Ineralogy as an indicator of various coastal environments along Burullus Area, North Nile Delta, Egypt

Abstract EN

t.

Distribution of both light and heavy minerals has been investigated in the sand-size samples collected from Burullus coastal area.

Sediment movement and provenance are discussed.

Feldspar appears enriched in the barrier sand than in the beach.

This remarkable variation along the coast is related to selective sorting processes.

Highest ratio of quartz/feldspar is exhibited by the sands of island and western border of the lake.

The beach sand appears mature than the barrier sand.

While the drains sand appears immature due to its fluvial origin.

Beach erosion east of A1 Burg inlet contributes the enrichment of the beach sands by the heaviest minerals; opaques, ZTR and garnet corresponding to low values of these minerals in the western stretch.

This pattern is attributed to the modification caused by action of waves and currents that selectively sort and concentrate the heavy minerals according to their different densities.

The light minerals; hornblende, augite and epidote are highly concentrated in the sands of the western beach stretch.

A comparison of the distribution of heavy minerals for the beach and barrier sands also reveals a rapid increase of augite sea-ward accompanied with an increase of hornblende and epidote land-ward.

Correlation between opaques and hornblende as well as between ZTR + garnet and hornblende succeeded to differentiate between the various coastal environments.