Carbonate sedimentation around Jebel Dhanna: models for parts of the buried Holocene sabkha sequences elsewhere along the Abu Dhabi coastline

The early Holocene mainland coast of Abu Dhabi Emirate consisted of a series of embayments between headlands of Miocene inliers and Pleistocene carbonate seif dunes. Subsequently, most of those embayments were back-filled to form coastal sabkhas. The facies and gross depositional characteristics of modern embayments adjacent to Jebel Dhanna are described and used as analogues for former embayments such as those landward of Abu Dhabi Island. Unfortunately, the sedimentology of both modern and earlier embayments have been severely or completely destroyed by industrial and urban developments but vintage aerial photography and satellite imagery have revealed the former topography.