TECTONIC FRAME WORK OF EGYPT

Said (1962) differentiated the surface of

Egypt into the structural units:
- Arabo-Nubian massive or (the Arabian
shield),
-Stable shelf area-
-Unstable shelf area
-Gulf of Suez taphrogeosyncline.
TECTONIC FRAME
WORK OF EGYPT
1-ARABO-NUBIAN MASSIF:
This unit composed of aggregates of a mobile belt that
was developed in the early geologic history (Pre-
Cambrian).
They consist of acidic intrusions and sediments showing
considerable metamorphism (metasediments) and
granitization.
Metasediments in some localities in the Eastern Desert
attain few km in thickness.
The basement rocks of the Arabo-Nubian massif are
located in the southern Sinai, the Red Sea mountain
range as well as the southern parts of the Western
Desert.
The marginal parts of this unit were overlapped by
Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic seas.
2-STABLE SHELF :-
-This shelf surrounds the Arabo-Nubian massive.
Characterized by thin continental and epicontinental
sediments.
-This include the so called the Nubia Sandstone.
-It is capped by shallow marine sediments of the Late
Cretaceous- Early Tertiary.
-The thickness of the sedimentary cover ranges from
400m near the Arabian nucleus increases away to
reaches 1100m in Kharga to 2500m at the Stable-
Unstable shelf contact at Bahariya, in the Western
Desert or at Abu-Hamth in central Sinai.
-The sedimentary cover consists mainly of sandstones
capped by shales, marls and limestones.
STABLE SHELF AREA
Structurally: The mechanical reaction of the
sedimentary cover made crustal deformation that
produced folding and faulting in a large scale .
Folding plays a minor rule in the stable shelf area.
Two or possibly three fold sets are noted. The first
may rolls rather than folds, having great amplitude
and generally gentle dips, trending north to south,
these rolls are cut cross by two anticlines and
syncline, the anticlines are marked by Kharga
Oasis and Wadi Qena, the syncline is marked by
Nile basin, north of Luxor.
 STABLE SHELF AREA

Tethyan folds as in Ataqa and the two Galalas.

These structures are anticlines and synclines.
-Domal structures, formed due to the vertical movement of the
igneous masses beneath in south Western Desert.
Domal structures with northeast trend occur Along the Stable-
Unstable Shelf contact .symmetrical, generally small and have
gentle dips. As Somar dome, Abu-Hams dome, Nekhl dome in
Sinai.
The domal structure of Farafra is another example of this belt.
STABLE SHELF AREA
Faulting is the pronounced structural feature in this shelf; the following
are the recorded fault trends:
-North-South (East African) faults: are recognized in several parts of the
Stable Shelf as Kharga Oasis, Luxor-Gabal Abu Had, in the Southern
Galala.
-Northwest, Erythrean or Clysmic faulting: Faults of this trend
controlled the bath of the Nile between Qena and Assiut, The eastern
scarp of the Red Sea range as well as the scarps of Gabal Ataqa and
the two Galalas, in Wadi El Rayan, in Helwan- Beni-Swef, Nile
Valley.
-East-West (Tethyan) faulting: Noticed among the dykes in Raqabet El
Naam cutting across central Sinai.
-Northeast-Southwest (Aqaba trend) faults: are developed around the
Gulf of Aqaba rift. These faults govern the Red Sea, Nile Valley, and
Bahariya Oasis
3-UNSTABLE SHELF:

The Unstable Shelf area lies between the Stable Shelf to

the geosyncline (Mediterranean), occupying most of
northern Egypt.
Most of the area was covered by marine transgression at
least since the Paleozoic.
The thick sedimentary successions are mostly marine
consists of limestones, dolostones, marls, clays, and
sandstones.
UNSTABLE SHELF AREA
Said (1962) divided the sedimentary
successions into:
-Upper Clastic Division: Consists mainly of clastic
sediments, extends from Oligocene – Recent.
-Middle Carbonate Division: Formed mainly from
calcareous sediments, characterizing the
Cenomanian to Late Eocene.
-Lower Clastic Division: Composed mainly of
clastic sediments, characterizing the pre-
Cenomanian times, with interfingering
calcareous sediments (Jurassic).
 UNSTABLE SHELF AREA
Syrian Arc System: caused folding or
swelling the affected area.
This system is characterized by
-All the anticlines have northeast
direction.
-The anticlines are asymmetrical
having steeper depth in the
southern flanks than in the
northern.
-The folded rock units belonging to
the Triassic- Jurassic and
Cretaceous.
-
All these anticlines are faulted.
-The anticlines are linear as
Gabal Maghara- Abu Roash
line including Gabal
Maghara anticline, Um
Mafrouth, Risan Aneiza,
Shabraweet, Abu Roash
anticline.
Gabal Halal-Yelleg and Giddi
line including Gabal Libni,
Hamra, Gabal El Bruk, Arif
El Naqa anticline.
 Gabal Maghara Dome

Areif El Naqa Dome

 3-GULF OF SUEZ:

