This study deals with the geology and mineralogy of stream sediments at Wadi Wassif, C.E.D., Egypt.
The area is built up of igneous and metamorphic rocks of Late Precambrian age in addition to Quaternary
alluviam deposits. Geologically, the area consists of metavolcanics, older granitoids, Hammamat sediments,
younger granites, and Quaternary sediments filling the streams of the studied area. Microscopically,
metavolcanics comprise metaandesite, metadacite and crystal tuffs. They are weakly metamorphosed to
the green schist facies (chlorite zone). Hammamat sediments comprise conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone
and mudstone. They are weakly metamorphosed to the chlorite zone of the green schist facies. Gravity and
magnetic separation techniques in addition to microscopic examination for the studied stream sediment
samples were applied to evaluate the heavy minerals concentration of these sediments. The average heavy
mineral concentration of the stream sediments of Wadi Wassif is 5.56%, ranging from 1.58% and 10.91%.
These heavy minerals increase from upstream to downstream of Wadi Wassif. The average contents of the
concerned heavy minerals in Wadi Wassif are 0.347% for zircon, 0.058% for thorite, 0.074% for monazite,
0.097 for titanite, 0.038% for rutile. The other heavy minerals include epidot, garnet in addition to opaque
minerals; magnetite, ilmenite and hematite. The radiometric study of the stream sediments of Wadi Wassif
indicates that the average concentrations of U and Th are 2.9ppm and 17ppm respectively, ranging from 1
to 4ppm for U and 8 to 28ppm for Th, which reveals a significant fractionation during weathering of these
sediments.