THE CENOZOIC

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.

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• 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.).

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• 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.

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• 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.