SEDIMENTOLOGICAL AND HEAVY MINERALS STUDIES ON STREAM SEDIMENTS, EL-SHEIKH ABDELAL TOMB - EL-FAWAKHIR, CENTRAL EASTERN DESERT, EGYPT

Abstract

The wadi deposit samples collected along the Qift -El Quseir paved Road between El-Sheikh Abdelal tomb and El-Fawakhir gold mine are subjected to mineralogical and chemical analyses. The textural studies of the alluvial sediments clearly establish that these sediments are fine to very coarse-grained, poorly sorted, very fine-very coarse skewed, very platy to extremely leptokurtic deposited under moderate to low energy conditions. The heavy magnetic minerals are chiefly magnetite and goethite pseudomorph after pyrite while the nonmagnetic are the metallic mineral rutile, the non-metallic minerals are albite, apatite, sphene, cetrine, fluorite, sillimanite, tourmaline and garnet which, related to the metamorphic rocks exposed at Abu Fannani schist in Meatiq and Abu Zeran areas and mafic silicate minerals pyroxene, biotite, hornblende and epidote which, related to mafic-ultramafic rocks of El-Fawakhir ophiolite sequences. The light minerals are mainly quartz, muscovite and potash feldspars related to the alkali feldspar granites, syenogranites, monzogranite, granodiorites, tonalite, quartz diorite rocks and quartz plugs exposed at Abu Ziran, Um Selimate, Wadi Attala and Wadi El-Haramiya.