Egypt: Civilization and Geology,  GeologicTime Scale and Pharonic civilization, bedrock outcrop in Egypt, non-metallic, resource

1. Egypt
Civilization and Geology
Hassan Z. Harraz
hharraz2006@yahoo.com

2. TYPES OF ROCKS - The Rock Cycle

3. The
Geologic
Time
Scale

4. EGYPT
BEDROCK

5. BEDROCK OF
EGYPT
Top Layer
Limestones
Intermediate Layer
Sandstone
The Basement Complex
Igneous Rocks
And
Metamorphic

6. BEDROCK OF
EGYPT
Top Layer
Limestones
Intermediate Layer
Sandstone
The Basement Complex
Igneous Rocks
And
Metamorphic

7. BEDROCK OF
EGYPT
Top Layer
Limestones
Intermediate Layer
Sandstone
The Basement Complex
Igneous Rocks
And
Metamorphic

8. BEDROCK OF
EGYPT
Top Layer
Limestones
Intermediate Layer
Sandstone
The Basement Complex
Igneous Rocks
And
Metamorphic

9. BEDROCK OF
EGYPT
Top Layer
Limestones
Intermediate Layer
Sandstone
The Basement Complex
Igneous Rocks
And
Metamorphic

10. According to the “Rock Cycle,”
New IGNEOUS ROCK can be made from:
A.) Sedimentary Rock
B.) Metamorphic Rock
C.) Older Igneous Rock
D.) All of the Above
E.) Only A and B
F.) None of the Above –
It Only Comes from the Mantle

11. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Precambrian
0.59 billion
(590 million)
to
4.6 billion
years ago
SW (West Nile Craton)
2 billion years ago
Eastern Desert and Sinai
0.5 to 1 billion years ago
The
BASEMENT
COMPLEX

12. The Past

13. THE BASEMENT COMPLEX
Continuous Beneath The Entire Country
Southwest at
Gebel Uweinat

14. THE BASEMENT COMPLEX
Continuous Beneath The Entire Country
Southwest at
Gebel Uweinat
Scattered southern
portions of the
Western Desert

15. THE BASEMENT COMPLEX
Continuous Beneath The Entire Country
Southern
Portion of
the Sinai
Southwest at
Gebel Uweinat
Scattered southern
portions of the
Western Desert

16. THE BASEMENT COMPLEX
Continuous Beneath The Entire Country
High
Mountains
Eastern
Desert
Southern
Portion of
the Sinai
Southwest at
Gebel Uweinat
Scattered southern
portions of the
Western Desert

17. THE BASEMENT COMPLEX
Continuous Beneath The Entire Country
High
Mountains
Eastern
Desert
Southern
Portion of
the Sinai
Aswan at the
First Nile Cataract
Southwest at
Gebel Uweinat
Scattered southern
portions of the
Western Desert

18. BASEMENT COMPLEX
Sinai Area
Metamorphic Rocks Cut
by Igneous Intrusions
Photos by: Alan Kehew

24. THE PRECAMBRIAN ROCKS OF EGYPT
ARE COMPOSED OF:
A.) Igneous Rocks
B.) Metamorphic Rocks
C.) Sedimentary Rocks
D.) All of the Above
E.) Only A and B

25. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Paleocene – 55 to 65 million years ago
Shale (mud)
Late Cretaceous – 80 to 90 million years ago
Fine, White Limestone (often called Chalk)
Shale (mud)
Nubian Sandstone

26. The Past

27. Figure 3-39ACONTINENTAL DRIFT Late Paleozoic
Tethys Sea
Late Paleozoic

28. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Paleocene – 55 to 65 million years ago
Shale (mud)
Late Cretaceous – 80 to 90 million years ago
Fine, White Limestone (often called Chalk)
Shale (mud)
Nubian Sandstone

29. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
late Cretaceous
80 million
to
90 million
years ago
INTERMEDIATE
ROCK UNITS
Nubian Sandstone

30. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Nubian Sandstone
• medium-sized silica gains
• loosely cemented with quartz and iron oxide
(ferruginous) cements and chlorite clays
• highly porous and friable
easy to quarry and carve
• strength – sparse
but always present due to quartz cement
• iron produces yellow-red-brown color
• manganese sometimes present produces
purple to black color

31. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Nubian Sandstone
exposed in southern Egypt (1/3 of country)
and in northern Nubia (Sudan)

32. THE NUBIAN SANDSTONE OF EGYPT IS:
A.) Well Cemented, Very Dense and Hard
B.) Moderately Cemented and Reasonably
Durable due to Quartz Cement
C.) Poorly Cemented and NO Use
as a Building Stone
D.) Only Found as Loose Sand in Wide-spread
Sand Sheets throughout the Western Desert
E.) Never Exposed at the Surface

33. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
late Cretaceous
80 million
to
90 million
years ago
INTERMEDIATE
ROCK UNITS
Nubian Sandstone
Basement Complex
UNCONFORMITY
(MISSING ROCK)
Basement Complex
Uplifted, Weathered
and Eroded Away

34. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Paleocene – 55 to 65 million years ago
Shale (mud)
Late Cretaceous – 80 to 90 million years ago
Fine, White Limestone (often called Chalk)
Shale (mud)
Nubian Sandstone

35. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Paleocene – 55 to 65 million years ago
Shale (mud)
Late Cretaceous – 80 to 90 million years ago
Fine, White Limestone (often called Chalk)
Shale (mud)
Nubian Sandstone

36. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
late Cretaceous
80 million
to
90 million
years ago
INTERMEDIATE
ROCK UNITS
Fine, White Limestone
(often called Chalk)
overlays a layer of
Shale
Nubian Sandstone

37. Facies Development
Marine Transgressions
and Regressions
General Model

38. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Paleocene – 55 to 65 million years ago
Shale (mud)
Late Cretaceous – 80 to 90 million years ago
Fine, White Limestone (often called Chalk)
Shale (mud)
Nubian Sandstone

39. INTERMEDIATE ROCK UNITS
Paleocene – 55 to 65 million years ago
Shale (mud)
Late Cretaceous – 80 to 90 million years ago
Fine, White Limestone (often called Chalk)
Shale (mud)
Nubian Sandstone

40. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Paleocene
55 million
to
65 million
years ago
INTERMEDIATE
ROCK UNITS
Paleocene Shale
(Text book refers to this
as part of the Cretaceous
Limestone and Shale Package)

41. Facies Development
Marine Transgressions
and Regressions
General Model

42. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Paleocene Shale
Cretaceous Shale
and Limestone

43. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Present
• Alluvium deposited in Nile River Valley, Sand Sheets and
Dunes in the Western Desert and Sinai
Pliocene 5.1 to 2 million years ago
• Seas retreat - Erosion and Denudation
Miocene 24.6 to 5.1 million years ago
• Limestones
Oligocene 38 to 24.6 million years ago
• Regional Tectonics as Red Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows
• Conglomerates along coast
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
• Limestone

44. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Present
• Alluvium deposited in Nile River Valley, Sand Sheets and
Dunes in the Western Desert and Sinai
Pliocene 5.1 to 2 million years ago
• Seas retreat - Erosion and Denudation
Miocene 24.6 to 5.1 million years ago
• Limestones
Oligocene 38 to 24.6 million years ago
• Regional Tectonics as Red Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows
Conglomerates along coast
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
• Limestone

45. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Eocene
38 million
to
55 million
years ago
UPPER
ROCK UNITS
Eocene
Limestone
Giza Plateau and
Pyramids are composed
of Eocene Limestone

46. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
Limestone
• thickness varies due to deposition on folded
substrate (north-south compression at end of
Cretaceous Period)
• composition varies due to deposition during
transgression of Tethys Sea
• various members (sub-layers) can be distinguished
• units become thicker basinward toward the north
due to that portion always being covered by
the transgressing Tethys Sea
• units dip gently to the north due to
post-depositional tectonic uplift

47. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Eocene Limestone exposed in
central Egypt north to Cairo

