Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1979

Abstract

Interpretation of a near-vertical Apollo-Soyuz color photograph of northern Egypt revealed a dark-colored and finely textured zone partially overlapped by the prescnt Nile Delta. Extrapola- tion of the identified zone beyond the Apollo- Soyuz photographic coverage, using a false-color Landsat mosaic, indicated that this zone forms a part of a deltalike pattern. Review of the literature on he gcology tbe area indicated 1hat ns out- it cropping and subsurface rocks are of terrigenous types. In addition, all its deposits belong to fluvial, deltaic, prodeltaic, estuarine, and fluvio-marine facies. Examination of the size, form, and extension of the identified pattern revealed that it is most probably the late Eocene to carly Miocene an- cestral delta of the Nile River, This supports the theory that the Nile originated in latc Eocene time. From thes southern borders J0 Egypt to the t city of A AsyūL the river followed course similar to that of the present-day Nic. At the end of the carly Miocene time, a sudden lengthening of its course occurred, and the river ceased depositing its sedimenis in the ancestral delta northwest of Asyût, Probably guided by faults, the river flowcd northward to its present-day position. This change in the course of the Nile was probably associated with a regional uplift that affected Egypt HIHIE during middle Miocene time.

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