Sea area by Glennie (1972),
and Dott et al. (1986) have described adhesion ripples from the Cambrian Wonewoc
and Ordovician St. Peter sandstones of the U.S.A. As adhesion ripples form when
saltating sand grains are trapped by a d a m p sediment surface, they indicate the
common presence of aeolian activity and water that is within capillary reach of the
land surface.

AEOLIAN SEDIMENTS

Uncemented fluvial sediments are an important source of windblown sand. Wind

is capable of transporting very fine ( < 100 #m) particles in suspension. Conse-
quently much of the clay and silt originally deposited by stream action is removed
by the wind and redeposited beyond the desert as fine marine sediment or as loess.
Coarser sand grains (100-2000 btm) travel by saltation and, by impact, cause still
larger grains to move over the desert by surface creep.
144

Aeolian sands are deposited as well-sorted, laminated sediments when the

velocity of the driving wind becomes insufficient to transport them farther. A given
wind can drive sand over a hard, immobile surface faster than over a surface of
loose sand, so that sand tends to accumulate in areas that are already sand covered
(Bagnold, 1941).
The axes of aeolian ripples are transverse to the wind, and the coarsest grains are
concentrated at the crest. Saltation ripples tend to flatten out at higher wind
strengths and greater rates of deposition, and can result in extensive sheet sands.
Under conditions that probably changed from tractional to grainfall, Hunter
(1977a, fig. 2) has shown that deposition of plane-bed laminations can be followed
by sub-critically climbing ripple structures in which the fine climbing laminae dip
gently downwind. Fryberger et al. (1979), on the other hand, have noted that at
lower wind strengths, the finer-grained sands of interdune and extradune areas are
removed by deflation to leave a lag of coarser grains. Thus alternations of high- and
low-velocity winds result in the bimodal sands so characteristic of these areas.

36 ~ 3'9 o 42 o 45 ° 4'8 o 5'!1° 5'4 ° 5~7o 6'0 ° J

........

Fig. 6. Regional trends of both longitudinal and transverse dunes in southern Arabia. The former mark
the axis of strong anticyclonic Pleistocene winds while the latter radiate like the spokes of a wheel and
indicate the site of lower constructional wind velocities, The apparently opposing monsoonal wind that
formed the Wahiba Sands was active at a different season of the year.
 145

Transverse dunes, or barchans where the supply of sand is limited, are formed by
winds of moderate velocity. They are composed mostly of beds deposited as
sand-flow (avalanche) cross stratification at near the 34 ° maximum angle of repose
for dry sand, together with grainfall laminae formed by saltating grains that settled
out in the relatively calm air found on the lee side of a dune (Hunter, 1977b).
Climbing-ripple structures form on the windward slopes of dunes during periods of
net sediment-gain and, in the lee of small dunes, on the apron beyond the foot of
the avalanche slope (Hunter, 1977b, 1981). The foreset laminae of transverse dunes
dip downwind with a relatively small ( - 9 0 °) azimuthal range in their attitudes
whereas the volumetrically limited bedding on the horns of barchan dunes extend
that range to almost 180 ° .
By their very nature, transverse dune forms are unstable in strong winds. Under
these conditions, the stable form is the longitudinal (self) dune. These latter dunes
are thought to be formed by wind flowing in contra-rotating helical spirals, which
transport sand obliquely from adjacent interdune areas (Fig. 6). Thus the bedding of
a longitudinal dune dips away from its axis but with a down-wind component to it.
Avalanche (sand-flow) bedding is of only minor importance and is confined to the
crestal areas. The sands of the lower slopes of a seif dune are commonly bimodal.
Large linear (seif) dunes are the characteristic form in many of the sand seas of
the World's major deserts (Figs. 4 and 6), and many have heights in excess of 100 m
and widths of 1 km or more. Modern winds, however, seem unable to build dunes
with heights greater than about 10 or 20 m.
It is now well established that 'construction of the world's major systems of linear
dunes coincided with the last northern hemisphere glaciation ( - 25-10 ka B.P.; see
for instance Bowler, 1978; Anton, 1984). This was a time when strong desert winds
were probably induced by the effects of major polar and near-polar ice caps, which,
with their attendant enlarged areas of high atmospheric pressure, squeezed the other
global high and low air-presssure belts towards the equator (see Fig. 2). This will
have resulted in a much stronger and more uniform global wind system than is
prevalent today, and is exemplified by the simplified distribution of south Arabian
dunes seen in Fig. 7.
There have been many publications in recent years (e.g. McKee, 1979b, fig. 10;
Tsoar, 1982) favouring an origin for longitudinal dunes, as first proposed by
Bagnold (1941), by the action of winds that blow alternately at oblique angles from
either side of the dunes' axes. When one views the strong parallelism and linearity
within systems of longitudinal dunes such as the Wahiba (Figs. 4 and 6) or the Rub
al Khali (Fig. 8), any origin by bimodal winds, apart from that of axis-parallel
contra-rotating vortices, becomes difficult to imagine. It is perhaps pertinent to note
that, in a little known paper, Bagnold (1953), the originator of the two-wind
hypothesis, later suggested that the construction of longitudinal dunes probably
resulted from helical wind vortices acting parallel to the dunes' axes.
Since the Pleistocene there has been a shift of the desert margins away from the
146

Fig. 7. Aerial view of the large longitudinal dunes of the Eastern (Wahiba) sands truncated by Wadi
Batha. Note the fine "feather dunes" diverging from the axes of the interdune corridors. These are taken
as evidence that the large dunes were probably constructed by contra-rotating wind-vortices. Originally
formed in the late Pleistocene, they have since been modified slowly.

equator, a n d the drift p o t e n t i a l of t o d a y ' s w e a k e r a n d m u c h m o r e c h a n g e a b l e w i n d s

is c o m m o n l y strongly oblique to the axes of the m a j o r d u n e s (see for instance Breed
et al., 1979, Fig. 201). It is clear, therefore, that m o d e r n desert w i n d s are not always
a g o o d guide to the strength a n d direction of those believed to have been i n d u c e d b y
Pleistocene glaciations a n d were responsible for c o n s t r u c t i n g the m a j o r d u n e sys-
tems of the world.
In ancient desert sequences, seif dunes have been recognised only in Early
P e r m i a n strata; their c o n s t r u c t i o n m a y have c o i n c i d e d with South Polar glaciations
over G o n d w a n a (Glennie, 1983a).
 147

Fig. 8. A major system of NNE-SSW-trending linear dunes in the southern Rub al Khali north of the
black outcrops of the Hadramaut. Thought to have been formed by strong Pleistocene winds (coinciding
with polar glaciations) that blew parallel to their axes. There is some suggestion of modem surface
reworking by winds blowing slightly oblique to their axes. Hand-held camera looking to southeast. That
edge of photo represents about 300 kin, with opposite side a somewhat shorter distance. (NASA
5-65-34765.)

