Summary: | The use of processed Landsat ETM + images and the application of geomorphotectonic concepts supplemented by extensive geological field work enabled the effective record of iron occurrences in the area located to the west of Lake Nasser. Three clearly newly differentiated landforms are evaluated for the possible presence of iron occurrences. Each landform is controlled by a specific tectonic environment and includes one of the three stratigraphic formations hosting iron deposits in the area. These landforms are: Area 1 (Kurkur landform), including plunging anticlines and domes affecting the Abu Aggag Formation. This formation is unconformably overlain by horizontal sandstone beds belonging to the Temsah Formation. The unconformity surface includes paleosols rich in limonite, crystallized gypsum in the form of roses and clay minerals. Area 2 (Tushka landform) extends to the south of the Allaqi fault. The area includes yardangs carved in horizontal sandstone beds interstratified with some hematite bed, in addition to several fragments of hematite and magnetite as wadi deposits and desert varnish. Area 3 (Abu Simbel landform) includes conical hills constituted by flattened horizontal beds belonging to the El Burg Formation. Each hill is capped by thick hematite/magnetite beds extending from Tushka to the border with Sudan. The Nubia Sandstone, here, includes three formations, namely: the Abu Aggag, Temsah, and Um Baramil.
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