Tectonics and mineralization of Wadi Allaqi, south Eastern Desert, Egypt

Abstract

Neoproterozoic volcanic, sedimentary and volcano-sedimentary rocks of central Wadi Allaqi were deformed and metamorphosed to greenschist facies during the Pan-African orogeny. Three major, geochemically and lithostratigraphically distinct, tectonic-stratigraphy Successions with an intermediate tectonically-emplaced unit of ophiolitic rocks (Gebel Taylor Wedge), which have been metamorphosed to blueschists facies prior to emplacement, are recognised. The tectonic pile has been intruded by four granitic plutons and basic igneous sills, which were emplaced at various stages in the tectonic history. A series of large-scale thrust duplexes with a few major nappe-like folds and shear-zones, the most conspicuous of which is the Allaqi Shear-zone, structurally dominate the area. A complex polyphase structural history has been deduced consisting of earlier ductile and late more brittle deformation phases and this has been related to the regional metamorphic development. A gold mineralized quartz vein system was emplaced syn-tectonically along the first deformation (D1) shear-zones. Data from structures, petrography, fluid inclusions and stable isotopes of oxygen and hydrogen tend to support a metamorphic provenance for the auriferous fluids. The petrological, geochemical and structural evidence strongly support a back-arc basin environment for the sedimentary development of central Wadi Allaqi before the Pan-African Orogeny. A single Wilson Cycle is proposed for the evolution of the area, in which following an extensional phase, during which the marginal elements of the ancient Mozambique Ocean (in the sense of Dalziel 1991) were developed. Back-arc sedimentary rocks and volcaniclastic rocks were metamorphosed and transported as a thrust-duplex system northward over the Nile Craton and any associated marginal sedimentary sequence.