IMPACT OF STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS ON THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE MINERALIZED ZONES IN WADI ATALLA ENVIRON, CENTRAL EASTERN DESERT, EGYPT

Wadi Atalla area is located between Lat. 25º 59ꞌ to 26º 23ꞌ N and Long. 33º 10ꞌ to 33º 40ꞌ E (Fig. 1).
It includes some of the most promising uranium occurrences which are related to the younger granitic
plutons such as Um Had, Kab Amiri and El Erediya as well as several old gold mines such as El Erediya,
Atalla, El Fawakhir, El Sid and Hamama. In addition to numerous ancient gold excavations along a huge
NW-SE shear zone extends about 80 km from El Erediya in the north to El Fawakhir in the south.
Field measurement supported with analysis of the structural lineaments of the Landsat image also the
geological map shows that most of the well-developed structural lineaments have NW-SE, NE-SW and N-S
trends. The fault patterns as delineated from Landsat image are well matched with that obtained from the
correlogram driving from gravity and topographic data.
Mineralization found along NW-SE fault zones appear as linear patterns. The mineralization of
uranium and gold are controlled in their spatial distribution by fault tectonics and basic magmatic rocks
occurring along these NW-SE sub-parallel faults.
A set of radioelements (eU ppm, eTh ppm and K%) contour maps were prepared. They are
superimposed individually on the geological map to delineate uranium potentiality. The constructed maps
revealed that the southern parts of both Kab Amiri and Um Had plutons as well as the northwestern part
of El Erediya pluton are promising zones for uranium potentiality.