Contributions to the mineralogy and geochemistry of some iron-ore deposits in Egypt (U.A.R.)

This paper deals with the mineralogy and geochemistry of the economically most interesting Egyptian iron-ore deposits. It is specifically concerned with the examination of the iron-ores occurring at East Aswan, in the Eastern Desert, at Bahariya Oasis, in the Western Desert, and in several localities of the Eastern Desert near the Red Sea coast. This study has thrown some light upon the nature of the ore and gangue minerals, the paragenesis and the probable origin of the iron-ore deposits in the above mentioned areas. The iron-ore deposits of these localities vary greatly in their mineralogical and chemical composition as well as in the nature of their associated rocks, as also regarding the assemblage of trace elements.

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Zusammenfassung Die vorliegende Arbeit über die Mineralogie und Geochemie der abbauwürdigsten Eisenerzlagerstätten von Ägypten behandelt in erster Linie die Lagerstätten von Ostassuan, der Oase Bagarya und verschiedener Lagerstätten der östlichen Wüsten in der Nähe der Küste des Roten Meeres. Nach einer Diskussion der Erz- und Gangmineralien wird die Paragenese und die wahrscheinliche Genese erörtert. Insbesondere werden die Unterschiede in der mineralogischen Zusammensetzung des Nebengesteins und der Spurenelemente aufgeführt und für die genetische Deutung verwendet.

     

Shell repair and drilling in some gastropods from the Ripley Formation (Upper Cretaceous) of the south-eastern U.S.A.

Breakage-induced shell repair and drilling were studied in 548 shells belonging to 24 species of gastropod from the Ripley Formation (latest Campanian-Maastrichtian) of the south-eastern U.S.A. Frequencies of repair are high even by Recent standards. These is no relationship between the frequency of shell repair and shell architecture. Repair increases in frequency with increasing shell length. Drilling, which is less common in Ripley gastropods than in most warm-water Tertiary species, decreases in frequency with increasing shell length.     

Paleomagnetism of the triassic chugwater redbeds revisited (Wyoming, U.S.A.)

Paleomagnetic results from 107 samples of the Chugwater Group near Lander, Wyoming, show a regular progression in pole positions from bottom to top of the sequence. This pole position trend of about 25° matches very well the North American apparent polar wander path between Early Permian and Early Triassic. It could be argued that this “agreement” results in a conflict between the apparent magnetic age (Permian) and the Early to Late Triassic age generally assigned to the Chugwater Group. However, similar progressions of paleomagnetic pole positions have been reported for the Early Triassic Moenkopi Formation in Colorado; thus it appears that long-term variations and swings characterized the geomagnetic field at that time. With detailed paleomagnetic sampling, these features can be utilized for stratigraphic correlation in addition to magnetic-reversal stratigraphy. This will eliminate, to some degree, part of the non-uniqueness inherently present in correlations based on reversal stratigraphy only.     

Mineralogical and geochemical studies on Egyptian (U.A.R.) black sands

The economic mineral constituents of the black sand deposits occurring at the outpourings of the Nile Delta, Egypt, were studied from the mineralogical and geochemical point of view. These include magnetite, ilmenite, zircon, monazite, rutile und garnet. Microscopical, X-ray, chemical und spectrographic analyses are reported and discussed for each mineral.

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Zusammenfassung Die wirtschaftlich wichtigen Mineralkomponenten der Schwarzsand-Ablagerungen, die an den Mündungen des Nildeltas in Ägypten vorkommen, wurden in mineralogischer und geochemischer Hinsicht untersucht. Sie enthalten Magnetit, Ilmenit, Zirkon, Monazit, Rutil und Granat. Mikroskopische, röntgenographische, chemische und spektrographische Analysen werden für jedes Mineral angeführt und diskutiert.

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With 9 Figures in the Text     

Fluvial, tidal and storm sedimentation in the Chilhowee Group (Lower Cambrian), northeastern Tennessee, U.S.A.

