Qattara Depression
Encyclopedia
The Qattara Depression is a depression
in the north west of Egypt
in the Matruh Governorate and is part of the Libyan Desert
. It lies below sea level and is covered with salt pans
, sand dunes and salt marshes
. The region extends between latitudes of 28°35' and 30°25' North and longitudes of 26°20' and 29°02' East. Some twenty kilometres west of the depression lie the oasis of Siwa
and Jaghbub in smaller but similar depressions.
The Qattara Depression contains the second lowest point in Africa at -133 m below sealevel. The lowest being Lake Assal in Djibouti. The depression covers about 19605 square kilometres (7,569.5 sq mi), a size comparable to Lake Ontario
or twice as big as Lebanon
. Due to its size and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea
shore it has been studied for its potential to generate hydroelectricity
.
.
Within the Depression there are salt marsh
es, under the northwestern and northern escarpment
edges, and extensive dry lake
s (dry lake beds) that flood occasionally. The marshes occupy approximately 300 square kilometres (115.8 sq mi), although wind blown sands are encroaching in some areas. About a quarter of the region is occupied by dry lakes composed of hard crust and sticky mud, and occasionally filled with water.
The depression was formed by salt weathering and wind erosion working together. First the salts crumble the depression floor and then the wind blows away the resulting sands.
, growing in shallow sandy depressions, and Phragmites
swamps represent the only permanent vegetation. The Acacia
groves vary widely in biodiversity
and rely on runoff from rainfall and groundwater to survive. The Moghra oasis in the northeast of the Depression has a 4 km² brackish lake and a Phragmites
swamp.
The south western corner of the depression is part of the Siwa Protected Area which protects the wild oasis in and around the Siwa Oasis
.
The Depression is an important habitat for the cheetah
, with the largest number of recent sightings being in areas in the northern, western and northwestern part of the Qattara Depression, including the highly isolated, wild oases of Ain EI Qattara and Ein EI Ghazzalat and numerous Acacia groves both inside and outside the depression.
Gazelle
s (Gazella dorcas and Gazella leptoceros) also inhabit the Qattara Depression, being an important food source for the cheetah. The largest gazelle population exists in the southwestern part of the Qattara Depression within a vast area of wetlands and soft sand. The area of 900 square kilometres (347.5 sq mi), includes the wild oases of Hatiyat Tabaghbagh and Hatiyat Umm Kitabain, and is a mosaic of lakes, salt marsh
es, scrubland, wild palm
groves and Desmostachya bipinnata grassland
.
Other common fauna include the Cape Hare
(Lepus capensis), Egyptian Jackal
(Canis aureus hupstar), Sand Fox
(Vulpes rueppelli) and more rarely the Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda).
Barbary sheep
(Ammotragus lervia) were once common throughout but now are few in numbers. Extinct species from the area include the Scimitar Oryx
(Oryx dammah), Addax
(Addax nasomaculatus) and Bubal Hartebeest
(Aclelaphus buselaphus).
Also the Droseridites baculatus, an extinct pollen, was found at the Ghazalat-1 Well.
between 25 to 50 mm on the northern rim to less than 25 mm in the south of the depression. The average daily temperature averages between 36.2 to 6.2 °C (97.2 to 43.2 F) during summer and winter months. The prevailing wind comes from the north varying between north easterly and westerly directions. Wind speeds are maximal in March with of 11.5 m/s and minimal in December with 3.2 m/s.
The average wind speed is about 5-6 m/s.
. The oasis is located in the western most part of the depression and is inhabited by about 300 people. The Depression is also inhabited by the nomadic Bedouin
people and their flocks, with the uninhabited Moghra oasis being important in times of water scarcity during the dry seasons.
The Qattara Depression contains numerous oil concessions and several operating fields. Exploitants include Royal Dutch Shell
and the Apache Corporation
.
on behalf of Dr. Ball who later would also publish on the region. He discovered that the spring Ain EI Qattara lay about 60 metres (196.9 ft) below sea level. Because the barometer got lost and the readings were so unexpected this find had to be verified. In 1924-25 Dr. Ball once again organised a survey party this time with the sole purpose to triangulate the elevation on a westerly line from Wadi El Natrun
. The survey was led by Mr. G.F.Walpole who had already distinguished himself by triangulating the terrain across 500 km from the Nile
to Siwa
via Bahariya. He confirmed earlier readings and proved the presence of a huge area below sea level with places as deep as -133 m.
