Desert lakes: playa lakes and sebkhas
405
Figure 16.23. Sandy-silt, organic-rich tidal plain, Sabkha Matti, United Arab Emirates.
The sediments accumulated in littoral sebkhas are composed of shell fragments, ooids,
algal mats, stromatolites (Figure 16.22), evaporites, and organic matter (Figure 16.23).
Some of the large littoral sebkhas show lateral changes in depositional environments. One
example is Sabkha Matti in the United Arab Emirates, which inland becomes an interior
sebkha dominated by alluvial deposition (Glennie et al., 1994). Deflation is also intense
and causes small nebkhas, microyardangs, and dunes. Water sources for littoral sebkhas
are large tides, storm waves, and sometimes, continental sources. Towards the sea,
intratidal plains, lagoons, barriers, and islands develop (Cooke et al., 1993). The evaporite
surface of the sebkhas present similar micromorphologies to those described for saline
lakes.
405
Figure 16.23. Sandy-silt, organic-rich tidal plain, Sabkha Matti, United Arab Emirates.
The sediments accumulated in littoral sebkhas are composed of shell fragments, ooids,
algal mats, stromatolites (Figure 16.22), evaporites, and organic matter (Figure 16.23).
Some of the large littoral sebkhas show lateral changes in depositional environments. One
example is Sabkha Matti in the United Arab Emirates, which inland becomes an interior
sebkha dominated by alluvial deposition (Glennie et al., 1994). Deflation is also intense
and causes small nebkhas, microyardangs, and dunes. Water sources for littoral sebkhas
are large tides, storm waves, and sometimes, continental sources. Towards the sea,
intratidal plains, lagoons, barriers, and islands develop (Cooke et al., 1993). The evaporite
surface of the sebkhas present similar micromorphologies to those described for saline
lakes.