Structural controls on Neoproterozoic mineralization in the South Eastern Desert, Egypt: an integrated field, Landsat TM, and SIR-C/X SAR approach

The Arabian–Nubian Shield represents a complex amalgam of arcs and microcontinents assembled during Neoproterozoic closure of the Mozambique Ocean. The 750–720 Ma Allaqi suture is an arc/arc collision zone, formed when the Gerf terrane in the north overrode the circa 830–720 Ma Gabgaba terrane in the south, prior to closure of the Mozambique Ocean. Neoproterozoic rocks include ophiolitic ultramafic–mafic rocks, metasediments, intermediate metavolcanic rocks, intrusive gabbro-diorite rocks, granodiorites, biotite granites, and leucocratic granites. High-pressure/low-temperature metamorphism has been documented in rocks of the suture zone. Mineral deposits include nickel–copper–platinum and podiform chromite in ultramafic rocks, marble, gold-bearing quartz-veins in D2 and D3 shear zones, and radioactive mineralization associated with late leucocratic granitic rocks. Integrated field mapping and remote sensing techniques are used to distinguish and map the relationships between rock units, structures, and alteration zones associated with mineral deposits along the Allaqi suture of Egypt's SE Desert. Landsat TM images processed using a band ratioing technique show different rock types remarkably well, and are able to distinguish between alteration zones associated with ultramafic rocks (listwaenites) and those associated with leucocratic granitic rocks (greisenization, silicification and albitization). Black and white L-band SIR-C/X SAR images outline foliations, faults and folds that control mineralization at several deposits in the area, whereas color composite multiband Chh-Lhh-Lhv SIR-C/X SAR images reveal some elliptical granitic bodies that host radioactive mineralization. E-trending, tight to isoclinal, gently dipping folds, thrust faults and subvertical shear zones related to the Allaqi suture are overprinted by N-oriented structures related to the Wadi Ungate shear zone, formed during collision of east and west Gondwana during closure of the Mozambique Ocean. The location of the Wadi Ungate shear zone in the Wadi Shellman area was previously unknown due to burial of basement rocks beneath thin dry sands. A new structural map was prepared using Landsat TM ratio images and SIR-C/X SAR imagery. SIR-C/X SAR data conveys considerably more information about rocks and structures beneath the thin sand cover than discernible from aerial photographs or Landsat TM images.