Utilization of ASfP Photographs in the Study of Small Structures in Abu Rawssh and WIdi el NatrQn,Egypt Hnssnr~A. El-Etr a and Farouk El-Baz b f ABSTRACT sion. The photographs also reveal that there is a potential for increasing the area of cultivated land This paper deals with a study of geologic struc- on the eastern slope of the depression. tures using 8 X enlargements of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project color photographs. The two study areas are Abu Rawdsh and Whdi el NatrQn; both INTRODUCTION are in the northern part of the Western Desert of Egypt. Because the structures are small, aerial Three sections in this volume describe the photographs were studied and field checks were utility of Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) made to verify the findings from Apollo-Soyuz photographs in regional studies of the Western photographs. Desert of Egypt. These reports address (1) photo- The Apollo-Soyuz photographs of Abu Rawhsh lineaments and major structures, (2) color zones clearly show structural uplifts that brought white and their geologic meaning, and (3) sand dunes chalk deposits to the surface. The photographs and their distribution. A common aspect of these also depict the distribution of dark volcanic rocks reports is the study of ASTP data and the ex- in the region and clearly delineate complex struc- trapolation of observations to other parts of the tures including several domes and plunging anti- Western Desert clines. Differences and similarities between these In this section, the authors have investigated structures are clearly displayed in the Apollo- the utility of ASTP photographs of Egypt in Soyuz photographs. detailed studies of small structures. The two areas Wddi el NatrOn is an elongate depression that is selected for this investigation are just west of the probably tectonic in origin. The Apollo-Soyuz Nile Delta in the northeastern part of the Western photographs display its structures as well as the Desert (fig. 1).A common feature of the two areas string of salt lakes within it. The natural color of is the difference in color between the structures of these photographs enables distinction between interest and the surrounding terrain. These two these lakes on the basis of color. Natural color also localities include the complex structures of the enables recognition of the barren nature of the Abu Rawhsh area and the numerous lakes in a northern and southern extremities of the depres- depression called Whdi el NatrQn. The ASTP crewmembers obtained photographs a~inShams University, Cairo, Egypt. of these two areas with a handheld 70-mm b~ationaiAir and Space Museum, Smithsonian camera. In addition, Wadi el NatrCln was covered Institution. by photographs obtained with the bracket- 'principal Investigator. mounted 70-mm mapping camera. The handheld- 108 ASTP SUMMARY SCIENCE REPORT FIGURE 1.Sketch map of the Nile Delta region showing the location of the two areas studied in this report, Abu Rawash and W$di el NatrGn. camera photographs are low oblique, but this did the Photographic Technology Laboratory at the not affect their use in photogeologic interpreta- NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. These tion. enlargements faithfully reproduced the color The structures portrayed on these photographs variations on the original film, which were impor- are small and cannot be easily studied on tant to the study. 1:l 000 000-scale (20 by 25 cm) photographic It was important to make certain that the find- prints. For this reason, 8X enlargements were ings from the ASTP photographs were real and especially made from the original 70-mm film by were not affected by inherent limitations in the photographic prints. For this reason, available tionship of volcanism to regional fractures was aerial photographs were studied and compared to particularly emphasized through the use of the the Earth-orbital photographs. Also, a field trip ASTP photographs. was made to the two areas to collect ground-truth In detail, the field-based geologic map (fig. 3) information. shows eight geologic units; namely: Cenomanian sandstones, marls, and shales (unit I), Turonian limestones (unit 2), Santonian Plicatula limestones (unit 3), Campanian to Maestrichtian chalk (unit 4), Eocene limestones and sandy The ASTP photographs show an elliptical, limestones (unit 5), Oligocene basalt (unit 6), light-toned area whose long axis is oriented in an Oligocene to lower Miocene fluviatile sands and east-northeastlwest-southwest direction (e.g., fig. gravels (unit 7), and wadi alluvium (unit 8). On 2). This area is known as the Abu RawBsh uplift; the ASTP photographs, the units that are easily it is characterized by exposures of Upper Cre- discerned are unit 1, a moderately dark-toned taceous chalky white limestone that are easily unit; units 2 through 5, which are very light toned; demarked from the surrounding buff-tinted plain. unit 6, which is grayish; and