DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS, TEXTURAL AND MINERALOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EXPOSED QUATERNARY SEDIMENTS, GIZA, EGYPT

Quaternary sediments are extensively exposed in Kafr El Gebel area, south of Sphinx, Giza, Egypt.
Ten stratigraphic sections have been chosen for studying and sampling. Fifty one samples were collected
to investigate sedimentological and mineralogical characteristics of the Quaternary sediments. The
statistical grain size parameters revealed that the investigated sands are mainly medium to coarse, very
well sorted to poorly sorted, mostly near symmetrical skeweed accompanied by mesokurtic to leptokurtic
characters. The textural characteristics strongly suggest that fluvial conditions of braided river were most
probably the dominating factors controlling the transportation and accumulation of the investigated
sediments. The light minerals of the investigated sand are composed mainly of quartz with minor amount
of feldspars. The non-opaque heavy mineral assemblages of the Quaternary sediments are characterized
by the predominance of pyroxene, amphiboles, epidote, zircon, tourmaline, rutile, garnet, staurolite and
kyanite. Andalusite, titanite and monazite are recorded in a few samples. The low values of ZTR index
suggesting mineralogically immature nature of these sediments. The heavy minerals assemblage of these
sediments assemblage indicates a variety of probable source rock types including metamorphic, igneous,
and sedimentary.