DESERT COASTAL SEDIMENTS

Many deserts border coastlines, but because in most deserts there are no rivers
with a continuously flowing supply of water, coastlines that border deserts generally
have no fluvial deltas (e.g. Figs. 4 and 9). Exceptions include the permanently
flowing Colorado, Indus and Nile rivers which derive their water from beyond the
desert. In the clear tropical seas that border desert coasts, organisms produce large
148

I i
55 ° 56 °

SAO NA
OUTCROP
WADt SEDIMENTS
DUNE SANDS
INTERDUNE AREA BETWEEN
OLD GIANT SElF DUNES
ORIENTATION OF ~"~.
SMALL SElF DUNES ~%~R~,,
PAL AEOWIND DIRECTIONS
26 °
Ra's al Khalmah
o . . . . 5o~ms

Umm al Qawaln

ARABIAN
GULF Shar~
Dubal
Ajman

....:,~

GULF
OF
OMAN

Ra's Gha n a d ~
- 25 °

Fig. 9. Photogeological map showing a pattern of old giant transverse dunes and interdune areas with
superimposed small, closely-spaced seif dunes, which are a product of erosion of the giants. Arrows
indicate the palaeowind directions deduced from the orientations of older cemented dune bedding. One
set of directions is transverse to the axes of the major dunes while others seem to be sub-parallel to their
axes. These two palaeowind directions are thought to be of different Pleistocene ages (see also Besler,
1982). Note how the mountain-edge wadi systems are hemmed in by the sands with only one wadi
extending to the sea. Construction of the coastal sabkhas is assisted by SW-NE longshore currents.

quantities of c a l c i u m c a r b o n a t e , w h i c h is a v a i l a b l e for t r a n s p o r t by tidal a n d

l o n g s h o r e c u r r e n t s . A l s o , s t r o n g tidal f l o w i n t o a n d o u t o f l a g o o n s f o r m e d b e h i n d
s u b m a r i n e b a r s c a u s e s t h e f o r m a t i o n o f o o l i t e - r i c h c a r b o n a t e deltas.
E x t e n s i v e l o w - l y i n g c o a s t a l areas, k n o w n as c o a s t a l s a b k h a s , are s u b j e c t e d to
f l o o d i n g b y a b n o r m a l l y h i g h tides a n d to s e e p a g e f r o m a d j a c e n t saline g r o u n d w a t e r
 149

of continental origin. These coastal sabkhas are characterized by crusts of halite and
other salts produced by evaporation of saline surface and ground waters; by a belt
of algal mat that grows very rapidly after flooding and binds the underlying
sediment and which, when exposed to desiccation, hardens, curls and cracks; and by
adhesion ripples, which may form over the damp sabkha surface. Accumulation of
these sediments can result in a rapidly prograding coastline (Fig. 9; Evans et al.,
1964). The sediments of a coastal sabkha are commonly rich in skeletal (high Mg)
aragonite which, after burial, is subject to dolomitization. Where there is a lack of
calcite to dolomitise, the precipitation of gypsum crystals may cause M g 2 + / C a 2+
ratios to increase from a value of 3 on the coast to 240 in the evaporating
environment of the Ranns of Kutch (Glennie-and Evans, 1975). A wealth of other
environmental features of the coastal sabkha have been summarised by Kinsman
and Fairbridge (1978), Johnson et al. (1978) and by Shinn (1983).
In areas of prevailing offshore winds, siliciclastics become an important compo-
nent within coastal sabkha sequences (Fryberger et al., 1983). Conversely, the
products of deflation of a coastal sabkha are rich in foraminifera and gypsum
grains, which become consistuents of nearby dunes under the influence of prevailing
onshore winds (Glennie, 1970). Examples of the latter include the miliolite found

Fig. 10. Aerial view of rectilinear pattern of modern active carbonate-rich dune sands overlying the
deflated surface of an older cemented system of dune sands. Southern Sharqiyah Sands, north of Ras ar
Ruways (cf. Fig. 4).
150

around the shores of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea (Biswas, 1971), and the
Mediterranean shores of North Africa, where glacially induced falls in Pleistocene
sea level exposed wide areas of sabkha and unconsolidated shallow-marine sediment
to deflation. McKee and Ward (1983) have reviewed the global distribution of
carbonate dune sands.
The modern dune sands of the Wahiba (Sharqiyah) Desert in Oman (Fig. 4)
overlie carbonate-rich cemented dune sands (Fig. 10). If the former were built
during the last glaciation, then the underlying aeolianites must have been deflated
from a continental shelf that was exposed to deflation during an earlier glacially
induced lowering of sea level. Gardner (1986) has shown that there were at least two
phases of Pleistocene carbonate dune activity which, near the coast, were separated
by a beach terrace representing an intervening period of higher sea level. Submarine
sampling has proven the presence of cemented dune sands in the channel between
Masirah Island and the mainland (Fig. 4).
Dune sands have been traced below present sea level elsewhere. Sarnthein (1972),
for example, reports that submarine sand ridges in the axial part of the Persian Gulf
are probably of aeolian origin. This indicates an origin for these and other
submarine dune sands that probably coincided with the Last (Weichsel/Wisconsin)
or earlier Pleistocene glaciations.

Post-glacial palaeogeographic changes to deserts

Since the end of the Pleistocene glaciations, and probably more so at other times
during the Pleistocene, the world has had to make rapid readjustments to consider-
able changes in both climate and sea level. As an example of the effects of these
changes, the current palaeogeographic balance between areas of erosion and wadi,
aeolian and sabkha deposition flanking the northern Oman Mountains is depicted
in Fig. 9. Apart from the very recent effects of man, the most dramatic changes
currently involve the fairly rapid progradation of the coastline. Palaeowind direc-
tions deduced from the attitude of cemented dune bedding indicate that here also
there were at least two earlier periods of aeolian sedimentation. In addition, the
major dunes of unconsolidated sand are now being modified by winds that cut
obliquely across their axes.

RECOGNITION OF ANCIENT DESERT SEQUENCES

The siliciclastic sediments of ancient deserts are characterized, as are many other
continental deposits, by a reddish colouration, caused for the most part by a
post-depositional coating of ferric-oxided-stained clay on sand grains (Walker, 1967,
1976, 1979; see also Turner, 1980). Associated green colours, which may be locally
important, probably result from partial reduction of an earlier red pigment. Ancient
 151