units 7 and 8, which This plain is strewn with sand and gravel of are more yellow. Oligocene to lower Miocene age and underlain by Unit 1 is exposed in the eastern and southern Eocene limestones that are exposed farther south parts of the study area, and units 2 through 5 form in the Pyramids plateau. the main part of the uplift. These latter units are The occurrence of Cretaceous rocks at Abu not easily differentiated on the space photograph. Rawhh is rather significant in Egyptian geology On the ground, they are distinguished by paleon- because it represents an inlier of older rocks. This tologic rather than lithologic criteria. Thus, the is the only location at this latitude where Cre- number of mappable rock units on the space taceous rocks are exposed on the surface of the photograph may be reduced to four (figs. 2(a) and Western Desert. The occurrence of Cretaceous 2(b)). These four units are easily recognizable and outcrops owes its existence to folding and faulting their contacts are readily discernible. that took place during the Upper Cretaceous From these observations, it is recommended (ref. 1). that geologic mapping be based on distinct rock Several authors have reported on the geology of units as much as possible so as to benefit from the this district, particularly Faris (ref. 2) and Jux capabilities of space (and complementary aerial) (ref. 3). Figure 3 (ref. 1) is a detailed geologic map photography. Subdivision of these rock units may of the district. Comparison between this map and be performed at a later time for relatively small the ASTP photograph (fig. 2(a)) shows how the districts of particular interest on the basis of size and shape (geometry) of the Abu RawBsh paleontologic (or generally stratigraphic) grounds; structure are clearly and accurately expressed on i.e., on the basis of time-rock units. the space photograph. Figures 4(a) and 4(b) show the main structures In addition to the main structure, the ASTP of the Abu Rawash uplift, as portrayed on aerial photograph (fig. 2(a)) shows several east-north- photographs. The aerial photomosaic shows easterly elongated dark patches that are spatially several structures, particularly El Hassana dome, related to the Abu Rawash structure. Field study El Ghigiga dome, the Sudr el Khamis plunging indicated that these patches are Tertiary syncline, and the Wadi el Talun plunging anti- (Oligocene) basalt extrusions (refs. 4 and 5) cline. Faults modify these fold structures to vary- and/or related hydrothermally indurated fer- ing degrees. The ASTP photographs (figs. 2(a) ruginous quartzitic grits. Volcanic activity was and 2(b)) also show virtually all of these struc- probably guided by regional fractures of an east- tures. They are discerned through the bedding northeasterly orientation. Such a relationship is traces of the exposures of the limestone and not evident from the geologic map (fig. 3), sandstone units (fig. 3, units 2 through 5 and because of its limited coverage. I-Iowever, the rela- unit I, respectively). The photographic texture of ASTP SUMMARY SCIENCE REPORT the bedding traces is enhanced by the presence of yellowish-peach-tinted wadi alluvium (unit 8). The drainage network of the district is evidently highly dependent on the lithologies and structures present. Figure 2(b) shows the structures identified on the space photographs of the district. The difference in size between El Hassana dome and El Ghigiga dome is quite evident on the ASTP photograph (fig. 2(a)), although it is indistinct on the geologic map (fig. 3). In addition, the similarity in style of these structures is clear on the space photograph. The plunging Sudr el Kharnis syncline and Wadi el Talun anticline are also similar in structural style, but are markedly distinct from the aforementioned domes. Dishar- mony of the overall structural pattern of the region is thus revealed in the space photographs. This was not perceived from the previously published geologic map (fig. 3). To substantiate the findings from the ASTP data, the more detailed aerial photographs (scale 1:20 000) were studied stereoscopically. From this study (figs. 4(a) and 4(b)), it became evident that (I) the fold structures of Abu Rawbh uplift are disharmonious; (2) the prominent faults dislocat- ing these folds are the longitudinal and transverse type; (3) some bedding plane displacement is locally manifested; e.g., in El Ghigiga structure; (4) diapiric mobilization occurred in the relatively incompetent horizons; e.g., in the Sudr el Khamis and El Ghigiga structures; and (5) the actuating mechanism is probably complicated, and the max- imum stresses are believed to be of vertical inter- nal origin. The incompetent character of the oldest exposed (Cenomanian) sandstones and marls of the district is probably of prime signifi- cance in determining the disharmonic structural style referred to earlier. It must be stated that FIGURE 2.--Orbital photograph detail of Abu Rawash.