48. LIMESTONE WOULD BE EXPECTED TO
OCCUR ______________ THE ROCK
SEQUENCE DUE TO A TRANSGRESSIVE
EVENT (RISE IN SEA LEVEL)
A.) at the Top of
B.) at the Bottom of
C.) at the Middle of
D.) Throughout
E.) Nowhere in

49. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Present
• Alluvium deposited in Nile River Valley, Sand Sheets and
Dunes in the Western Desert and Sinai
Pliocene 5.1 to 2 million years ago
• Seas retreat - Erosion and Denudation
Miocene 24.6 to 5.1 million years ago
• Limestones
Oligocene 38 to 24.6 million years ago
• Regional Tectonics as Red Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows
• Conglomerates along coast
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
• Limestone

50. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Oligocene
38 to 24.6 million
years ago
UPPER
ROCK UNITS
• Regional Tectonics as Red
Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows in SW
near Gebel Uweinat,
Gilf Kebir, north of
Fayum to NE of Cairo
• Tethys Sea coast-latitude of
Fayum Depression &
Cairo
• Conglomerates with land
animal fossils and large
tree trunks deposited in
streams along coast

51. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Basalt sheet
flows in SW near
Gebel Uweinat

52. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Basalt sheet flows
near Gilf Kebir
Basalt sheet
flows in SW near
Gebel Uweinat

53. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Basalt sheet flows
near Gilf Kebir
Basalt sheet
flows in SW near
Gebel Uweinat
Basalt sheet flows
north of Fayum to
NE of Cairo

54. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Tethys Sea coast at
latitude of Fayum
Depression & Cairo
Conglomerates with
land animal fossils
and large tree trunks
deposited in streams
along coast

55. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Present
• Alluvium deposited in Nile River Valley, Sand Sheets and
Dunes in the Western Desert and Sinai
Pliocene 5.1 to 2 million years ago
• Seas retreat - Erosion and Denudation
Miocene 24.6 to 5.1 million years ago
• Limestones
Oligocene 38 to 24.6 million years ago
• Regional Tectonics as Red Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows
• Conglomerates along coast
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
• Limestone

56. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Miocene
24.6 to 5.1 million
years ago
UPPER
ROCK UNITS
Limestones deposited south
of modern Mediterranean
Sea coast and Gulf of Suez
coast (early-mid Miocene)

57. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Limestones deposited south of modern
Mediterranean Sea coast and Gulf of
Suez coast (early-mid Miocene)

58. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Present
• Alluvium deposited in Nile River Valley, Sand Sheets and
Dunes in the Western Desert and Sinai
Pliocene 5.1 to 2 million years ago
• Seas retreat - Erosion and Denudation
Miocene 24.6 to 5.1 million years ago
• Limestones
Oligocene 38 to 24.6 million years ago
• Regional Tectonics as Red Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows
• Conglomerates along coast
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
• Limestone

59. TRUE or FLASE
Extensive, area-wide erosion took place during
the Pliocene due to a regression (relative drop in
sea level or tectonic rise in land elevation)

60. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Pliocene
5.1 to 2 million
years ago
UPPER
ROCK UNITS
• Seas retreated
probably land uplifted
• Erosion and denudation
variable throughout
Egypt
• Bedrock exposed as
erosion proceeded

61. UPPER ROCK UNITS
Present
• Alluvium deposited in Nile River Valley, Sand Sheets and
Dunes in the Western Desert and Sinai
Pliocene 5.1 to 2 million years ago
• Seas retreat - Erosion and Denudation
Miocene 24.6 to 5.1 million years ago
• Limestones
Oligocene 38 to 24.6 million years ago
• Regional Tectonics as Red Sea begins to open
• Basalt sheet flows
• Conglomerates along coast
Eocene – 38 million to 55 million years ago
• Limestone

62. The
Geologic
Time
Scale
Present
UPPER
ROCK UNITS
Alluvium deposited in Nile
River Valley, Sand Sheets
and Dunes in the Western
Desert and Sinai

63. EGYPT
BEDROCK
Alluvium deposited
in Nile River Valley
Sand Sheets and
Dunes deposited
in the Western
Desert
Sand Sheets
and Dunes
deposited in
the Sinai
Delta Growth

64. Egypt
Civilization and Geology