Mineral composition and environmental geochemistry of the beach sediments along the eastern side of the Gulf of Suez, Egypt

This work assesses the mineral composition and environmental geochemistry of the beach sediments along the eastern coast of the Gulf of Suez, southwestern Sinai, Egypt. Mineralogically, the sediments are enriched in both non-opaque and opaque heavy minerals. The heavy minerals are concentrated especially in the size fraction 63-125 mu m. Magnetite is the main opaque mineral, while titanite is the most abundant non-opaque mineral in the two size fractions; 63-125 mu m and 125-250 mu m. The studied sediments are derived from different sources. It seems that the H,S-rich hydrothermal solutions emanated in Hamam Faraon area, and its surroundings, maintain adequate anoxic conditions for reduction of iron oxy-hydroxides to sulphides. Geochemically, the relative enrichment in the HFSE, Y, REE, Th and U, besides the depletion in some of the heavy metals may suggest that the beach sediments of the study area are strongly influenced by felsic sources such as granites and pegmatites. The signature of the mafic and ultramafic components is feeble. The study area contains significantly high concentrations of some potentially toxic metals such as Pb, Mo, Sri, Cd, Sb, As, Se, Th and U. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.