Exhumed Paleozoic glacial deposits and landforms of the North Gondwana are reported here for the first time from the South Eastern Desert (SED) of Egypt. Using field observations and remote sensing datasets (Advanced Land Observing Satellite [ALOS], Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar [PALSAR] radar, multispectral Landsat TM datasets, and digital elevation models [DEMs]), we mapped the distribution of Paleozoic glacial features (i.e. deposits and landforms) in the SED. Two main glaciogenic facies were identified in three locations in the SED: (1) massive, poorly sorted, matrix supported, boulder-rich diamictites in Wadi El-Naam and Korbiai, and (2) moderately-sorted, occasionally bedded outwash deposits in Betan area. Inspection of radar, DEMs, and Landsat Operational Land Imager (OLI) images revealed previously unrecognized ENE-WSW trending glacial megalineations (MLs) over the peneplained Neoproterozoic basement rocks in the central sections of the SED, whose trends align along their projected extension with those of glacial features (tunnel valleys and striation trends) reported from Saudi Arabia. The glaciogenic features in the SED are believed to be largely eroded during the uplift associated with the Red Sea opening, except for those preserved as basal units beneath the Nubia Sandstone Formation or as remnant isolated deposits within paleo-depressions within the basement complex. The apparent spatial correlation of the SED glacial features with well-defined Late Ordovician deposits in North Africa and in Saudi Arabia, and the reported thermochronometric analyses and fossil records are consistent with a Late Ordovician age for the SED glaciogenic features and support models that call on the continuation of the Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) ice sheet from the Sahara into Arabia through the SED of Egypt.
Granite rocks are currently one of the foremost raw materials that can be used for various economic purposes such as ornamentation and building materials, because they do not possess radioactive concentrations and have good physical and mechanical properties. The granite rocks of north Um Taghir are connected to neoproterozoic rocks and integrated to the north Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS), which lies in Northeast Africa. Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and X-ray fluorescence analysis, concurrent to some statistical analysis, have been carried for major oxides and some trace elements to extract much fundamental information by following certain mathematical methods. The exposed granite rock units in north Um Taghir are classified into four rock units represented by tonalite, granodiorite, monzogranite, and alkali-feldspar granite which are cut by different types of dikes. The magma of tonalite and granodiorite is low-to-medium K calc-alkaline affinity, while the magma of monzogranite and alkali-feldspar granite is medium-to-high K calc-alkaline affinity, and of metaluminous to peraluminous nature. Granite rocks show a slightly depletion of fractionated patterns from light rare earth elements (LREEs) to heavy rare earth elements (HREEs) with slightly positive to negative Eu anomalies from tonalite to monzogranite and alkali-feldspar granites. The statistical criteria have been achieved to explore the significant differences of radiological hazard parameters among samples. It is obvious that there is no homogeneity among samples; furthermore, in Kruskal–Wallis test, Mann–Whitney test, and Pearson correlation coefficient, it can be noticed that there are significant differences between each pair of samples: tonalite, monzogranite; tonalite, alkali-feldspar granite; granodiorite, monzogranite; and granodiorite, alkali-feldspar granite. There is a strong direct relationship among granodiorite and both tonalite and alkali-feldspar granite, and among alkali-feldspar granite and tonalite and granodiorite. There is a strong inverse relationship among monzogranite and tonalite, granodiorite, and alkali-feldspar granite. As stated by all results, it can be mentioned that the granite rocks have a worthy result of mechanical and physical properties. So that they can be used for various economic purposes.
The area between wadi Dungash-wadi Shait in the South Eastern Desert of Egypt comprises ophiolitic nappes structurally overthrust on island arc-related metasedimentary-metavolcanic rocks, which are traversed by several granitoids, gabbroic and basaltic rocks. This paper focuses on uncovering laterite zones utilizing field geological, mineralogical and geochemical attributes of the investigation region. Laterites are distributed at the border between Neoproterozoic and Phanerozoic rocks. The laterite deposits are developed after the emplacement of Natash flows as a result of lateritization process in tropical regions, during the Late Cretaceous. The laterite sections comprise a sequence from the top to the base, oxide laterite, plasmic laterite, saprolith and bedrock. The laterite sections consist of hematite and goethite together with small quantity of gibbsite. Geochemically, the laterite profiles are marked by an increase in Fe content and decrease in Si from the top to the bottom. Fe 2 O 3 is the most abundant with 30.09-54.67 wt.%, Al 2 O 3 vary from 18.01 to 32.78 wt.%, and SiO 2 vary from 15.05 to 19.43 wt.%.Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer images are utilised to characterize a primer laterite zone. The band ratio 4/5 is found to be efficient in defining the laterite soil in the studied area.
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