Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology

Abstract The magmatic complex along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert of Egypt, represents the northern segment of the Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS), which developed within the framework of the East African Orogen. The basement rocks of the Arabian-Nubian Shield have been developed...

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Main Authors: Sherif Mansour, Noriko Hasebe, Kamal Abdelrahman, Mohammed S. Fnais, Mohamed A. Gharib, Rabiou Habou, Akihiro Tamura
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2024-10-01
Series:Geochemical Transactions
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12932-024-00095-7
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author Sherif Mansour
Noriko Hasebe
Kamal Abdelrahman
Mohammed S. Fnais
Mohamed A. Gharib
Rabiou Habou
Akihiro Tamura
author_facet Sherif Mansour
Noriko Hasebe
Kamal Abdelrahman
Mohammed S. Fnais
Mohamed A. Gharib
Rabiou Habou
Akihiro Tamura
author_sort Sherif Mansour
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The magmatic complex along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert of Egypt, represents the northern segment of the Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS), which developed within the framework of the East African Orogen. The basement rocks of the Arabian-Nubian Shield have been developed through three distinct phases of magmatic activity: the island-arc, the syn-orogenic, and the post-orogenic phases. Transitioning of the magmatic phases from the syn-orogenic to the post-orogenic, identifies changing the tectonic regime from a compressional to an extensional setting. The scarcity of comprehensive regional geochronological data that rely on precise isochron methods, such as the zircon U-Pb technique, could limit the comprehensive understanding of this region’s geological and tectonic history. That would raise a number of uncertainties ranging from the timing of the different magmatic activities and timing of changes in the tectonic regime to the existence of the pre-Pan-African crust in the CED. Our study provides new insights into the aforementioned uncertainties through zircon U-Pb dating of different rock units along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, CED, Egypt. The resulting ages ranged from 729 ± 3 Ma to 570 ± 2 Ma, constraining the temporal evolution of the ANS in the studied region into (1) the island-arc phase, represented by a metamorphic sample with an age of 729 ± 3 Ma. (2) the syn-orogenic phase, represented by calc-alkaline and alkaline granitic samples with ages ranging from 699 ± 4 Ma to 646 ± 2 Ma. These two phases indicate initiation of the compressional subduction regime in the CED since 729 ± 3 Ma and being dominated till 646 ± 2 Ma. (3) the post-orogenic phase, represented by metavolcanics, volcanic rocks, and alkaline plutonic samples with ages ranging from 623 ± 3 Ma to 570 ± 2 Ma. This phase suggests dominance of the compressional-to-extensional tectonic transition setting from 623 ± 3 Ma to 600 ± 1 Ma along with the Dokhan volcanism and activation of post-collision tensional regime activated at 582 ± 3 Ma. Our findings discourage the proposed dominance of the island-arc and syn-orogenic phases in the CED and the classical restriction of older magmatic activity to calc-alkaline granitic rocks and younger magmatic activity to alkaline granitic rocks. Additionally, we identified evidence of local magmatic sources by dating five grains with Mesoproterozoic (pre-Arabian–Nubian Shield) xenocrysts with ages ranging from 1549 ± 4 to 1095 ± 25 Ma.
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spelling doaj-art-fa2336b7d32243eb86c88dfb77b7a8292025-08-20T02:18:35ZengBMCGeochemical Transactions1467-48662024-10-0125112310.1186/s12932-024-00095-7Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronologySherif Mansour0Noriko Hasebe1Kamal Abdelrahman2Mohammed S. Fnais3Mohamed A. Gharib4Rabiou Habou5Akihiro Tamura6Geology Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said UniversityInstitute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa UniversityDepartment of Geology & Geophysics, College of Science, King Saud UniversityDepartment of Geology & Geophysics, College of Science, King Saud UniversityGeology Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said UniversityFaculty of Environmental Sciences, University of DiffaDepartment of Earth Sciences, Kanazawa UniversityAbstract The magmatic complex along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert of Egypt, represents the northern segment of the Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS), which developed within the framework of the East African Orogen. The basement rocks of the Arabian-Nubian Shield have been developed through three distinct phases of magmatic activity: the island-arc, the syn-orogenic, and the post-orogenic phases. Transitioning of the magmatic phases from the syn-orogenic to the post-orogenic, identifies changing the tectonic regime from a compressional to an extensional setting. The scarcity of comprehensive regional geochronological data that rely on precise isochron methods, such as the zircon U-Pb technique, could limit the comprehensive understanding of this region’s geological and tectonic history. That would raise a number of uncertainties ranging from the timing of the different magmatic activities and timing of changes in the tectonic regime to the existence of the pre-Pan-African crust in the CED. Our study provides new insights into the aforementioned uncertainties through zircon U-Pb dating of different rock units along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, CED, Egypt. The resulting ages ranged from 729 ± 3 Ma to 570 ± 2 Ma, constraining the temporal evolution of the ANS in the studied region into (1) the island-arc phase, represented by a metamorphic sample with an age of 729 ± 3 Ma. (2) the syn-orogenic phase, represented by calc-alkaline and alkaline granitic samples with ages ranging from 699 ± 4 Ma to 646 ± 2 Ma. These two phases indicate initiation of the compressional subduction regime in the CED since 729 ± 3 Ma and being dominated till 646 ± 2 Ma. (3) the post-orogenic phase, represented by metavolcanics, volcanic rocks, and alkaline plutonic samples with ages ranging from 623 ± 3 Ma to 570 ± 2 Ma. This phase suggests dominance of the compressional-to-extensional tectonic transition setting from 623 ± 3 Ma to 600 ± 1 Ma along with the Dokhan volcanism and activation of post-collision tensional regime activated at 582 ± 3 Ma. Our findings discourage the proposed dominance of the island-arc and syn-orogenic phases in the CED and the classical restriction of older magmatic activity to calc-alkaline granitic rocks and younger magmatic activity to alkaline granitic rocks. Additionally, we identified evidence of local magmatic sources by dating five grains with Mesoproterozoic (pre-Arabian–Nubian Shield) xenocrysts with ages ranging from 1549 ± 4 to 1095 ± 25 Ma.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12932-024-00095-7Magmatic complexZircon U-Pb datingArabian-Nubian ShieldEastern DesertLA-ICP-MS geochronology
spellingShingle Sherif Mansour
Noriko Hasebe
Kamal Abdelrahman
Mohammed S. Fnais
Mohamed A. Gharib
Rabiou Habou
Akihiro Tamura
Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology
Geochemical Transactions
Magmatic complex
Zircon U-Pb dating
Arabian-Nubian Shield
Eastern Desert
LA-ICP-MS geochronology
title Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology
title_full Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology
title_fullStr Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology
title_full_unstemmed Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology
title_short Development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield along the Marsa Alam-Idfu transect, Central-Eastern Desert, Egypt: geochemical implementation of zircon U-Pb geochronology
title_sort development of the arabian nubian shield along the marsa alam idfu transect central eastern desert egypt geochemical implementation of zircon u pb geochronology
topic Magmatic complex
Zircon U-Pb dating
Arabian-Nubian Shield
Eastern Desert
LA-ICP-MS geochronology
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12932-024-00095-7
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