The Cenomanian:.

The Cenomanian stage is represented in Egypt by deposits of a transgressive sea that progressively advanced to the south (Fig. 8). In northern Sinai, these deposits consist almost entirely of carbonates showing a pelagic facies of relatively deep water. Southwards, clastics become increasingly abundant at the expense of carbonates and the total thickness gradually decreases.

To the north, the Maghrabi Formation changes laterally into the Bahariya Formation of EL-AKKAD & ISSAWI (1963) in the northern Western Desert. The type section of the Bahariya Formation forms the floor and scarps of the oasis depression around Gabal Dist and has an exposed thickness of more than 300 m underlying El-Hefhuf Formation (SOLIMAN & EL-BADRY 1970 and DOMINIK 1985).

The Formation includes many fossil-bearing beds; the so called dinosaur bed is followed by sandy thinning upward sequences with numerous paleosols rich in Ceratostreon flabellatum , Exogyra columba and a host of other characteristic Cenomanian fossils.

The Raha Formation is introduced by GHORAB (1961) for a 70-120 m thick succession in Gabal Raha, western Sinai. It is a heterogenous unit composed of yellow sandstones, dolostones, limestones, marls and glauconitic shales with oyster beds, gastropods, echinoids, etc..

It overlies the Malha Sandstone with seeming conformity, and underlies the richly fossiliferous Cenomanian/Turonian shales of Abu Qada Formation.

It is replaced in northern Sinai by open marine carbonates of the Halal Formation. On the west coast of the Gulf of Suez along the Galala scarps, ABDALLAH & EL-ADINDANI (1965) described a unit similar to the Raha which they named the Galala Formation.

The Turonian:

The Turonian is represented in Sinai and the Gulf of Suez by two distinct units: the Abu Qada (upper part) and the Wata Formations. In the north Western Desert the Turonian deposits are represented by most of the Abu Roash Formation. In southern Egypt, the Taref Sandstone or Formation is the equivalent Turonian unit.

The Wata Formation is Late Turonian in age and is coeval with the Gerofit Formation of the Israeli's. It is a hard cliff-forming carbonate unit which overlies conformably the Abu Qada.

The Wata is 102 m thick in the type area in Wadi Wata. It is well developed along the Tih scarp measuring 44-70 m between Gabal Gunna and Gabal Dhalal (KORA & GENEDI 1995).

It consists essentially of a uniform sequence of well bedded dolomitic limestomes and rudist limestones with minor amounts of chert concretions, marl and shale beds.

The type section of the Abu Roash Formation is Abu Roash-1 well, in the northern part of the Western Desert where a 217 m thick limestone succession is penetrated, intercalating few clastics. It overlies conformably the Bahariya Formation and underlies the Khoman Chalk and is subdivided by Oil Companies into 7 members given the letters from A to G.