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Volume :19 Issue : 2 1992
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Structural setting of the Hammam Faraun block, eastern side of the Suiez rift
Auther : A. R. MOUSTAFA AND M. M. ABDEEN
Department of Geology, University of Kuwait, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060, Kuwait; and
Geological Survey of Egypt, Abbasiya, Cairo, Egypt
ABSTRACT
Field mapping of the Hammam Faraun block indicates its predominant NE dip and the existence of some subblocks with anomalous dip direction(s). The NE dip of the block resulted from rotation on NW and NNW-oriented listric normal faults at the eastern boundary of the Suez rift. A horizontal subblock apparently glided on the gently dipping segment of one of these listric faults. Local SW dip in other subblocks is related to drag on major faults. Folding plays a subordinate role in the deformation of the Hammam Faraun block while faulting is the predominant structure. NW, NNW, E-W, and NNE fault sets exist. Slickensides indicate that the NW faults are normal or right-lateral diagonal slip, the NNW faults are only normal, and the NNE faults are normal or diagonal-slip (right- or left-lateral). The ENE-WSW extension that opened the rift formed the NNW-oriented faults and rejuvenated a pre-existing NW-oriented fault at the western boundary of the Hammam Faraun block forming a diagonal-slip fault (the Hammam Faraun fault) with a major dip-slip (normal) component and subordinate right-lateral strike-slip component. Local extension due to the strike-slip movement on the Hammam Faraun fault apparently formed the N-S to NNE oriented faults in its vicinity. Stratigraphic and structural field data indicate that the onset of rifting took place before the deposition of the Lower Miocene Nukhul Formation. Another movement took place after the deposition of the existing part of the Rudeis Formation.