THE CENOZOIC
In Egypt, the Paleogene and the Neogene are
separated from one another by dramatic events
which changed the landscape of Egypt, initiated the
process of formation of the Red Sea Rift, raised
mountains and activated volcanoes. The sediments
of these two subperiods cover large areas of Egypt.
The Paleocene and Eocene
Paleocene and Eocene outcrops are usually
associated with each other covering more
than 21% of the surface area of Egypt. They
are well exposed in the Nile Valley and
bordering areas in the Western and Eastern
Deserts, forming plateaus and building
mountain scarps on both sides of the Gulf of
Suez, central and northern Sinai. They are
mostly represented by open marine
sediments of carbonates, marls and shales.
A typical Paleocene section of the Stable Shelf is that
of Gabal Awaina, a 450 m high outlier lying about 8.5
km to the northeast of the Sebaiya railway station.
This hill is the type locality of the Esna Shale rock
unit. The Gabal Awaina section is made up primarily
of shales interrupted by a middle carbonate bed
named Tarawan Chalk.
No overall classification of the Eocene rocks of
Egypt is universally accepted.
Most classifications start from Zittel's major divisions:
the Libysche and Mokattamstufe to which SAID
(1960) gave the formal names Libya and Mokattam
Groups, respectively.
The Libya Group was subdivided into the Esna,
Thebes (= Zittel's Lower Libyan) and Minia (Zittel's
Upper Libyan) Formations.
The name Mokattam Formation was retained from
Zittel's Lower Mokattam and the name Maadi
Formation was coined to cover Zittel's Upper
Mokattam.
Subsequent workers accepted this framewark,
elaborating and refining on it (e.g. BOUKHARY &
ABDEL MALIK 1983, STROUGO 1986, etc.).
SAID (1990) subdivided the Eocene deposits into the
following major rock units, from top to bottom:
- Maadi Group comprising from top to bottom the
Wadi Hof, Wadi Garawi and Qurn Formations and
their equivalents.
- Mokattam Group divided into a lower Mokattam
Subgroup comprising the Nummulites gizehensis bearing units of the Cairo area and their equivalents
in other parts of Egypt, and an upper Observatory
Subgroup for the carbonate sections of the Cairo
area and their equivalents in other parts of Egypt.
- Minia Formation
- Thebes Group comprising the Thebes Formation of
the Stable Shelf areas and its equivalents in other
parts of Egypt.
- Esna Formation (top part) and its equivalents.
The Economic aspects of the Eocene deposits
in Egypt include:
- The production of Bahariya Iron Ore from the Naqb
Formation.
-The soft chalky limestones are quarried and mixed
with clay in the manufacture of cement at Tura. They
are also used in the steel industry at Helwan.
- Limestones are quarried from the Mokattam plateau
and are used as building stones. The Pharaonic
tombs in the Valley of Kings and the Valley of
Queens west of Luxor were excavated in the Lower
Eocene Thebes Formation and the Pyramids of Giza
were built from the Middle Eocene Nummulitic
"gizehensis" limestones
- Middle Eocene hard crystalline limestones are
quarried as marbles and alabaster used for
ornamental purposes, e.g. in Wadi Sannour.