Author: UNKNOWN. AUTHOR

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-26

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 9781330200872

Excerpt from The Phosphate Deposits of Egypt: Survey Department, Egypt The formation of the Geological Survey in Algeria led to an important discovery of phosphatic daposits by M. Thomas in 1873, which have since become of considerable commercial value, the production for 1902 being estimated at over 575,000 tons. As the rich phosphates were found to characterize a definite horizon at the base of the Eocene series, viz., the lower Suessonian, and strata of the same age were also present in Egypt, the French geologists in 1894 approached M. Fourtau as to the possibility of these deposits also occurring in this country, but his reply was a practical negative. In 1898, the subject was re-opened, M. Thomas having suggested three localities for examination, viz.: 1. El Guss Abu Said, west of the oasis of Farafra. 2. Jebel Dwanka, or the Todtenberg, near Assiut, and 3. Wadi Tih. The nature of the beds at these points was considered by M. Fourtau, and he rightly arrived at the conclusion that these localities were unproductive, 1st, because they were at a higher horizon than the beds in Algeria, and 2nd, because they were deep sea deposits, whereas the strata in Algeria were distinctly of littoral formation. He further suggested to meet the first objection that search would rather have to be made in the chain of hills extending between the cataract of Assuan and the oases of Doukoun and Kourkour, to the west of the Nile, there being also a hope that phosphates might yet be found below or above the Bothriolampas abundans zone, which is the equivalent of the Bothriolampas Tunetana zone of the Tunisian Suessonian. In conclusion, M. Fourtau was inclined to believe that phosphates would be found in the Upper Cretaceous, and more especially in Dakhla, in connection with the deposits containing sharks' teeth described by Zittel in Qasr Dakhl. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.