The Gharamul Formation
consists of a 29-m-thick succession of limestone with an occasional sandstone bed.
The limestone comprises low-diversity
biotas of bivalves, gastropods, corals, red algae, algal stromatolites, echinoids and benthic foraminifera. Corals occur both as in situ patch reefs and as reworked debris (Figure 5d,e).
Stromatolites are 2-to 5-mm-thick
laminations of gently undulating type (Figure 5f). Red algae occur as encrustations on patch reefs or as algal debris in the lime mud matrix (Lithothamnium sp., Mesophyllum sp. and
Lithophyllum sp.).