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Widan el Faras
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The Widan el
Faras basalts (nearby of the Fayoun oasis) are to be found between the
Oligocene Qatari Formation (below) and the Miocene Khashab Formation
(above). The thickness of the basalts was measured between 20 and 35 m.
The type locality of the Widan el Faras basalts is located at the Widan el
Faras hills (upper area of the Gebel Qatrani). Petrographical and chemical
investigations prove, that the basaltic flood originate from a tholeiitic
magma (saturated with silica). This magma is climbed-up along a fissure
during the Oligocene age. The basalt has a consequence of three different
floods. The both first floods are lenses - like. The third flood is
massive and freshly preserved. It forms an edge at the uppermost area of
the Qatrani steep slope.
Further areas of flood basalts in north- and middle-Egypt are distributed.
They are concentrated in the region of Cairo, are found however also in
the Bahariya
depression and western to southwestern of it. |
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Geomorhological structure
The Widan el
Faras basalt quarries, 20 km southwest of Umm es Sawan, are considered the
source of stone used on the mortuary temple floors and walls of 4 th and 5
th Dynasty (c. 2575 – 2323 BC) pyramid complexes. |
Fayoum flood basalt area from space
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Stratigraphical positions |
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Down slidden basalt blocks
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dito
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Remarkable is the age of all basalt flows. The dates fluctuate between 32
and 23.5 Ma in the Oligocene age. It agrees with the dating of other
subvolcanic and orthomagmatic-hydrovolcanic structures in the Gilf Kebir,
in the White and
Black Desert as well as the
Libyan Desert Glass location. All structures are placed on a line,
which proceeds from southwest to northeast. Can we suppose here a
connection between continental drifting and a Hot Spot? |
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Map of all basalt floods in the
northern part of Egypt
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