desert sediments may also be of white or grey colour in some circumstances (see for
instance Glennie and BuUer, 1983).
Ancient desert sediments may be identified from an association of any of the
following criteria (see also Glennie, 1970, ch. 8), which are grouped into three
categories, water-laid and wind-laid sediments, and the deposits of coastal sabkhas.
The water-laid sediments of deserts are characterized by sedimentary features
similar to those of non-desert continental environments having a seasonal rainfall
(e.g. sedimentary structures of both the upper and lower flow regimes) but modified
by one or more of the following:
(1) Commonly calcite-cemented, in many cases later altered to dolomite; locally
cemented by gypsum or anhydrite.
(2) Conglomerates may be common and locally, several consecutive depositional
units may lack an upper sand-size fraction (deflation of sand and silt).
(3) Presence of mudflow conglomerates.
(4) Sharp upward decrease in grain size (especially from sand to clay), indicating
rapid fall in water velocity.
(5) Common presence of clay pebbles and curled clay flakes.
(6) Presence of mud cracks and sandstone dykes.
(7) Water-laid sediments commonly interbedded with those of aeolian origin.
Wind-laid sediments may exhibit any of the following characteristics:
(1) Sequences of sandstones that may vary in thickness from a few centimetres to
several hundred metres. Laminae that have not been rotated tectonlcally dip at
angles from horizontal to 34 ° (less if subjected to compaction and pressure solution
following deep burial); dips either of constant or multiple orientation.
(2) Laminae commonly in tabular planar, wedge planar or trough cross-strata
with only sparse low-relief ripples. Fully developed ripples may be preserved on
steeply dipping avalanche slopes (effects of temporary cross-winds), their axes
commonly being aligned up the bedding plane.
(3) Individual laminae well sorted, especially in finer grain sizes; sharp size
differences between the grains of adjacent laminae are common.
(4) Large sand grains tend to be well rounded, finer grains sub-rounded to
angular.
(5) Grain size commonly ranges from silt (60/~m) to coarse sand (2000 gm) with
the bulk about 125-300 gm and, apart from authigenic clay, silt and clay generally
well below 5% of total sediment.
(6) Clay drapes very rare and usually accompanied by evidence that they were
water-laid.
(7) Adhesion ripples with associated increase in clay or silt content and the
common presence of gypsum or anhydrite cement (Glennie, 1972).
(8) Rootcasts (rhizoconcretions or dikaka, commonly formed by tubes of fine
gypsum crystals; Glennie and Evamy, 1968).
(9) Foraminifera in carbonate dune sands commonly abraded but lack signs of
152

algal borings. Other shell fragments and ooids commonly also present.
(10) Mica generally absent.
(11) Under scanning electron microscope, quartz grains exhibit pattern of
meandering ridges and upturned fracture plates (Krinsley and Doomkamp, 1973);
and under optical microscope, quartz grains appear frosted.
The deposits of coastal sabkhas of widely differing age have also been recognized
in different parts of the world. They are characterized by sedimentary cycles
comprising, from bottom (shallow marine) to top (supratidal): algal boundstones
and grainstones; dolomites with birds-eye structures overlain by dolomitized algal
mat with an upward increase in gypsum crystals or anhydrite cement; nodular or
chicken-mesh anhydrite in a dolomite matrix. Unconformities (deflation surfaces)
are common at the top of each cycle.
In the context of recognition of ancient desert sequences it is pertinent to note
that sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits occur in sediments ranging in age
from the early Proterozoic to the Tertiary; they are closely linked to the interface
between sabkhas and underlying red-bed sequences of both aquatic and aeolian
origin.
From criteria such as those listed above, ancient desert sedimentary sequences of
various ages have been identified in many parts of the world (for example, see
Bigarella, 1979; McKee, 1979a; Ahlbrandt and Fryberger, 1982). The sediments
must have accumulated in areas of subsidence and in many cases were preserved
beneath the wave base of transgressing seas.
Prior to the spread of terrestrial vegetation during the Devonian, the aeolian
transport of sands may have been widespread in the dry part of an otherwise
relatively humid seasonal climate. Under these circumstances such ancient dune
sands, like their m o d e m analogues, are unlikely to have been associated with
evaporites. In very arid basin-margin localities, the water table could be so far
beneath the surface that, again, dune sands may have no associated evaporites in the
rare circumstance of their preservation.
The deposition of halite does not occur today on the same scale as at some
periods in the past (see Kozary et al., 1968, for past distribution). This is probably
an effect of the very recent flooding of our coastlines following the end-Pleistocene
melting of the last of the northern hemisphere ice caps. Extensive and thick deposits
of halite and anhydrite must indicate arid conditions and either limited circulation
of sea water or a terminal lake in a basin of inland drainage. Adjacent terrestrial
areas are likely also to have been very arid. Dune sands may be expected but are not
often described; this situation may change as the criteria for their recognition
become more widely known.

EXAMPLES OF ANCIENT DESERT SEQUENCES

Deserts have existed sporadically from the Proterozoic to the Present and seem
not to have been a permanent feature of our planet. The distribution and propor-
 153

tions of land and sea relative to the Poles and the Equator, and the freedom of
latitudinal movement of ocean waters may be among the factors that controlled the
presence or absence of deserts in the past. As already inferred, active and widespread
desert conditions seem to have coincided with the last two extensive periods of
major polar glaciation (Permo-Carboniferous "Gondwana" and Pleistocene) but
they also occurred at times of no known glaciation (e.g. Jurassic, Cretaceous; see
Habicht, 1979). Some ancient desert sequences are described below.

Precambrian

One of the oldest (1800 Ma) desert sedimentary sequences is the Hornby Bay
Group, NW Canadian Shield, described by Ross (1983) and Ross and Chiarenzelli
(1985). It comprises transverse dunes, silcretes that formed from alkaline water with
a high pH (> 9) and thus typical of some arid areas, and silicified sulphates
(gypsum and anhydrite). Other Proterozoic sequences are known from South Africa
(Meinster and Tickell, 1976) and Australia.

Cambro-Precambrian

The late Proterozoic-early Cambrian was a time of widespread halite deposition

in Oman (Ara Salt), Iran (Hormuz Salt; StOcklin, 1968a) and in the Salt Ranges of
northern Pakistan. Halite was concentrated in the basin centres, but at the basin
margins it gave way to dolomites and stromatolitic limestones suggestive of sabkha
deposition (cf. St/Scklin, 1968b, 1974). Overlying strata include the purple-red
cross-bedded arkosic Lalun Sandstone of probable fluvial and aeolian environments
of deposition. The Lalun Sandstone is everywhere capped by a white quartzite about
50 m thick (St/Scklin, 1968b). By analogy with the Permian Weissliegend of north-
west Europe (see below and Glennie and Buller, 1983), the lack of a red pigment
could imply that this unit comprised wadi and dune sands that were above the level
of the permanent water table until inundated by a rapid marine transgression. Thus
the quartzites would never have been in an environment conducive to reddening.
Of about the same general age (Eo-Cambrian) and located at about the same
palaeolatitude are the aeolian sands of the Zambian Copperbelt (Garrick, 1967).
With Africa rotated through almost 180 ° relative to the present poles (Smith et al.,
1981), foresets now dipping towards the southeast equate with an Eo-Cambrian
southern hemisphere trade-wind from the southeast (Fig. 12a).

