Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1979
Abstract
The Western: Deser ofEgyptoccupics nearly two-thirds ofthe country. Its general flatness is interrupted by depressions, most of which cnclose oases, The rest is a vast plain of vegelation-free, wind-scoured terrain. As part of the Easterr Sahara, it represcnts one of the driest expanses on Earth Thus, it is repletc with evidence of prolonged aeolian activities, including a great varicty of sand dunes and sand sheets. The vast amcunt of sand coupled with wind data from meteorological satellites, betray a prolonged history of acolian transport from north to south. In the meantime, images from orbiting spacecraft and topographic data fror radar sensing show areas where water accumulated as lakes in low topography during humid periods in the geological past. Radar data also revealed numcrous courses of now sandl-buried rivers that flowed northward during wetter climates. Thus, It is proposed that such wel episodes rcsulted in the separation and rounding of sand grains. The lattcr were water-transported northward and deposited within topographic basins. As dry climates prevailed, the sand deposits were shaped into dunes by wind action. These relatilonships were rcvealed at sites throughout the deser All those locations clearly display evidence of repeated interplay of fluvial and aeolian processes trom the latc Phanerozoic to the Recent, particularly throughout the Quaternary.
Recommended Citation
El-Baz, Farouk, "Space observations of fluvial and aeolian interactions in the western desert of Egypt" (1979). Farouk El-Baz Library. 81.
https://buescholar.bue.edu.eg/farouk_el-baz_library/81