The geological structure of the Wadi el Dirba area of Sinai

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Abstract
Summary: The Egyptian province of Sinai can be divided into three geological regions: (1) the northern plain, the isthmus, whose surface outcrops are confined chiefly to strata of Mesozoic age, (2) the mountainous peninsula, formed of a complex of Pre-Cambrian rocks, and (3) the western coastal belt, flanking the Gulf of Suez and largely made up of a series of rocks belonging to the Mesozoic and Tertiary. The rocks of the coastal belt have been involved in the rift-faulting movement which produced the Gulf of Suez trough. The effect of these movements was to break up the whole area into a series of tilted blocks. The rocks of the isthmus dip gently towards the Mediterranean, but this regional dip is broken by a number of fold-axes and associated faults which trend WSW.-EXE. They form the western extension of a similar group in Palestine. The particular interest in the Wadi el Dirba area lies in the fact that it is there possible to establish the relationship between the isthmus structures and the Rift movements. The field evidence within the area mapped may be summarized as follows:– 1. There are four normal faults belonging to the Rift system. One of them has a dyke associated with it (both dyke and faults can be established in age as Oligocene from evidence outside the area); one fault also appears to show some horizontal movement. 2. Another normal fault, the Dirba fault, running through the area in a direction parallel to the isthmus structures and assumed to be associated with them is displaced by the Rift faults. Movement along the Dirba fault must therefore have ceased before the main Rift faulting began. Reference is also made to other evidence beyond the area mapped which indicates (1) that the main Rift faulting movement was active during and after Miocene as well as during Oligocene times, and (2) that the isthmus folds may owe their origin predominantly to vertical rather than to horizontal movement.

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