Devonian

The Devonian Old Red Sandstone, which had only a limited cover of terrestrial
vegetation, was probably deposited under climatic conditions that involved seasonal
rainfall, although in the British Isles it was dry enough to permit aeolian activity.
154

Dune sands of Middle Old Red Sandstone age have been described from the
Midland Valley of Scotland, and in the north they have been described from both
the Lower (Yesneby Formation) Middle (Eday Sandstone; Astin, 1985) and Upper
Old Red Sandstone of Orkney (Hoy Sandstone) with a time equivalent of the latter
occurring also at Dunnet Head, Caithness (Mykura, 1983). The descriptions by
Chisholm and Dean (1974) of the Knox Pulpit Formation make it most likely that
aeolian dunes were also active in the Midland Valley of Scotland at the end of the
Devonian. Here, sands of fluvial and presumed aeolian origins had opposing
directions of transport, with the latter roughly coinciding with a trade-wind pattern
(east to west; Fig. 12b). Associated cornstones (calcrete) indicate at least a semi-arid
climate. The overlying basal Carboniferous strata are interpreted as having been
deposited in a lagoonal coastal area under conditions of high salinity and periodic
desiccation (Cameron and Stephenson, 1985). This relationship of an evaporative
sea, transgressive over desert sedimentary basins has also been recognised in the
Mid Carboniferous Windsor and Horton groups of the Canadian Atlantic Provinces
(Kirkham, 1985). Dune sands of about an end-Devonian age have also been
described from the southwest corner of Ireland (Horne, 1971).
At about this time (Late Devonian-Early Carboniferous), the British Isles were
located just south of the palaeo-equator (Smith et al., 1981), whereas the evaporites
of Western Canada and European USSR and the halite sequence off northern
Norway (Faleide et al., 1984) were all deposited in a northern hemisphere desert
belt. The North American-North European landmass was drifting passively north-
ward from the southern hemisphere trade-wind belt of Devonian time to the
equatorial climatic conditions that gave rise to the Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian,
Silesian) Coal Measures. By the end of the Carboniferous, west-central Europe had
already crossed the equator and was beginning to drift into the northern hemisphere
belt of desiccating trade winds. Furthermore, during the late Carboniferous
Hercynian Orogeny, Laurasia and Gondwana became united into the supercon-
tinent Pangaea. With many parts of Pangaea far removed from the open ocean (see
reconstructions by Ross and Ross, 1985, for instance) and others within the
rain-shadow of newly formed Hercynian mountain ranges, northern hemisphere
deserts became widespread during the Permian and Triassic in both Europe and
North America.

Rotliegend, Zechstein and Bunter of northwest Europe

There is evidence that repeated glaciations over parts of Gondwana during the
Permo-Carboniferous resulted not only in equatorial faunas and floras that were
adapted to cooler climates (Ross and Ross, 1985) but, by periodic expansion of the
area of atmospheric high pressure over the polar ice cap, Permian northern hemi-
sphere desert winds were intermittently strong enough for the formation of linear
dunes (Glennie, 1983a,b).
 155

Within northwest Europe, the sedimentary rocks of the Early Permian desert are
known as the Rotliegend. The Rotliegend of the land areas of the British Isles is
described by Smith (1972). In the North Sea area, the Rotliegend was deposited in
three basins, the Northern and Southern Permian Basins and the Moray Firth Basin.
The Southern Basin extended from the English coast via northern Germany (Hede-
mann et al., 1984) to the Russo-Polish border (Depowski, 1978), with other desert
basins within Russia as far east as the north Caspian area (Strakhov, 1962). A series
of smaller desert basins extended from the Southwest Approaches, between south-
west England and France, to off the northwest coast of Scotland (Smith, 1972).
Sediment transport by ephemeral streams within the Southern Permian Basin was
largely northwards toward the basin centre, which was occupied by a large,
probably permanent desert lake within which beds of halite were precipitated on a
number of occasions. Unconsolidated fluvial (wadi) sediments provided the source

=|
"u
01 31 6' 9* 121 18' 18' 0J 31 6' 9' 12~ 15' 18'
o'- • Om

31 61 91 12' 15' 18' 21 e 3' 8~ 9~ 12' 15 ~ 181 211

A B lm

Fig. 11. A sequence of cores from the Rotliegend of northwest Europe's Southern Permian Basin. Holes
represent plugs cut for porosity/permeability determinations.
(A) Sequences of dune sand whose bedding shows an upward progression from sub-horizontal to
steeply inclined (20-27 °) until truncated by the next set of sub-horizontal laminae (U). Weak ripple at
R. Probable rain-induced slump at S.
(B) Alternations of conglomerates (components rich in clay pebbles and flakes); curled and broken
clay layers (black) that are probably still at their original site of deposition; sandstone dykes (D); poorly
sorted sands ( H ) possibly homogenised during the escape of air trapped in sediment by flood waters;
fluvial sands (F); undisturbed well-sorted sub-horizontal to inclined aeolian sand laminae (A); and
sands of indeterminate origin--wind or water (W).
156

for aeolian dunes, which were transported westward by the prevailing trade winds
(Glennie, 1972, 1983a,b). The sands now form the reservoir in most of the southern
North Sea gas fields (Glennie, 1986b; Fig. 11). Similar sedimentary sequences are
found in the Moray Firth and Northern Permian basins but, so far, no bedded halite
has been found. Here, dune sands were transported eastwards in response to an
anticyclonic wind system centred over the Mid North Sea High (Fig. 12c). In the
arid environment of Rotliegend deposition, sedimentation failed to keep up with
subsidence, so that by the end of the Early Permian, the surface of the desert lake in

(a)

60

(b)

~o ~

°
 157

, 0 - WAD, A,ODUN, SA,OS

"EVA,O"TES "~ ~/ ffZ_~s-'-~~
.0 . - o -

[~ WADI AND DUNE SANDS \ ~l~/ ~ - . ~ ~ v~,.. \

~1 EVAPORITES
WIND DIRECTION
-60

LATE TRIASSIC

Fig. 12. Sequence of maps showing the latitudinal distribution of desert (wadi and dune) sands and
evaporites and, where known, generalised wind directions. (a) Late Precambrian-Early Cambrian; (b)
Late Devonian; (c) Mid Permian; (d) Late Triassic.

the Southern Permian Basin, for example, was probably some 250 m or more below
global sea level (Glennie and Buller, 1983).
Rotliegend terrestrial desert conditions were brought to an abrupt end by the
mid-Permian Zechstein transgression, which resulted in an inland marine basin
occupying an area considerably larger than the Caspian Sea. Because there was very
little reworking of the surfaces of unconsolidated sand dunes, the Zechstein trans-
gression must have been very rapid. Large volumes of air were probably trapped
beneath the wetted surfaces of the dunes and locally caused strong internal and
158

(e)
60

30

30

EAR'¥CRETACEOUS

Fig. 12 (continued). (e) Early Cretaceous.

