GEOLOGICAL AND. GEOCHEMICAL PROSPECTING FOR,ASSESSMENT OF BASE METALS POTENTIAL IN WADI KID ANDEL :. l ' . . SFJEIKHAWAD LOCALITIES, SOUTH SINAI, .'•' '-•;, EGYPT

Abstract

The present study deals with geochemical prospecting for base metals carried out in two I i areas in southern Sinai. The first area, Wadi Kid is located in the southeastern part along the Gulf

of Aqaba however. The second area is located in southcentral part about 33kl from Saint I'

Catherine village. A systematic lithochemical prospecting work was carried out by both regional . I

and detailed surveys. Stream sediments, heavy mineral concentrates and representltive bedrock i samples are the main sampling media in the regional survey. In addition, the detailed survey on I restricted promising areas were concentrated on bedrock (lithochemical aureqles) and the

overlying residual soil (lithochemical dispersion aureoles). Moreover, the mineralogy! and chemical I composition of the detected ore element associations were determined using ore microscopy and I electron microprobe analysis. I I I A total of 502 samples was analyzed by XRF by the powder pellet method or exploration

work and 63 samples were analyzed by fused pellets for petrochemical interpretati n. In addition; I I 19 samples were analyzed by AAS and ICP for Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, Mo, Cd, As, Sb, Te. I Moreover, 97 microprobe analyses were carried on the ore minerals identified in thl two areas.

Wadi Kid area is a part of the Precambrian massif exposed in southern SinJ It is covered by the following rock units arranged according to AbdelAziz (1991). from olderl to younger as follows: gneisses, metasediments, metavolcanics, metagabbro-gabbro complex, syn-tectonic I

granitoids, volcanic flows and tuffs and late-tectonic granite The metavolcanic! rocks bearing I mineralization at Wadi Kid area range in composition from basalts through andesite to rhyodacite I

and they are predominately of calc-alkaline affinity with subordinate tholeiitic Jmembers The discrimination diagrams confirm that they are of volcanic arc setting but have a islight tholeiitic within-plate characters.