The Lower Cambrian Chilhowee Group of northeastern Tennessee consists of the Unicoi, Hampton and Erwin Formations, and is divided into four facies. The conglomerate facies occurs only within the lower 200 m of measured section (the Unicoi Formation) and consists of fine-grained to pebbly quartz wacke with rare thin beds of laminated siltstone. Low-angle to horizontally laminated, fine-grained sandstone with laminae and lenses of granules and pebbles represents upper flow-regime, overbank deposition within a braided stream system that was close to a coastline. Medium-scale, planar-tabular cross-stratified conglomerate in which megaripple bedforms are preserved is interpreted as representing deposition in interbar pools of braided channels, as flood stage waned and larger bedforms ceased to migrate. Large-scale, planar-tabular cross-stratified conglomerate beds represent migration of large transverse bars within a broad braided stream channel during high flood stage. The sandstone facies occurs throughout the Chilhowee Group, and is therefore interbedded with all other facies. It consists of mainly medium- to very coarse-grained, subarkosic to arkosic arenite. Thinly interbedded, laminated siltstone and sandstone, which may exhibit wavy or lenticular bedding, represents deposition during slack water periods between ebb and flood tides. Large-scale planar-tabular and trough cross-stratification reflects deposition within the deepest areas of subtidal channels, whereas medium-scale cross-stratification represents deposition in shallower water on shoals separating channels. Fining- and thinning-upward sequences most likely resulted from the longshore migration of channels and shoals. The hummocky facies occurs only in the Erwin Formation and consists of horizontally laminated to hummocky stratified, fine-grained arkosic to subarkosic arenite interbedded with equal amounts of bioturbated mudstone. It represents deposition between storm and fairweather wave-base by combined-flow storm currents. The quartz arenite facies is characterized by an absence of fine-grained units and lithologically consists of a super-mature, medium- to coarse-grained quartz arenite. Large-scale planar-tabular cross-stratification and abundant low-angle cross-stratification with rare symmetrical ripples (lower quartz arenite facies) occurs interbedded with the braided fluvial conglomerate facies, and was deposited within either a ridge-and-runnel system or a system of nearshore bars. Large-scale, planar-tabular cross-stratification (upper quartz arenite facies), which forms the top of two 40 m-thick coarsening-upward sequences of the type: hummocky faciessandstone faciesquartz arenite facies, probably represents deposition on sand ridges that formed on a sand-starved shelf as transgression caused the detachment and reworking of shoreface channel-shoal couplets. Palaeocurrent data for the Chilhowee Group are unimodal but widely dispersed from 0° to 180°, and exhibit a minor mode to the west. The data are interpreted to reflect the influence of longshore, tidal and storm currents. The ichnofossil assemblage changes upsection from one characterized only by Paleophycus to a Skolithos ichnofacies and finally to a Cruziana ichnofacies. The facies sequence, biogenic and palaeocurrent data reflect the interaction through time of (I) non-marine and marine processes; and (2) transgression coupled with shoreline progradation. The Chilhowee Group represents an overall deepening from terrestrial deposition to a marine shoreface that experienced both longshore and tidal currents, and finally to a storm shelf environment that periodically shoaled upward.     

A drowned lycopsid forest above the Mahoning coal (Conemaugh Group, Upper Pennsylvanian) in eastern Ohio, U.S.A.

Over 800 mud-filled casts of upright lycopsid tree stumps have been documented immediately above the Mahoning coal in an active underground mine located in northwestern Jefferson County, Ohio. The coal body originated as a pod-shaped peat body of 60 km². Trees are rooted at several levels within a thin (15–40 cm) bone coal directly above the banded coal; they extend upward up to 15 cm into overlying, flat-bedded, carbonaceous mudstones that coarsen up. From a maximum basal diameter of 1.2 m, stumps taper upward to diameters no less than 0.3 m. Within single-entry transects, < 6 m wide that total 2585 m in length, stumps are randomly distributed. The trees are identified as lepidodenrids on the basis of gross morphology, external stem patterns, and attached stigmarian root systems, and provisionally as Lepidophloios or Lepidodendron by associated palynology of the enclosing matrix. Palynological analyses of incremental seam samples indicate an initial dominance of lycopsid spores with lepidodendracean affinities (Lycospora granulata from Lepidophloios hallii), replaced upwards by tree-fern spores, with a reoccurrence of lepidodendracean spores in the upper benches: spores of Sigillaria (Crassispora) are abundant only at the base of the coal. Petrographic analyses indicate a prallel trend from vitrinite-rich to inertinite- and liptinite-rich upward in the coal body. All data indicate that the peat represented by the Mahoning coal was drowned slowly. During the earliest stages of inundation, a lycopsid forest was re-established, only to be subsequently drowned.