Upper Miocene Petrified Forest from As-Sahabi Area, Northeast Sirt Basin, Libya

Petrified fossil wood plays a significant role as a prominent geoheritage feature in numerous protected areas worldwide. The upper Miocene fossilized woods from the As-Sahabi area south of Ajdabiya city, northeast Libya, have been evaluated. The As-Sahabi area is a valuable geosite, rich in petrified wood and vertebrate fossils, offering insightful past ecological and geological conditions. The mode of preservation as a geoheritage site might promote its scientific research, education, and geotourism while protecting it for future generations. This petrified forest occurs at specific stratigraphic levels and belongs to different types of origins. They were exposed to a variety of fluids saturated with respect of silica, gypsum and dolomite that transformed them into silicified, gypsified, and dolomitized fossils wood. Other fossils found in the As-Sahabi area including vertebrate (bones and teeth) and invertebrate shells, and trace fossils. This wide variety of fossil assemblages in conjunction with the scenic views of the rock formation exposures as small hills in the As-Sahabi area make it an excellent candidate to be geologic, paleontologic, archaeologic and natural historic geosite in northeast Libya.