Geology and mineral deposits of the Jabal ash Shumta quadrangle, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Rocks, structures, and mineral deposits which are the result of both the older Halaban petro-tectonic cycle and the younker Najd Wrench Fault deformation are present in the Ash Shumta area. Northward-trending belts of granitic rocks and folded, layered metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the Halaban Formation which they intrude represent the effects of the Halaban cycle. These older rocks are everywhere transected and deformed by northwestward- and northeastward-striking fractures and strike-slip faults and by eastward-striking fractures and fracture-controlled silicic dikes which belong to the Najd Wrench Fault deformation. Several kinds of epigenetic mineral deposits of hydrothermal origin are present throughout the Ash Shumta area. All occur in or ape closely associated with structures of the Najd Wrench Fault deformation. The mineralization which produced the deposits is thought to have taken place during the period of deformation which produced the Najd Wrench Fault structures. The hydrothermal deposits include many metalliferous quartz veins most of which occur in three mineralized areas: two major areas at Jabal Ash Shumta and Jabal El Khom in the northern half of the quadrangle and a minor area along Wadj al Boharah in the southeastern part of the quadrangle. The metalliferous lodes possess the only economic potential in the area of the Jabal Ash Shumta quadrangle. These lodes consist mainly of gold and base metal-bearing quartz veins, some of which were mined for gold in ancient times. The mineralized area at Jabal Ash Shumta has the best of these veins. Higher temperature veins with wolframite as a major constituent and beryl as a minor one occur in a granite cupola in the eastern part of the El Khom area. These veins have altered, gneissen-like wall rocks. Although the grade of the veins is low at the surface, the made could increase at depth. The tungsten-bearing veins and El Khom area possess the greatest economic promise in the Jabal Ash Shumta quadrangle. They deserve detailed surface investigation followed if needed by exploration at depth.