surface deformation as it escaped. The marine flooding was too rapid to permit
reddening of the "Weissliegend" dunes, which earlier had been above the water
table and so not in an environment conducive to reddening (Glennie and Bullet,
1983).
The Late Permian climate remained arid with a high rate of evaporation over the
surface of the Zechstein Sea. The environmental conditions for shallow-marine
fauna were fairly congenial during the early Zechstein but, with increasing salinity,
the faunas became deformed and stunted (e.g. Productus horridus), basin-margin
carbonates were replaced by gypsum-rich sabkhas, and halite was precipitated in the
basin centres (Taylor, 1986). There were four major cycles of Zechstein deposition,
in the last three of which the sea probably evaporated to dryness. This cyclicity is
thought to have been caused by eustatic changes in sea level resulting from the
waxing and waning of the last of the Gondwana icecaps. The waters of each
transgression were derived from an arm of the open ocean between Norway and
Greenland.
A second "Zechstein" basin just west of the Urals (Fig. 12c) was also flooded
from the north, presumably at the same time as the transgressions in western
Europe. Halite was precipitated only in the southern part of this basin in the
vicinity of the north Caspian Sea (Strakhov, 1962; Habicht, 1979).
At the beginning of the Triassic period, terrestrial conditions were re-established
over a still-existing basinal area. The progradation of basin-margin fluvial and
aeolian Bunter sandstones (Gradzinski et al., 1979; Mader, 1981; Fisher, 1986)
eventually brought to an end a long period of lacustrine claystone deposition in
which the prevailing aridity is evidenced by gypsum (anhydrite) nodules.
 159

Marine conditions with tethyan affinities temporarily encroached from the east
during the Mid Trias only to be replaced by more continental conditions in the later
Triassic. Aridity during the mid and late Triassic is also evidenced by three
sequences of halite, the Rrt, Muschelkalk and Keuper halites. Desert conditions in
the North Sea area were finally brought to a close by a widespread transgression
during the latest Triassic (Fisher, 1986). Farther west, aeolian (e.g. Thompson, 1969)
and wadi sequences were deposited in several basins of the British Isles.

North American deserts

There was no Atlantic Ocean during the Permo-Triassic. The arid conditions just
described for westem Europe extended westward into North America. Indeed, the
time span during which the conditions were recurrently suitable for the accumula-
tion of aeolian dunes in Colorado, for instance, was considerably greater than in
western Europe; from the Pennsylvanian-Permian (Weber Sandstone) to the late
Jurassic (Entrada Sandstone). An analysis of Permian palaeowinds in the western
United States indicated an anticlockwise rotation (Poole, 1964). Descriptions of
most of these desert sequences have been adequately summarised by McKee
(1979a); see also Ahlbrandt and Fryberger (1982). Dune sequences occur elsewhere
in the United States (e.g. Late Jurassic Norphlet Formation in Alabama; Mancini et
al., 1985) and Canada (Late Triassic Wolfville Formation of Nova Scotia; Hubert
and Mertz, 1980) and in most cases are associated with additional evidence of
aridity (e.g. evaporites).

Mesozoic deserts of Gondwana

Throughout much of the Mesozoic, the central Sahara lay within the presumed
trade-wind belt of the northern hemisphere, and was the site of relatively thin
terrestrial deposition (the Continental intercalaire of French geologists). Tethys
bordered the area to the north. Most of these terrestrial sequences have been
interpreted as fluvial and lacustrine but the local occurrence of poorly sorted pebbly
sandstones such as are deposited during flash floods (e.g. Glennie, 1970, fig. 118),
the fairly extensive distribution of evaporites (Busson, 1967, 1969), and the presence
of plants with xerophytic adaptations (Nairn, 1978) suggests that dune sands should
be more common than presently recognised. They are known from the late Triassic
in Algeria (Glennie, 1970, fig. 117) and in the Norian-Liassic Bu Sceba Formation
in western Libya (Assereto and Benelli, 1971; Nairn, 1978).
As southern Gondwana moved away from the cooling influence of the South
Pole, parts of its interior in South Africa and South America developed as southern
hemisphere deserts with active dune sands in the late Triassic and Early Jurassic
(Bigarella and Salamuni, 1961; Dingle, 1978; Nairn, 1978; Bigarella, 1979). The
palaeowinds responsible for deposition of the Cave (Clarens) Sandstone in South
160

Africa blew uniformly from the west (Beukes, 1970; Fig. 12d). This, together with a
general lack of evaporites, implies only semi-arid conditions of deposition and
proximity to prevailing westerlies such as might be found adjacent to the southern
limit of the desert. This interpretation is supported by the work of Turner (1986).

Cretaceous deserts

The salt that was deposited during the Early Cretaceous rift phase of the South
Atlantic Ocean (Fig. 12e) commonly overlies and is flanked by continental red beds
(Lehner and de Ruiter, 1977; Evans, 1978). The red beds are locally developed in a
dune sequence, which in Gabon is an important reservoir for oil.
Because of high global sea level during the late Cretaceous, active terrestrial
deserts seem to have been virtually absent from the surface of the earth except in
Mongolia, where dune sandstones of the Barun Goyot Formation were associated
with an extensive fauna of vertebrates that seem to have been drowned during flash
floods (Gradzinski and Jerzykiewicz, 1974; McKee, 1979b). The writer suspects that
these creatures took refuge on top of the dunes during the flooding, only to be
engulfed in quick sands associated with the upward escape of entrapped air through
capillary-wetted sand. This interpretation implies a close analogy between the
outcome of a flash flood in Mongolia and a rapid Zechstein transgression, as
described by Glennie and Buller (1983). An associated diversified fauna together
with the limited presence of gypsum suggests that the Barun Goyot desert was not
very arid.

CONCLUSIONS

Tropical deserts occur in areas of high aridity. These exist mostly within zones
crossed by the trade winds. During the Pleistocene, these areas were subjected to:
(1) more severe conditions than at present; this involved the construction of systems
of mostly large linear dunes by stronger and more persistent winds that coincided
with northern hemisphere glaciations; and (2) less severe interglacial conditions with
a much higher rainfall giving rise to the deposition of extensive fluvial sequences but
only limited dune activity. The conditions in modern deserts seem to be somewhere
between these two extremes.
The high potential rates of evaporation in desert areas result in widespread
deposition of evaporites wherever there is an adequate supply of water. This occurs
in basins of inland drainage that are supplied by ground water or by surface water
derived from beyond the limits of the desert, and also in coastal areas, especially
where almost land locked. Since high rates of evaporation imply the likelihood of
strong winds, sand dunes are likely to flank the areas of evaporite deposition. At
some periods of the past, dune deposition is known to have been roughly coeval
with evaporite deposition (e.g. Permo-Triassic of northwest Europe and the south-
 161

w e s t e r n U n i t e d States). B y i m p l i c a t i o n , t h e r e f o r e , o t h e r a n c i e n t e v a p o r i t e s m a y b e
f l a n k e d b y d u n e s e q u e n c e s that, as yet, are u n r e c o g n i s e d .
It is h o p e d t h a t this s u m m a r y o f d e s e r t s e d i m e n t a r y e n v i r o n m e n t s will s t i m u l a t e
g e o l o g i s t s to r e l o o k at s o m e a n c i e n t r e d - b e d ( a n d w h i t e ) s e q u e n c e s ; it also p r o v i d e s
a s i m p l e g u i d e for t h e r e c o g n i t i o n o f s e d i m e n t s d e p o s i t e d in a n c i e n t deserts.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

T h i s p a p e r is p u b l i s h e d w i t h t h e p e r m i s s i o n o f Shell U K L t d .

