Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures and Sediment Characteristics of Coastal Sabkha along Al-Kuwaizi Area, Red Sea Coast, Yemen

Al-Kuwaizi Sabkha exists 21 km south of Al-Hodeidah City, occupying a low topographic region along the Red Sea coast of Yemen. It is secluded from the sea by sand dunes. This study aims to investigate the microbial-induced sedimentary structures and sediment characteristics of the sabkha in this unique coastal environment. The findings will contribute to a better understanding of the geological processes shaping this area and provide insights into microbial activity in an extremely arid climate. The sabkha sediments are texturally classified as slightly gravelly sand and muddy sand, generally polymodal with dominant fine sand, nearly symmetrical, and very leptokurtic. Field investigation of the evaporite-siliciclastic sabkha environment revealed microbially induced surface sedimentary structures such as petee structures, mat chips, tufts, reticulates, jelly rolls, sieve-like surfaces, and wrinkle structures. This sabkha environment provides a good model for studying the potential preservation of life signatures and understanding the depositional environments of ancient evaporite sequences influenced by microbial structures.