Britholite-(Ce) from the metaluminous granite of SW Egypt

Abstract Optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) analyses were used to characterize britholite-(Ce) of the metaluminous granite (Proterozoic) intruded into the Nubian Formation in southwestern Egypt and having a relatively high content of radioactive elements (potassium = 4.4 wt%, thorium = 52 ppm, uranium = 10 ppm). The britholite-(Ce) studied here incorporates light rare earth elements (LREE) including lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, and neodymium as well as thorium. The mineral forms as tabular crystals in a fine-grained quartz-K-feldspar-plagioclase matrix, coexisting with other accessory minerals including biotite, zircon, clinochlore, titanite, and magnetite. Primary britholite-(Ce) usually includes titanite, zircon, and magnetite and is occasionally included in biotite. The inclusion of britholite-(Ce) in biotite suggests that the two minerals crystallized approximately coevally. Petrographical and SEM-EDS data indicate breakdown of the primary magmatic britholite-(Ce) in the samples. This study constitutes the first report for a sole presence of britholite-(Ce) as LREE phase in metaluminous granite samples from Egypt.