REFERENCES

Ahlbrandt, T.S. and Fryberger, S.G., 1982. Introduction to eolian deposits. In: A. Scholle and D.
Spearing (Editors), Sandstone Depositional Environments, Mere. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 31: 11-47.
A1-Sayari, S.S. and ZiStl, J.G. (Editors), 1978. Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia. Springer, Berlin, 334
pp.
Anton, D., 1984. Aspects of geomorphological evolution: paleosols and dunes of Saudi Arabia. In: A.R.
Jado and J.G. Zt~tl (Editors), Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia. Springer, Berlin, Vol. 2, pp.
275-296.
Assereto, R. and Benelli, F., 1971. Sedimentology of the pre-Cenomanian formations of the Jebel Garian,
Libya. In: C. Gray (Editor), Symposium on the Geology of Libya. Univ. of Libya, Tripoli, pp. 37-85.
Astin, T.R., 1985. The palaeogeography of the Middle Devonian Lower Eday Sandstone, Orkney. Scott.
J. Geol., 21(3): 353-375.
Bagnold, R.A., 1941. The Physics of Blown Sand and Desert Dunes. Chapman and Hall, London, 265
pp.
Bagnold, R.A., 1953. The surface movement of blown sand in relation to meteorology. Res. Counc. Isr.,
Spec. Publ., 2: 89-93.
Besler, H., 1982. The north-eastern Rub' al Khali within the borders of the United Arab Emirates. Z.
Geomorphol., N.F., 26(4): 495-504.
Beukes, N.J., 1970. Stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Cave Sandstone Stage, Karroo System. In:
S.H. Haughton (Editor), Proc. 2nd IUGS Gondwanaland Symp., G.S.I.R., Pretoria, pp. 321-341.
Bigarella, J.J., 1979. Ancient sandstones considered to be eolian. In: E.D. McKee (Editor), A Study of
Global Sand Seas. U.S., Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap., 1052: 233-238.
Bigarella, J.J. and Salamuni, R., 1961. Early Mesozoic wind patterns as suggested by dune bedding in the
Botucath sandstone of Brazil and Uruguay. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 72(7): 1089-1106.
Biswas, S.K., 1971. The Miliolite rocks of Kutch and Kathiawar (Western India). Sediment. Geol., 5:
147-164.
Bluck, B.J., 1967. Deposition of some Upper Old Red Sandstone conglomerates in the Clyde area: a
study in the significance of bedding. Scott. J. Geol., 3: 139-167.
Bowler, J.A., 1978. Glacial age aeolian events in high and low latitudes: a southern hemisphere
perspective. In: E.M. van Zinderen-Bakker (Editor), Antarctic Glacial History and World
Palaeoenvironments. Balkema, Rotterdam, pp. 149-172.
Breed, C.S., Fryberger, S.C., Andrews, S., McCauley, C., Lennartz, F., Gebel, D. and Horstman, K.,
1979. Regional studies of sand seas using Landsat (ERTS) imagery. In: E.D. McKee (Editor), A
Study of Global Sand Seas. U.S., Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap., 1052: 305-397.
Brown, G.F., 1960. Geomorphology of western and central Saudi Arabia. 21st Int. Geol. Congress,
Copenhagen, 21: 150-159.
162

Busson, G., 1967. Le M~sozoique Saharien. Part 1, L'Extr6me-Sud Tunisien. Centre de Recherches sur les
Zones Arides, S6r. G~ol., 8:194 pp.
Busson, G., 1969. Le Salif~re principal (Trias sup6rieur et Lias pp.) du Sahara alg6ro-tunisien. C.R. Acad.
Sci. S6r. D, 268: 2095-2098.
Cameron, I.B. and Stephenson, D., 1985. The Midland Valley of Scotland. Br. Reg. Geol.. H.M.S.O., 172
pp.
Chisholm, J.I. and Dean, J.M., 1974. The Upper Old Red Sandstone of Fife and Kinross: a fluviatile
sequence with evidence of marine incursion. Scott. J. Geol., 10(1): 1 30.
Clark, D.M., Mitchell C.W. and Varley, J.A., 1974. Geomorphic evolution of sediment-filled solution
hollows in some arid regions. Z. Geomorphol., Suppl., 20:130 139.
Cooke, R.U. and Warren, A., 1973. Geomorphology in Deserts. Univ. Calif. Press, Berkeley, Calif., 374
pp.
Depowski, S., 1978. Lithofacies-Palaeogeographicat Atlas of the Permian of Platform Areas of Poland.
Institute of Geology, Warsaw.
Dingle, R.V., 1978. South Africa. In: M. Moullade and A.E.M. Nairn (Editor~), The Phanerozoic
Geology of the World II, The Mesozoic. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 401-434.
Dott, R.H., Byers, C.W., Fielder, G.W., Stenzel, S.R. and Winfree, K.E., 1986. Aeolian to marine
transition in Cambro-Ordovician cratonic sheet sandstones of the northern Mississippi Valley, U.S.A.
Sedimentology, 33(3): 345-367.
Esteban, M. and Klappa, C.F., 1983. Subaerial exposure environment. In: P.A. Scholle et al. (Editors),
Carbonate Depositional Environments. Mem. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 33:1 54.
Evans, G., Kendall, C.G. St.C. and Skipwith, R., 1964. Origin of the coastal fiats, the sabkha, of the
Trucial Coast, Persian Gulf. Nature (London), 202: 759-761.
Evans, R., 1978. Origin and significance of evaporites in basins around Atlantic margin. Bull., Am.
Assoc. Pet. Geol., 62(2): 223-234.
Faleide, J.I., Gudlaugsson, S.T. and Jacquart, G., 1984. Evolution of the western Barents Sea. Mar. Pet.
Geol., 1(2): p. 135.
Fisher, M.J., 1986. Triassic. In: K.W. Glennie (Editor), Introduction to the Petroleum Geology of thc
North Sea. Blaekwell, Oxford, 2nd ed., pp. 113-131.
Fryberger, S.G., Ahlbrandt, T.S. and Andrews, S., 1979. Origin, sedimentary features, and significance of
low-angle Eolian "Sandsheet" deposits, Great Sand Dunes National Monument and vicinity, Col-
orado. J. Sediment. Petrol., 49(3): 733-746.
Fryberger, S.G., A1-Sari, A.M. and Clishan, T.J., 1983. Eolian dune, interdune, sandsheet, and siliclastic
sabkha sediments of an offshore prograding sand sea, Dhahran area, Saudi Arabia. Bull. Am. Assoc.
Pet. Geol., 67(2): 280-312.
Gardner, R., 1986. Palaeoenvironments and prehistory: aeolianite. In: R. Dutton, Rapid Assessment
Document, Oman Wahiba Sands Project 1985/1986. R. Geog. Soc., Chapter 3.1~
Garlick, W.G., 1967. Special features and sedimentary facies of Stratiform sulphide deposits in arenites.
In: C.H. James (Editor), Sedimentary Ores, Ancient and Modem. Proc. 15th Inter-Univ. Geol.
Congress, 1967, Dept. Geol., Leicester Univ., Spec. Publ., 1: 107-169.
Glennie, K.W., 1970. Desert Sedimentary Environments. (Developments in Sedimentology, 14) Elsevier,
Amsterdam, 222 pp.
Glennie, K.W., 1972. Permian Rotliegendes of northwest Europe interpreted in light of modern desert
sedimentation studies. Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 56(6): 1048-1071.
Glennie, K.W., 1983a. Early Permian (Rotliegendes) palaeowinds of the North Sea. Sediment. Geol., 34:
245-265.
Glennie, K.W., 1983b. Lower Permian Rotliegend desert sedimentation in the North Sea area. In: M.E.
Brookfield and T.S. Ahlbrandt (Editors), Eolian Sediments and Processes. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp.
521-541.
 163

