ABSTRACT
The Sinai Peninsula covers an area of approximately 61,000 km2 and is separated geographically from Egypt by the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Suez. The central part of the peninsula consists of subhorizontal Mesozoic and Tertiary sediments, creating the plateaux of Gebel El Tih and Gebel Egma, which are drained by the northerly flowing affluents of Wadi El Arish. The Sinai Peninsula wedged between the African and Arabian plates the boundaries of which are defined by the Gulf of Suez and Gulf of Aqaba-Dead Sea rift systems. In northernmost Sinai and the offshore area, the sedimentary cover increases in thickness from less than 1829 m to in excess of 7620 m. The Sinai is covered by sediments which were deposited on a predominantly shallow platform and range from Cambrian to Recent in age. The Paleozoic sediments are only exposed in the southern central parts of the Sinai, primarily in the Um Bogma area and at Abu Durba.
