Arabian-Nubian Shield

Geographically – and from north to south – the ANS includes parts of Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Somalia.

The ANS was the site of some of man's earliest geologic efforts, principally by the ancient Egyptians to extract gold from the rocks of Egypt and NE Sudan.

The earliest preserved geologic map was made in 1150 BCE to show the location of gold deposits in Eastern Egypt; it is known as the Turin papyrus.

The Romans followed this tradition and had many quarries especially in the northern part of the Eastern Desert of Egypt where porphyry and granite were mined and shaped for shipment.

Precious and industrial metals, including gold, silver, copper, zinc, tin, and lead, have been mined in Saudi Arabia for at least 5,000 years.

The assembly of Gondwana coincided with the breakup of Rodinia, closure of the Mozambique Ocean, and growth of the shield at 870 million years ago (Ma).

The final amalgamation event occurred 650–600 Ma, when the Keraf Suture, consisting of ophiolite folded and sheared rocks, formed between the Bayuda–Halfa and GebeitGabgaba Terranes.

[3][1] As Rosemarie and Dietrich Klemm point out, "...gold deposits exploited in antiquity occur almost exclusively in the Neoproterozoic sequences of the ANS in the Eastern Desert in Egypt and Northern Sudan."

The superstructure consists of an ophiolite-like sequences with island arc volcanics, Hammamat sediments, and post orogenic granites.

The ophiolite sequences range in age from 746 to 832 million years (Ma) and are mainly serpentite with elevated gold values of 25 parts per billion.

The Hammamat sediments include dike intrusions and the dacite to rhyolite Dokhan volcanics, which formed in the early stages of orogeny at 625–600 Ma.

[4] Wadi el-Sid was the chief mining area for the New Kingdom of Egypt, with high gold grades of 30 grams per tonne in the mineralized quartz veins within sheared ophiolite sequences of serpentinite and metabasalt, imbricated with Hammamat sediments, in direct contact with the tonalite margins of the Fawakhir granite pluton.

Extent of the Arabian-Nubian Shield. To the west it borders the Saharan Metacraton . Colors indicate the age of the rocks ( Archean , Pre-Neoproterozoic , Mesoproterozoic , Neoproterozoic ).
The Arabian-Nubian Shield in the supercontinent Pannotia c. 570 million years ago , before the opening of the Red Sea .
Mafic dyke cutting through granite, Arabian-Nubian Shield
Arabian-Nubian Shield prior to the Red Sea Rift , with Arabian Shield terranes labelled
Astronaut photograph (ISS006-E-43186) of the Arabian-Nubian Shield in eastern Sudan, looking northeast, with the Red Sea in the background. The north–south structure in the center of the image is the Hamisana Shear Zone. The ANS exposures in eastern Egypt to the north can also be seen, as well as part of the Nile (left) and Arabia (right).