Coal

Coal deposits have been explored to varying degrees at Gebel Maghara; Ayun Musa, 14 kilometers southeast of Suez; and ~~adi Thora, roughly 25 kilometers east of Abu Zenima. Thin coal seams have also been recorded in oil and gas exploration boring logs elsewhere in Sinai, but none suggest sufficient depth and seam thickness to justify further exploration. Of the known coal occurrences, only those at Maghara are presently regarded as having economic potential.

Coal seams appear in middle Jurassic Bathonian sediments on the northwest limb of the Maghara Anticline. The sequence contains up to 10 coal seams, of which tt.,ro are of commercial thickness. The entire sequenc  dips northwestward at angles of 5 to 10 degrees. It is divided into numerous blocks by small faults of the same trend.

The principal seams at Maghara--named Upper and Lower--range from a minimum thickness of 20 centimeters to a maximum thickness of 190

centimeter~, with few partings, and are separated by 8 to 10 meters of limestone sandstone, clay, and shale. The coal is black, half dull,hard, resinous, and subbituminous A in rank. It is low-ash, highsulfur, and--bascd on tests to date--has limited coking potential.

Drill holes at Ayun Musa penetrated up to 11 seams of coal in a 70- to 100-meter sequence of lower Cretaceous rocks, at depths ranging from 400 to 600 meters below surface. Ten coal seams occupied the upper 30 meters of the section, with a maximum seam thickness of 120 centimeters.

The lower part of the sequence contained a single seam, ranging in thickness from 18 to 120 centimeters. The seams are lenticular and nonpersistent, with no apparent workable thickness; because of these characteristics, and great depths and complicated geologic structures, the deposits at Ayun Musa are considered noncommercial. Future exploration potential in the region is also believed to be limited.

Twenty drill holes and several pits dnd adits have served to test a coal horizon that OCClH~S in Carboniferous sediments at Wadi Oeda and Wadi Thora, roughly 14 kilometers apart, east of Abu Zenimu. The single seam was found to range between 10 and 80 centimeters in thickness and to be of low quality. It has limited potential beyond local heating use.