GEOLOGY OF WADI WASSIF AREA, CENTRAL EASTERN DESERT, EGYPT, WITH EMPHASIS ON MINERALOGY OF STREAM SEDIMENTS | ||
| Nuclear Sciences Scientific Journal | ||
| Article 6, Volume 1, Issue 1, 2012, Pages 85-97 PDF (14.31 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/nssj.2012.31021 | ||
| Authors | ||
| ASHRAF E.I. SOLIMAN; HESHAM A. EL NAHAS; ALI A. OMRAN | ||
| Nuclear Materials Authority,Cairo, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| This study deals with the geology and mineralogy of stream sediments at Wadi Wassif, C.E.D., Egypt. The area is built up of igneous and metamorphic rocks of Late Precambrian age in addition to Quaternary alluviam deposits. Geologically, the area consists of metavolcanics, older granitoids, Hammamat sediments, younger granites, and Quaternary sediments filling the streams of the studied area. Microscopically, metavolcanics comprise metaandesite, metadacite and crystal tuffs. They are weakly metamorphosed to the green schist facies (chlorite zone). Hammamat sediments comprise conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. They are weakly metamorphosed to the chlorite zone of the green schist facies. Gravity and magnetic separation techniques in addition to microscopic examination for the studied stream sediment samples were applied to evaluate the heavy minerals concentration of these sediments. The average heavy mineral concentration of the stream sediments of Wadi Wassif is 5.56%, ranging from 1.58% and 10.91%. These heavy minerals increase from upstream to downstream of Wadi Wassif. The average contents of the concerned heavy minerals in Wadi Wassif are 0.347% for zircon, 0.058% for thorite, 0.074% for monazite, 0.097 for titanite, 0.038% for rutile. The other heavy minerals include epidot, garnet in addition to opaque minerals; magnetite, ilmenite and hematite. The radiometric study of the stream sediments of Wadi Wassif indicates that the average concentrations of U and Th are 2.9ppm and 17ppm respectively, ranging from 1 to 4ppm for U and 8 to 28ppm for Th, which reveals a significant fractionation during weathering of these sediments. | ||
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