MINERALOGY AND RADIOACTIVITY OF THE SOUTHERN PART OF NASSER LAKE SEDIMENTS, EGYPT

Nasser Lake area delineated by Latitudes 22°00′ –23°58′ N and Longitudes 30°07′–33°15′ E. The identified heavy mineral assemblages of 64 collected representative samples of the study area can be classified into two main groups. The first one is the opaque minerals as; magnetite, hematite, ilmenite, leucoxene, vanadium, chromite, pyrite, atacamite, alumina minerals, gold and silver. The second group is non-opaque minerals includes garnet, monazite, rutile, zircon, titanite, apatite and green silicates (pyroxene and amphibole groups with other minerals such as: epidote, biotite, muscovite, andalusite and sillimanite).
The examined sediments of studied area are characterized by radiometrically (low) concentrations of eU and eTh. The radiometrically elemental concentration of eU ranges between U/D and 4ppm with an average of 1.3ppm, while eTh is between 2 and 17ppm with an average of 5.61ppm. The Ra content ranges between 1and 4ppm with an average of 1.66ppm. The content of K ranges between 0.68% and 1.25% with an average of 0.61%.