Rock Succession in Egyptian Nubian Shield

Abstract

The Precambrian basement of Egypt, represents approximately one-tenth of the land area of Egypt, defines an elongated belt extending parallel to the western side of Red Sea coast, with a triangular area in southern Sinai, and scattered inliers in the Southwestern Desert. The basement rocks along the Red Sea coast form the main part and have been divided into the North Eastern Desert (NED), Central Eastern Desert (CED) and South Eastern Desert (SED), with generally younger rock units in the north compared to the south. Several classification models have been proposed for the evolution of the basement complex in Egypt; however, the general consensus is that the basement evolved through progressive cratonization and assembly of island arcs during the period 900–550 Ma. The exposed rock units include four groups according to their ages and field relations: (1) a gneiss assemblage, (2) an ophiolite assemblage, (3) an arc assemblage and (4) igneous intrusions.