A paleomagnetic study of the Dokhan volcanic formation and younger granites, eastern desert of Egypt

Abstract

Paleomagnetic measurements on samples of late Precambrian-early Paleozoic volcanic and intrusive rocks of the Egyptian Eastern Desert show a variety of magnetic components. A stable, hematite-carried direction from the Dokhan Volcanic Formation indicates an age of about 680 Ma if the magnetization is primary and was acquired prior to structural tilting, or an age of about 500–550 Ma if it post-dates tilting. Several lines of evidence led us to prefer the latter interpretation. A high temperature component found in samples from a Dokhan xenolith within a Younger Granite pluton may also date at 500 Ma. Other directions found in the xenolith and in Younger Granites are provisionally attributed to late Mesozoic and Cenozoic overprinting.