132 A.W.A. RUSHTON AND J.H. POWELL 



Table 1 Correlation of the Lower-Middle Cambrian interval in Jordan with selected successions elsewhere, based on trilobite faunas. 



PERIOD/ 





SPAIN 





MOROCCO 



JORDAN 





SIBER1A 





SOUTH CHINA 





EPOCH 





































Z 











LEON1AN 





0. frequens 







Triplagnostus 



< 



< 



Redhchia 









(with 





Zone 







gibbus Zone 



nobilis Zone 





* 





Paradoxides 













NN 







U 





mureroensis) 













? 







-J 



a 

 a 



i 







z 



•< 











u 



z 

 < 



o 

 z 





Cephalopyge 



Kounamkites 



Redlichia 





u 





z 



Zone 





Z 



Zone (with 



chinensis Zone 







- 





(with 





< 



Schistocephalus 





a 





o 



a 



i 





u. 

 < 



t/i 



Schistocephalus 

 cf. juvenis) 





s 



juvenis) 



o 



-1 





as 







ce 















S 

 < 







B1LB1LIAN 



H 



















u 









DAROCA 

 INTERVAL 





Hupeolenus 

 Zone 



P. anliquus 





P. antiquus 



z 



< 



Megapalaeolenus 









(with 





K campbelli 





Zone 



3 



Zone 





as 





Realaspis & 







Realaspis 







O 







u 





Kingaspis) 







O. palmeri 







Z 







O 

















< 

























J 













-r 



Anabaraspis 



o 



Palaeolenus 









MARIANIAN 



< 







Z 



splendens 

 Zone 



z 



< 



Zone 







O 





Z 



■< 



Sectigena Zone 





O 



> 





u 











-i 





03 







O 



H 







Drepanuroides 

 Zone 



♦Middle Cambrian of Sdzuy ( 1961 ); #Middle Cambrian of Geyer (1990) 



area adjacent to the Dead Sea. The general stratigraphical setting is 

 shown in Fig. 1 . The best exposures are southwards from Wadi Issal 

 (Edh Dhira) to the Feinan-Dana area (Figs 2-4). It also crops out a 

 few kilometres north of Wadi Zarqa Ma' in where only the upper part 

 of the formation is exposed. Between the Feinan-Dana area and 

 Wadi Quseib the formation is represented by coeval marine 

 siliciclastic deposits (Bender 1974; Powell 1989) but it is absent 

 south of the latter locality and in the Southern Desert where the 

 Umm Ishrin Sandstone directly overlies the Salib Arkose (Fig. 4). 

 The formation has been penetrated in deep boreholes (Fig. 2) north- 

 west of Amman (e.g. Suweileh 1, SW-1) and in the southern Wadi 

 Sirhan (e.g. Wadi Sirhan 3, WS-3) where marine carbonate and 

 siliciclastic deposits, equivalent to the Burj Formation, are reported 

 to be at least 135 m thick (Andrews 1991 ). The Burj Formation, as 

 defined by Powell (1989) and adopted in this paper, is probably 

 thicker than recorded in these boreholes (Fig. 2, Fig. 4, section 1 ) 

 because in them the top of the formation was generally taken at the 

 top of the middle Numayri Dolomite Member, the Hanneh Siltstone 

 Member not being recognised. This lower boundary produces a 

 marked geophysical log response and is a convenient marker hori- 

 zon for subsurface studies (Andrews, 1 99 1 ). However, in the reference 

 borehole Wadi Sirhan-3 (WS-3, Fig. 2) Andrews (1991: fig. 10) 

 attributed a succession of marine claystone, siltstone and sandstone 

 intercalated with dolomitic limestone and shelly, trilobite-rich, oolitic 

 grainstones, that overlie the Numayri Dolomite, to the upper part of 

 the Burj Formation. We concur with this interpretation and, further- 

 more, consider these upper beds to be a lithofacies equivalent of the 

 carbonate/siliciclastic beds in the upper part of the Burj Formation 

 (possibly equivalent to the Hanneh Member), as described herein 

 from the outcrop at Zarqa Ma' in (Figs 2, 4). 



The type section in the Safi area is Khirbet El Burj, Locality 1 of 

 Blanckenhorn (1912) ('Chirbet el-Burdsch' in Richter & Richter 

 1941). The full sequence is not well exposed at this locality so 



reference sections were proposed in the same area at Wadi Saramuj 

 (PNG 198:047) (Powell, 1988) and east of Safi Potash Works (PNG 

 201 :055) (Fig. 3). Fig. 5 shows a composite section in the type area 

 and the Wadi Zarqa Ma' in section provides a useful reference 

 section for the upper part of the formation in the north-central area 

 (Fig. 6). 



Thickness. The formation ranges in thickness, at outcrop, from 

 zero in the southern desert to 120 m in the Safi area (Fig. 4). 

 Thicknesses recorded in deep boreholes near Amman (Fig. 2) are 

 based on the top of the formation being taken as the top of the 

 Numayri Dolomite Member (sensu Andrews, 1991 ; see above), and 

 are consequently minimum thicknesses, as follows: 124 m in 

 Suweileh 1 Borehole (SW-1 in Fig. 2) and 135minSafra 1 Borehole 

 (SA-1 ) (Bender 1974). Correlation of the outcrop and boreholes in 

 the Wadi Zarqa Ma' in area (GTZ-2D Borehole; Masarwah 1987) 

 suggests that the 'marine' Burj Formation is about 170 m thick, and 

 comprises a number of carbonate units intercalated with marine 

 siliciclastic beds; similar lithofacies, up to 96 m thick, were reported 

 from a deep borehole (WS-3; Fig. 2) in the southern Wadi Sirhan 

 area (Andrews 1991). In northern Syria the Burj carbonates have 

 been proved up to about 200 m thick in Khanaser 1 Well, and have 

 been widely traced throughout that country on seismic lines (Best et 

 al. 1993). 



Nomenclature. The formation was defined by Quennell ( 1 95 1 ) 

 and the name is taken from the ruins of Al Burj ('the tower') in the 

 lower course of Wadi Al Hisa (also Hesa or Hasa). The dolomite- 

 limestone ('Wadi Nasb Limestone') was first recorded by Hull 

 (1886) in this area, and Blanckenhorn (1914) described a fuller 

 sequence of 30 m of red and green micaceous shales and 'marls' 

 ('Hasa Shales' of Wetzel & Morton, 1959) overlain by 30 m of 

 limestone and dolomite; this definition was followed by Burdon 

 (1959), who, with Quennell (1951), assigned group status to it. 



