Tracing Nile sediment sources by Sr and Nd isotope signatures (Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan)

Padoan, Marta; Garzanti, Eduardo; Harlavan, Yehudit; Villa, Igor M.

doi:10.1016/j.gca.2011.03.042

Cited by 131 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 78 publications

(89 reference statements)

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“…Potential contributing sources to this White Nile sample north of the Sudd could be the Sobat River and/or alluvial fans draining into the river from the Nuba Mountains. (Padoan et al 2011), spanning the range of our data for modern muds from Phanerozoic cover, as sampled in the Red Sea Hills. However, the River Sobat flows through an extensive region of marshland north of the Sudd (the Machar Marshes) and thus was not considered to be a significant source of sediment to the Nile trunk downstream by Padoan et al (2011).…”

Section: Young Zircons Derived From the Ethiopian Highlandsmentioning

confidence: 89%

“…Sr and Nd ratios have proved useful when recording major changes in provenance along the course of the Nile River (Padoan et al 2011;Garzanti et al 2013 Heavy mineral analysis and petrography have also been used to characterize the signature of the Nile catchment area (Garzanti et al 2006). The Blue Nile, Atbara and Tekeze rivers drain predominantly flood basalts and rhyolitic ignimbrites in their upper courses until they reach the Neoproterozoic amphibolite-facies basement of the Arabian-Nubian Shield, consisting of granitoid gneisses, staurolitebearing schists and marbles (Tadesse et al 2003), and Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks found in the pre-rift sedimentary succession of the Blue Nile Canyon.…”

Section: The Provenance Signal Of Modern Nile River Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A detrital record of the Nile River and its catchment

Fielding

Najman

Millar

et al. 2016

JGS

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This research uses analyses from Nile catchment rivers, wadis, dunes and bedrocks to constrain the geological history of NE Africa and document influences on the composition of sediment reaching the Nile delta. Our data show evolution of the North African crust, highlighting phases in the development of the Arabian-Nubian Shield and amalgamation of Gondwana in Neoproterozoic times. The Saharan Metacraton and Congo Craton in Uganda have a common history of crustal growth, with new crust formation at 3.0 -3.5 Ga, and crustal melting at c. 2.7 Ga. The Hammamat Formation of the ArabianNubian Shield is locally derived and has a maximum depositional age of 635 Ma. By contrast, Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks are derived from more distant sources. The fine-grained (mud) bulk signature of the modern Nile is dominated by input from the Ethiopian Highlands, transported by the Blue Nile and Atbara rivers. Detrital zircons in the Nile trunk are predominantly derived from Phanerozoic cover rocks. Most detritus from the upstream White Nile is trapped in the Sudd marshes and contributes little to the Nile trunk. Therefore, the White Nile downstream is dominated by locally derived Phanerozoic cover. The White Nile proximal to the Gezira Fan is influenced by the fan's Blue Nile signature.

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Section: Young Zircons Derived From the Ethiopian Highlandsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Section: The Provenance Signal Of Modern Nile River Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A detrital record of the Nile River and its catchment

Fielding

Najman

Millar

et al. 2016

JGS

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“…However, recent petrographic and isotopic data show that Nile River sands are, at present, derived primarily from two major tributaries in the upper part of the drainage basin, the Blue Nile and Wadi Atbara. The White Nile contributes at most w3% (Garzanti et al, 2006;Padoan et al, 2011). Both the Blue Nile and Wadi Atbara drain rocks of the Ethiopian Plateau that are dominated by Cenozoic basalts (Pik et al, 1998), rocks that do not contain quartz.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Origin of the Sinai–Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: mineralogical and geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history

Muhs

Roskin

Tsoar

et al. 2013

Quaternary Science Reviews

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"Origin of the Sinai-Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: mineralogical and geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history" (2013 Overall, the mineralogical data suggest that the dunes are derived dominantly from the Nile Delta, with Sinai wadi sands being a minor contributor. Geochemical data that proxy for both the light mineral fraction (SiO 2 /10eAl 2 O 3 þ Na 2 O þ K 2 OeCaO) and heavy mineral fraction (Fe 2 O 3 eMgOeTiO 2 ) also indicate a dominant Nile Delta source for the dunes. Thus, we report here the first empirical evidence that the SinaieNegev dunes are derived dominantly from the Nile Delta. Linkage of the SinaieNegev erg to the Nile Delta as a source is consistent with the distribution of OSL ages of Negev dunes in recent studies. Stratigraphic studies show that during the Last Glacial period, when dune incursions in the SinaieNegev erg began, what is now the Nile Delta area was characterized by a broad, sandy, minimally vegetated plain, with seasonally dry anastomosing channels. Such conditions were ideal for providing a ready source of sand for aeolian transport under what were probably much stronger glacial-age winds.With the post-glacial rise in sea level, the Nile River began to aggrade. Post-glacial sedimentation has been dominated by fine-grained silts and clays. Thus, sea level, along with favorable climatic conditions, emerges as a major influence on the timing of dune activity in the SinaieNegev erg, through its control on the supply of sand from the Nile Delta. The mineralogy of the SinaieNegev dunes is also consistent with a proposed hypothesis that these sediments are an important source of loess in Israel.Published by Elsevier Ltd.

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“…Efforts to reconstruct river history usually start with a careful analysis of the physical properties of these sediments, followed by a detailed investigation of their geochemistry and fossil content [44][45][46]. Inevitably, the study will require a precise and reliable chronology, i.e.…”

Section: Dating Alluvial Sedimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

River sediments

Williams

2012

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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River history is reflected in the nature of the sediments carried and deposited over time. Using examples drawn from around the world, this account illustrates how river sediments have been used to reconstruct past environmental changes at a variety of scales in time and space. Problems arising from a patchy alluvial record and from influences external to the river basin can make interpretation difficult. The Nile is treated in some detail because its history is further complicated by tectonic, volcanic and climatic events in its headwaters and by enduring human impacts. It arose soon after 30 Ma. Since that time approximately 100 000 km 3 of rock have been eroded from its Ethiopian sources and deposited in the eastern Mediterranean, with minor amounts of sediment laid down along its former flood plains in Egypt and Sudan. From these fragmentary alluvial remains, a detailed history of Nile floods and droughts has been reconstructed for the last 15 kyr, and, with less detail, for the past 150 kyr, which shows strong accordance with global fluctuations in the strength of the summer monsoon, which are in turn perhaps modulated by changes in solar insolation caused by changes in the Earth's orbit and by variations in solar irradiance.

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Tracing Nile sediment sources by Sr and Nd isotope signatures (Uganda, Ethiopia, Sudan)

Cited by 131 publications

References 78 publications

A detrital record of the Nile River and its catchment

A detrital record of the Nile River and its catchment

Origin of the Sinai–Negev erg, Egypt and Israel: mineralogical and geochemical evidence for the importance of the Nile and sea level history

River sediments

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