Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1979

Abstract

The Westerr Desert of Egyptlwas selected for detailed study as' a typel locality of the north African desert cnvironment, In additior tolastro- naut ooservations, 55 color photogranhs lof Cevot were obuained during the Apollo-soyuz mission using 70 and 35-mm cameras. These vhotographs showed regional and local color zones that were, mapped and checked in the/ficld, On-the regional scale. a stcreostrip of IS phot- graphs shows-the_ following calor" zones: from southwest to norteast: (1)" a rosy-peach zone of sandstone plains (one A)! (2) a grayish-brown or taupe zone of sandstone tablelands (zone B), (3) a dusty-peachllor dark/vellowjzone lof sand in the Creat Sanid Ses (zare' C1 lamd (4) a yellowish- mauve ta dark-gald one ol gravel plains west of thel Nile Delta (zone-D In one photograph west iof the Nile Delta, dis- tincticolar zones/ have/beenicorrelated fin the-field with (1) desert pavement wth relatively inactive sanid that is! mixedl: with dark, desert-varnished gravel" (2) yellow, rclatively active sand with jor without sparse vegetation. and with_increased|red- dentng toward the notth; and (3) dark, arable soil with amotled appearance that-is composed of quarty sand. clay) and calcium carhonat particles, The` nhoiographalso) shows yellow.[active iongiudinal sand dunes within the first rone, The Apallo-Soyuz color data" were used in the scicction of arcas for field investigations and in the cxtrapolation of knowledgs to unphoto graphed arcas of the Western Desert. One of the results. the mapping of an arable zone west of the Nile Delta, auests to the potential value of color photographs in desert study.

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