Glennie, K.W. (Editor), 1986a. Introduction to the Petroleum Geology of the North Sea. Blackwell,
Oxford, 2nd ed., 270 pp.
Glennie, K.W., 1986b. Early Permian, Rothegend. In: K.W. Glennie (Editor), Introduction to the
Petroleum Geology of the North Sea. Blackwell, Oxford, 2nd ed., pp. 63-85.
Glennie, K.W. and Buller, A.T., 1983. The Permian Weissliegend of N.W. Europe: the partial deforma-
tion of aeolian dune sands caused by the Zechstein transgression. Sediment. Geol., 35: 43-81.
Glennie, K.W. and Evamy, B.D., 1968. Dikaka: plants and plant-root structures associated with aeolian
sand. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 4: 77-87.
Glennie, K.W. and Evans, G., 1975. A reconaissance of the recent sediments of the Ranns of Kutch,
India. Sedimentology, 23: 625-647.
Glennie, K.W., Boeuf, M.G.A., Hughes-Clarke, M.W., Moody-Stuart, M., Pilaar, W.F.H. and Reinhardt,
B.M., 1974. Geology of the Oman Mountains. Royal Dutch Geol. Min. Soc., Trans., 31:423 pp.
Gradzinski, R. and Jerzykiewicz, T., 1974. Sedimentation of the Barun Goyot Formation. Palaeontol.
Pol., 30: 111-146.
Gradzinksi, R., Gagol, J. and Slaczka, A., 1979. The Tumlin Sandstone (Holy Cross Mrs, Central
Poland): Lower Triassic deposits of aeolian dunes and interdune areas. Acta Geol. Pol., 29(2):
151-175.
Habicht, J.K.A., 1979. Palaeoclimate, Palaeomagnetism and Continental Drift. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.,
Stud. Geol., 31 pp.
Hedemann, H.A., Mascheck, W., Paulus, B. and Plein, E., 1984. Mitteiltmg zur lithostratigraphischen
Gleiderung des Oberrotliegenden in nordwestdeutschen Becken. Nachr. Dtsch. Geol. Ges., 30:
100-107.
Home, R.R., 1971. Aeolian cross-stratification in the Devonian of the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry,
Ireland. Geol. Mag., 108(2): 151-158.
H~tzl, H. and Zt~tl, J.G., 1978. Climatic changes during the Quaternary Period. In: S.S. A1-Sayari and
J.G. ZStl (Editors), Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia. Springer, Berlin, pp. 301-311.
H~tzl, H., Kfi~mer, F. and Maurin, V., 1978. Quaternary sediments. In: S.S. A1-Sayari and J.G. Zt~tl
(Editors), Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia. Springer, Berlin, pp. 239-246.
Hubert, J.F. and Mertz, K.A., 1980. Eolian dunefield of Late Triassic age, Fundy Basin, Nova Scotia.
Geology, 8: 516-519.
Hunter, R.E., 1977a. Basic types of stratification in small eolian dunes. Sedimentology, 24: 361-387.
Hunter, R.E., 1977b. Terminology of cross-stratified sedimentary layers and climbing-ripple structures. J.
Sediment. Petrol., 47: 697-706.
Hunter, R.E., 1981. Stratification styles in eolian sandstones; some Pennsylvanian to Jurassic examples
from the western interior U.S.A. Soc. Econ. Paleontol. Mineral., Spec. Publ., 31: 315-329.
Jado, A.R. and Z~Stl, J.G., 1984. Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia, Vol. 2. Springer, Berlin, 360 pp.
James, W.C., 1985. Early diagenesis, Atherton Formation (Quaternary); a guide for understanding early
cement distribution and grain modifications in non-marine deposits. J. Sediment. Petrol., 55(1):
135-146.
Johnson, D.H., Kamal, M.R., Pierson, G.O. and Ramsay, J.B., 1978. Sabkhahs of Eastern Saudi Arabia.
In: S.S. A1-Sayari and J.G. Z~Stl (Editors), Quaternary Period in Saudi Arabia. Springer, Berlin, pp.
84-93.
Kinsman, D.J.J. and Fairbridge, R.W., 1978. Sabkha sedimentology. In: R.W. Fairbridge and J.
Bourgeois (Editors), The Encyclopedia of Sedimentology. Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Strouds-
berg, Pa, pp. 634-636.
Kirkham, R.V., 1985. Base metals in Upper Windsor (Codroy) Group oolitic and stromatolitic limestones
in the Atlantic Provinces. In: Geol. Surv. Can., Current Res., Part A, Pap. 85-1A: 573-585.
Kozary, M.T., Dunlap, J.C. and Humphrey, W.E., 1968. Incidence of saline deposits of geologic time. In:
R.B. Mattox (Editor), Saline Deposits. Geol. Soc. Am., Spec. Pap., 88: 43-57.
164

