Preliminary comparison of six late- to post-pan-african molasse basins, E. desert, Egypt

This paper compares data from six molasse (?Hammamat) basins in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. This shows that although there are a set of common features, complete uniformity is absent. Molasse sedimentation was pre- and post-pink Younger Granite emplacement, post-Dokhan Volcanism and pre- to post-‘post-Hammamat’ felsite intrusion/extrusion. Later mafic to intermediate alkaline dyke and sill emplacement occurred. Deformation, sometimes strike-slip, occurred from pre-felsite to post-mafic/intermediate dyke emplacement. The strike-slip deformation can be interpreted as syn- and antithetic shears on the Najd Fault system, but despite this Najd Faulting is not proposed as the fundamental cause of basin formation. This is thought to have been typical late orogenic extensional collapse.