The geography and geology of south-eastern EgyptBall, John
Science
The geography and geology of south-eastern Egypt
Ball, John
Geology -- Egypt; Physical geography -- Egypt
A peculiar type of quartz-felsite [10,377] occurs associated with
serpentine and ophicalcites in the upper part of Gebel Ghadir. The
rock, which has a sp. gr. of 2·66, is nearly white, with a faint
greyish tinge and scattered reddish-brown specks. At first the
rock was taken for a granulite, which it very much resembles in
appearance, and the reddish-brown specks for garnet. But examination
with a lens shows the specks to be ferric oxide, and here and there
little crystals of glassy quartz can be seen. Under the microscope
the rock is found to consist mainly of an extremely fine-grained
semi-granulitic colourless ground mass in which are sparsely
scattered clear crystals of quartz, sometimes showing corrosion,
and straggling irregular patches of opaque iron oxide, often mixed
with nearly colourless wisps of mica. A few of the clear crystals
are in four-sided forms, and may possibly be felspar; but they
are perfectly free from alteration or twinning. The iron oxide is
doubtless the product of alteration of a ferro-magnesian mineral,
probably biotite. The minerals of the ground mass are difficult
of determination owing to the minuteness of the grains and the
absence of any colour, but apparently consist of quartz, felspar,
a colourless hornblende, and sericite.
The quartz-felsite dykes [10,356] which cut through the granite and
schists of Gebel Muelih appear as grooves in the granite, and as
back-bone ridges in the surrounding schists. They are pinkish-brown
close-textured rocks, with a dark marbling in places. The microscopic
slides show quartz and felspar in a confused ground mass, with
little flakes of a white micaceous mineral (sericite?) aggregated
round the porphyritic crystals and distributed through the felspars
and the ground mass.
The highly altered quartz-felsite [12,158] which forms Gebel
Butitelib, near Gebel Niqrub el Tahtani, appears to have formed
a boss or neck in the surrounding schists. The rock is a very
fine-grained grey to purplish one, in which no crystals can usually
be made out with the unaided eye. The sp. gr. is very low, being
only 2·32. Under the microscope one sees small highly corroded
crystals of quartz scattered through a clouded and glassy ground
mass. No traces of felspars can be seen, the crystals, if they
existed, having been decomposed and become undistinguishable from
the ground mass; nor can any ferro-magnesian minerals be made out,
though there are tiny granules and wisps of iron oxides which in
places show an arrangement suggestive of their having been derived
from the decomposition of such minerals.
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