GEOLOGY AND TECTONIC EVOLUTION of Arais Eastern Desert of Egypt

GEOLOGY AND TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE AREA AROUND WADI ARAIS, SOUTHEASTERN DESERT, EGYPT

M. F. Ghoneim1, E. M. Lebda2, B. B. Nasr3 and M.Z. Khedr2

1- Geology department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University.

2- Department of Biological and Geological Science, Faculty of Education,

Tanta University at Kafr El-Sheik.

3- Egyptian Geological Survey, Cairo.

ABSTRACT

The present work deals with geological field study of the area around wadi Arais (568 Km2), Southern Eastern Desert of Egypt. The area comprises the following sequence of rock units; Beitan gneisses, Dismember Ophiolite, Arc Assemblage, Arais Melang and Younger Granites. Beitan gneisses represent the oldest rock unit and are overthrusted by the ophiolite melange. They are made up of biotite gneisses , biotite-muscovite gneisses and muscovite gneisses. The dismember ophiolite includes Arais serpentinites and Arais metagabbro. Arc assemblage is represented by Um Araka metavolcanics. Arais Melange comprises a matrix of volcanoclasti ivided into hornblend metagabbro, actinolite metagabbro, appinitic metagabbro, quartz metagabbro, diorite, quartz diorite and amphibolite. The metavolcanics consist of metabasalt, metaandesite and metadacite. Younger granites include Abu Bayt cataclastic gneissose granite, Hindusi monzo syenogranites, and Arais alkali feldspar granites. Opaque minerology of the serpentinites, metagabbros and metavolcanics is reported. In serpentinite rocks, chromite is the main mineral whereas magnetite is the second in abundance after chromite. Ilmenite is

the chief opaque mineral in the metagabbros and metavolcanic with subordinate amount of magnetite, hematite, sphene, geothite and sulphide. The tectonic setting and evolution of 

the studied area has been suggested from the point of view of plate tectonics.

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