Early Triassic intertidal/subtidal patterns of sedimentation along the southern margins of the Tethyan seaway,Jordan

The early Triassic Dardur Formation, exposed along the northeastern margin of the Dead Sea area, comprises some 63 m of siliciclastic and carbonate rocks, arranged in two coarsening-upward sequences. Each sequence begins with a heterolithic facies (silty shale dolomite and marlstone) and terminates with a sandstone facies.The occurrence of mixed carbonate-dominated clastic coarsening-upward facies sequences, containing pelecypode and ostracode fossils and trace fossils is attributed to deposition in a tidally-dominated environment. Bedload traction transport was responsible for deposition of the sandstone facies in a permanently submerged, shallow subtidal zone, whereas the presence of small scale interference oscillation ripple marks, tidal rhythmites and mudcracks in the heterolithic facies indicate deposition under more fluctuating intertidal conditions.The organization of heterolithic and sandstone into vertically-stacked, coarsening-upward marine facies sequences is attributed to a deepening-upward trend from intertidal to subtidal conditions, in response to a series of minor local transgressions and regressions along the southern margins of the Tethyan seaway during early Triassic times.