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Provenance of pharaonic potsherds, Sharkiya Governorate, Egypt

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Abstract

The mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the pharaonic potsherds from two archeological sites (Qantir and Tall San Al Hagr), Sharkiya Governorate, Egypt, have been investigated to infer their paleoweathering, provenance, and tectonic setting. The pharaonic pottery materials are classified mainly as Fe-shale. The mineralogy determined by X-ray diffractometry for the pharaonic pottery materials reveals that smectite and illite are the dominant clay minerals and smectite > illite. The non-clay minerals are dominated by feldspar (plagioclase and microcline), quartz with minor amounts of calcite, iron oxides (magnetite and goethite), and mica (muscovite). The chemical index of alteration (CIA), plagioclase index of alteration (PIA), and chemical index of weathering (CIW) values indicate moderate degree of weathering of the source material in a semiarid climate. The index of compositional variability (ICV) of pharaonic pottery materials is more than 1, suggesting it is compositionally less mature. The major and trace element concentrations suggested that the pharaonic pottery materials were likely derived from felsic (granitic) sources and deposited in passive continental margin of a synrift basin. The inferred tectonic setting for the pharaonic pottery materials in Sharkiya Governorate is in agreement with the tectonic evolutionary history of the north Nile Delta, Egypt, during Oligocene-post Pliocene.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank members of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), who granted permission for sample collection. Thanks also to the journal reviewers for their very constructive and helpful comments as well as for editorial comments, which helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geology Department, Faculty of Sciences, Zagazig University, Zagazig, 44511, Egypt

    Samir Mahmoud Zaid & Oussama El-Badry

  2. National Construction Company (SAMCO), Nasr City, Egypt

    Ahmed Mohammed Abdel-Fatah

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  1. Samir Mahmoud Zaid
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  2. Oussama El-Badry
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  3. Ahmed Mohammed Abdel-Fatah
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Correspondence to Samir Mahmoud Zaid.

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Table S1

Values of Pearson’s coefficient of correlation of major and trace elements in pharaonic potsherds. Asterisk refers to the degree of significance (* means high significance, ** means very high significance) or means positive relationship. (DOC 185 kb)

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Zaid, S.M., El-Badry, O. & Abdel-Fatah, A.M. Provenance of pharaonic potsherds, Sharkiya Governorate, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 10, 354 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-017-3133-7

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