Krinsley, D. and Doornkamp, J., 1973. Atlas of Quartz Sand Surface Textures. Cambridge Univ. Press,
Cambridge, 91 pp.
Lehner, P. and De Ruiter, P.A.C., 1977. Structural history of Atlantic margin of Africa. Bull. Am. Assoc.
Pet. Geol., 61(7): 961-981.
Logan, R.F., 1960. The Central Namib Desert, South West Africa. Natl. Res. Counc. Washington, D.C.,
758:162 pp.
Mader, D., 1981. Genesis of the Buntsandstein (Lower Triassic) in the Western Eifel (Germany).
Sediment. Geol., 29: 1-30.
Maizels, J.K., 1987. Plio-Pleistocene raised channel systems of the Wahiha, Oman. In: L. Frostick and I.
Reid (Editors), Desert Sediments: Ancient and Modern. Geol. Soc. London, Spec. Publ. (in press).
Mancini, E.A., Mink, R.M., Bearden, B.L. and Wilkerson, R.P., 1985. Norphlet Formation (Upper
Jurassic) of southwestern and offshore Alabama: environments of deposition and petroleum geology.
Bull. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.. 69(6): 881-898.
McCauley, J.F., Grolier, M.J. and Breed, CS., 1977. Yardangs. In: D.O. Doehring (Editor), Geomor-
phology in Arid Regions. Proc., 8th Annu. Geomorphol. Symp., State Univ. New York, Binghamp-
ton, N.Y., Sept. 23-24, 1977, pp. 233-269.
McChire, H.A., 1978. Ar Rub' al Khali. In: S.S. A1-Sayari and J.G. Z~Stl (Editors), Quaternary Period in
Saudi Arabia. Springer, Berlin, pp. 252-263.
McKee, E.D. (Editor), 1979a. A Study of Global Sand Seas. U.S. Geol. Surv, Prof. Pap., 1/)52:429 pp.
McKee, E.D., 1979b. Introduction to a study of global sand seas. In: E.D. McKee (Editor) A Study of
Global Sand Seas. U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap., 1052: 1-19.
McKee, E.D., 1979c. Ancient sandstones considered to be eolian. In: E.D. McKec (Editor), A Study of
Global Sand Seas. U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap., 1052: 187-233.
McKee, E.D. and Ward, W.C., 1983. Eolian environment. In: Scholle et al. (Editors), Carbonate
Depositional Environments. Mere. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 33: 132-170.
Meinster, B. and Tickell, S.J., 1976. Precambrian aeolian deposits of the Waterberg Supergroup. S. Aft.
Geol. Soc., Trans., 78: 191-199.
Moullade, M. and Nairn, A.E.M. (Editors), 1978. The Phanerozoic Geology of the World II: The
Mesozoic, A. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 529 pp.
Mykura, W., 1983. Old Red Sandstone. In: G.Y. Craig (Editor), The Geology of Scotland. Oliver and
Boyd, Edinburgh, 2nd Ed., pp. 205-251.
Nairn, A.E.M., 1978. Northern and eastern Africa. In: M. Moullade and A.E.M. Nairn (Editors), The
Phanerozoic Geology of the World II: The Mesozoic, A. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 329-370.
Ollier, C.D., 1969. Weathering. Oliver and Boyd, Edingburgh, 304 pp.
Poole, F.G., 1964. Palaeowinds in the western United States. In: A.E.M. Nairn (Editor), Problems in
Palaeoclimatology. Wiley-Interscience, New York, N.Y., pp. 394-405.
Ross, C.A. and Ross, J.R.P., 1985. Carboniferous and Early Permian biogeography. Geology, 13: 27-30.
Ross, G.M., 1983. Bigbear erg: a Proterozoic intermontane eolian sand sea in the Hornby Bay Group,
Northwest Territories, Canada. In: M.E. Brookfield and T.A. Ahlbrandt (Editors), Eolian Sediments
and Processes. Elsevier, Amsterdam, pp. 483-519.
Ross, G.M. and Chiarenzelli, J.R., 1985. Palaeoclimatic significance of widespread Proterozoic silcretes of
the Bear and Churchill provinces of the northwestern Canadian Shield. J. Sediment. Petrol., 55(2):
196-204.
Sarnthein, M., 1972. Sediments and history of the postglacial transgression in the Persian Gulf and
northwest Gulf of Oman. Mar. Geol., 12: 245-266.
Scholle, P.A., Bebout, D.G. and Moore, C.H. (Editors), 1983. Carbonate Depositional Environments.
Mem. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 33:708 pp.
Scotese, C.R., Rambach, R.K., Barton, C., Van der Voo, R. and Ziegler, A.M., 1979. Paleozoic base
maps. J. Geol., 87(3): 217-277.
 165

Shinn, E.A., 1983. Tidal flat environment. In: P.A. Scholle et al., (Editors), Carbonate Depositional
Environments. Mere. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 33: 172-210.
Smith, A.G., Hurley, A.M. and Briden, J.C., 1981. Phanerozoic Palaeocontinental World Maps. Cam-
bridge Univ. Press, Cambridge.
Smith, D.B., 1972. The Lower Permian in the British Isles. In: H. Falke (Editor), Rotliegend: Essays on
European Lower Permian. Brill, Leiden, pp. 1-32.
Stt~cklin, J., 1968a. Salt deposits of the Middle East. In: R.B. Mattox, Saline Deposits. Geol. SOc. Am.,
Spec. Pap., 88: 158-181.
Stt~cklin, J., 1968b. Structural history and tectonics of Iran: a review. Bull., Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol., 52(7):
1229-1258.
St~cklin, J., 1974. Possible ancient continental margins in Iran. In: C.A. Burk and C.L. Drake (Editors),
The Geology of Continental Margins. Springer, Berlin, pp. 873-887.
Strakhov, N.M., 1962. Principles of Lithogenesis III. English translation by J.P. Fitzsimmons. Editors:
S.I. Tomkieff and J.E. Hemingway. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh, 577 pp.
Taylor, J.C.M., 1986. Late Permian--Zechstein. In: K.W. Glermie (Editor), Introduction to the Petro-
leum Geology of the North Sea. Blackwell, Oxford, 2nd ed., pp. 87-111.
Thompson, D.B., 1969. Dome-shaped aeolian dunes in the Frodsham member of the so-called 'Keuper'
Sandstone Formation (Scythian to Ahisian? Triassic) at Frodsham, Cheshire (England). Sediment.
Geol., 3: 263-289.
Tsoar, H., 1982. Internal structure and surface geometry of longitudinal (self) dunes. J. Sediment. Petrol.,
52 (3): 823-831.
Tucker, M.E., 1974. Exfoliating pebbles and sheeting in the Triassic. Nature (London), 252: 375-376.
Turner, B.R., (1986). Tectonic and climatic controls on continental depositional facies in the Karoo Basin
of northern Natal, South Africa. Sediment. Geol., 46 (3/4): 231-257.
Turner, P., 1980. Continental Red Beds. (Developments in Sedimentology, 29) Elsevier, Amsterdam, 562
pP.
Walker, T.R., 1967. Formation of redbeds in modern and ancient deserts. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 78:
353-368.
Walker, T.R., 1976. Diagenetic origin of continental red beds. In: H. Falke (Editor), The Continental
Permian in Central, West and South Europe. Reidel, Dordrecht, pp. 240-282.
Walker, T.R., 1979. Red color in dune sand. In: E.D. McKee (Editor), A Study of Global Sand Seas. U.S.
Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap., 1052: 61-81.
Watts, N.L., 1980. Quaternary pedogehic calcretes from the Kalahari (Southern Africa): mineralogy,
genesis and diagenesis. Sedimentology, 27: 661-686.
Whitney, M.I., 1985. Yardangs. J. Geol. Educ., 33(2): 93-96.
Williams, G.E., 1970. The Central Australian stream floods of February-March 1967. J. Hydrol., 11:
185-200.