Significant Enrichment of Rare Earth Element Concentrations in Stream Sediments of Sharm El-Sheikh Area, Southern Sinai-Egypt: Geochemical Prospecting and Heavy Mineral Survey

Abstract

Economic rare earth element bearing-heavy mineral accommodation in alluvial deposits (stream sediments) is a well-known process caused by varying rates of weathering and transportation of heavy minerals and sediments, which is significant in geochemical exploration. In the present work, stream sediment samples from Wadi Lethi, Sharm El-Sheikh, were systematically collected. The collected stream sediments were investigated mineralogically and geochemically using collaborative techniques. The separated heavy fractions have been analyzed for trace elements and Rare Earth Element. Important heavy minerals identified are monazite, sphene, apatite, garnet, xenotime, magnetite, ilmenite, and hematite, with subordinate riebeckite, epidote, and chlorite. Geochemical analyses of the separated heavy minerals revealed an abnormal concentration of total Rare Earth Element that was more than eleven times higher than in the studied area's granitic rocks. The Rare Earth Elements trends of these minerals depict the enrichment of light rare earth elements and the depletion of heavy rare earth elements, as well as the typical negative Eu anomaly found in granitic magma.