The Gulf of Suez extends from Lat.30o N, having

a general northwest direction and measures
about 350 km.
The Gulf of Suez area was subjected to the accumulation of a
great thickness of sediments (belonging to Paleozoic-
Mesozoic and Tertiary) in this subsiding area.
The Gulf region was shaped by tensional movements that
traced post Paleozoic and post Jurassic and Tertiary
movements
The great Tertiary movement brought the gulf into its present
shape.
Breadth -12-30 km----; - Depth about 40m
GULF OF SUEZ

Said (1962) introduced the

term Taphrogeosyncline
to this region since the
area was a subsiding
depression throughout
its entire geological
history and it is
extensively dislocated by
faulting.
The stratigraphic
sequences, facies
changes, and the
relationship of the
different faulted blocks
that border and build
the gulf area are quite
variable.
 GULF OF SUEZ

-No separate locality in the gulf area

can be wholly representative of the
stratigraphy and the structure of the
entire region.
-Therefore the gulf can be looked upon as a region
composed of large number of blocks that were
continuously rising and sinking at different times with
different magnitudes and intensities on their sides.
 GULF OF SUEZ
Bordering the gulf depression on the
eastern and the western sides there
are two major fault zones.
They are usually identified by the
coastal land strip that lies between
the marginal fault lines and the
shore of the Gulf is traversed by
numerous strike faults generally of
normal type.
Folding is of minor importance in the
structure of the Gulf of Suez and
when observed they are due to the
affect of fault movement as abu
Darag anticline.
 4-THE RED SEA:
The coast of the red sea in Egypt
extends from north of Hurgada
to Halaib (Egypt-Sudan border)
in about 650km in length.
The narrow coastal strip is built
up of Miocene, Pliocene and
Pleistocene deposits (sands,
gravels, coral reefs in the form
of terraces) and also of
calcareous sediments of and
lower Eocene outcrops.
RED SEA
The origin of the Red Sea is due to the divergence of the
Arabian plate from the African plate. It is believed that
the Red Sea is an embryonic ocean.
Several known islands as Shadwan, Zabargad, El Gaftune
are known in the Red Sea.
Shadwan Island: is located against Hurgada; it is built up
of Neogene sediments overlain by Quaternary deposits.
Zabargad Island :is composed of altrabasic rocks contains
the Zabargad mineral overlain by the Miocene
sediments and Quaternary coral reefs near the shore.
 5-GULF OF AQABA:
Gulf of Aqaba separate
Sinai from Saudi Arabia.
Its length reaches
200kms. and a breadth
of about 10-20kms, its
depth about 2000ms.
It differs from Gulf of Suez in :
-It is much deeper than the Gulf of Suez.
-Tectonically it is formed by strike-slip
major fault which extends in
Jordan(Wadi Araba and Died Sea).
-Its Egyptian coast much narrower than
the Gulf of Suez.
-It is younger in age that it is formed in the
Pliocene Period.
-At the entrance of the gulf there is the
Teran Island which is built up of
Miocene rocks and coral reefs.
 6- THE HINGE ZONE:
This is a tectonic built parallel to the Mediterranean Sea,
stretching with width of several Kilometers from Rafah
to the Egyptian Libyan border.
This zone passes at the southern part of Nile Delta and
parts of it lie in the Mediterranean Sea.

This Hinge Zone is characterized by the geologic sequence

in the north are much thicker than the south, the
are different from north to south. sedimentary facies
Liver-More and Smith(1985) wrote that during the Late
Cretaceous-Eocene the eastern Mediterranean
(Miogeosyncline) was subjected to a compressional
movement as a result of the subduction of the African-
Arabian plate beneath the Euro-Asiatic overthrust ,
producing faulted built along the Mediterranean
Coast
During the Oligo-Miocene normal fault system were
generated along that Hinge zone.
THE STRUCTURE OF HINGE ZONE
7-CAIRO-SUEZ DISTRICT:

The Cairo-Suez district has major geological features

separating it as unique unit from the unstable shelf as:
-The structures detected at the surface are mainly E-W and
NW-SE faults, these faults took placed as the result of the
late Oligocene tensional movement.
-Presence of true anticlinal folding in Shabraweet and Abu
Sultan as result of the Late Cretaceous Laramide
movement.
-Presence of extensive volcanic rocks (Oligocene Basalts).
-Relatively thin stratigraphic sections (Eocene or younger
sediments) compared with the other areas of the
Unstable Shelf.
CAIRO-SUEZ DISTRICT
Geology of Cairo-Suez District
 THE ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF THE DIFFERENT
:
UNITS
The Arabo-Nubian massif contains several ore
deposits of Igneous metamorphic and origin as the
gold-Quartz veins, Casseterite veins and placer
deposits, copper ores in the Eastern Desert and in
Sinai. Marble ores in Barramiya district, and the iron
ore in Aswan.
The Stable Shelf area contains sedimentary ore
deposits as the phosphate ores in the Nile Valley
and in Abu Tartur Plateau , and the Iron ores in
Bahariya Oasis.
The Unstable Shelf contains the coal deposits in El
Maghara anticline.
The Gulf of Suez produces major oil fields of Egypt.
The Red Sea area contains the phosphate ores in Qusier-
Safaga area, the Manganese deposits in Gabal Elba, the
sulphur and lead-zinc occurrences in Gabal El Rusas
and Um Gheig.
Cairo-Suez district contains an important building stones
as Abu Zaabal basalt, limestone quarries, sands and
Gravel deposits.