Field, Remote Sensing and Geochemical Studies of Neoproterozoic Banded Iron Formation in the Eastern Desert of Egypt

地球科学司和国际科学与工程办公室正在支持这一项目，以研究埃及带状铁地层的历史。 这些地层大约在7亿年前沉积在现在的尼罗河和红海之间的海底。 这些沉积物记录了一个时期，当时地球的气候与现在非常不同，在广泛的冰川和非常温暖的条件之间波动了几次。 这些气候变化被解释为“雪球地球假说”的一部分，这是有争议的。 部分争议涉及海底火山活动可能在BIF形成中发挥的作用。 来自德克萨斯大学达拉斯分校和埃及核材料公司（NMC）的地球科学家将合作两年，研究与这些矿床有关的BIF和火成岩。UTD团队将强调科学研究，这将构成一个MS和一个博士学位的研究，而NMC团队将专注于评估矿床的经济潜力。 该项目的资金将主要用于支持UTD团队的工作，其中包括地质年代学，地球化学和火成岩的同位素组成，以及BIF的化学组成。 涉及的研究生已经在UTD的研究生课程注册，博士学位。学生是一个土生土长的埃及和NMC的前雇员。 预计这项工作将有助于埃及的科学基础设施，提高国际科学界对埃及地质的兴趣，并有助于查明和开发埃及的自然资源。

The Division of Earth Sciences and the Office of International Science and Engineering are supporting this project to study the history of Banded Iron Formations (BIF) in Egypt. These formations were deposited about 700 million years ago on a seafloor existing between the current Nile River and the Red Sea. These deposits record a period when Earth's climate was very different than at present, fluctuating several times between extensive glaciation and very warm conditions. These climatic variations are explained as part of the "Snowball Earth hypothesis" which is controversial. Part of the controversy concerns the role that submarine volcanic activity may have played in formation of the BIF. Geoscientists from the University of Texas at Dallas and the Nuclear Materials Corporation (NMC) of Egypt will work together for two years to study the BIF and igneous rocks associated with these deposits. The UTD team will emphasize scientific studies, which will make up research leading to one MS and one PhD degree, while the NMC team will focus on evaluating the economic potential of the deposits. Funds for this project will mostly support the UTD team's efforts, which will include geochronology, geochemistry and isotopic composition of igneous rocks, and chemical composition of the BIF. The graduate students involved are already enrolled in the graduate program at UTD, and the Ph.D. student is a native Egyptian and previous employee of NMC. This work is expected to contribute to Egypt's scientific infrastructure, increase interest of the international scientific community in the geology of Egypt, and contribute to the identification and development of Egypt's natural resources.