Our knowledge about the geology of the Qattara Depression was greatly extended by Ralph Alger Bagnold
, a British military commander and explorer, through numerous journeys in the 1920s and 1930s. Most notable being his 1927 journey during which he crossed the depression east to west and visited the oasis of Qara
and Siwa
. Many of these trips used motor vehicles (Ford Model-Ts) which employed special techniques for driving in desert conditions. These techniques were an important asset of the Long Range Desert Group
which Bagnold founded in 1940.
After the discovery of the depression Dr. Ball published the triangulation findings about the region on October 1927 in The Geographical Journal
. He also gave the region its name 'Qattara' after the spring Ain EI Qattara where the first readings were took. The name literally means 'dripping' in Arabic. Six years later in 1933 Dr. Ball was the first to publish a proposal for flooding the region to generate hydro power in his article "The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Dessert and the possibility of its utilisation for power-production".
During World War II
the depression's presence shaped the 1st and 2nd Battles of El Alamein
. It was considered impassable by tanks and most other military
vehicle
s because of features as salt lakes, high cliffs and/or escarpments, and Fech fech
(very fine powdered sand). The cliffs in particular acted as an edge of the El Alamein battlefield, which meant the British position could not be outflanked
. Both the Axis and Allied forces built their defences in a line from the Mediterranean Sea
to the Qattara Depression. These defences became known as the Devil's gardens
and are for the most part still there, especially the extensive minefields. No large army units entered the Depression although German Afrika Korps
patrols and the British Long Range Desert Group
did operate in the area as these small units had considerable experience in desert travel.
project in northern Egypt rivalling the Aswan High Dam. The proposals call for a large canal or tunnel being excavated from the Qattara due north of 55 to 80 km (34.2 to 49.7 mi) depending on the route chosen to the Mediterranean Sea
to bring seawater into the area. Or otherwise a 320 kilometres (198.8 mi) pipeline north-east to the freshwater
Nile River at Rosetta
. Water would flow into a series of hydro-electric penstock
s which would generate electricity by releasing the water at 90 m below sea level. Because the Qattara Depression is in a very hot dry region with very little cloud cover the water released at the -70 m level would spread out from the release point across the basin and evaporate from solar influx. Because of the evaporation more water can flow into the depression thus forming a constant source of energy. Eventually this would result in a hyper-saline lake or a salt pan as the water evaporates and leaves the salt it contains behind.
Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer Professor Penk. The subject was discussed in more detail by Dr. John Ball in 1927. In 1957 the American Central Intelligence Agency
proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that peace in the Middle East could be achieved by flooding the Qattara Depression. The resulting lagoon, according to the CIA, would have four benefits:
In the seventies and early eighties several proposals to flood the area were made by Friedrich Bassler
and the Joint Venture Qattara, a group of mainly German companies. They wanted to make use of peaceful nuclear explosions
to construct a tunnel as it would drastically reduce construction costs compared to conventional methods. This project proposed to use 213 devices, with yields of 1 to 1.5 megatons detonated at depths of 100 to 500 m (328.1 to 1,640.4 ft). This fit within the Atoms for Peace program
proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. Because of this frightening solution the Egyptian government turned down the plan. Present day scientists still explore the viability of such a project, as a key to resolving economic, population, and ecological stresses in the area. However the project has never been undertaken.
Depression (geology)
A depression in geology is a landform sunken or depressed below the surrounding area. Depressions may be formed by various mechanisms.Structural or tectonic related:...
in the north west of Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
in the Matruh Governorate and is part of the Libyan Desert
Libyan Desert
The Libyan Desert covers an area of approximately 1,100,000 km2, it extends approximately 1100 km from east to west, and 1,000 km from north to south, in about the shape of a rectangle...
. It lies below sea level and is covered with salt pans
Salt pan (geology)
Natural salt pans are flat expanses of ground covered with salt and other minerals, usually shining white under the sun. They are found in deserts, and should not be confused with salt evaporation ponds.A salt pan is formed where water pools...
, sand dunes and salt marshes
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
. The region extends between latitudes of 28°35' and 30°25' North and longitudes of 26°20' and 29°02' East. Some twenty kilometres west of the depression lie the oasis of Siwa
Siwa Oasis
The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, nearly 50 km east of the Libyan border, and 560 km from Cairo....
and Jaghbub in smaller but similar depressions.
The Qattara Depression contains the second lowest point in Africa at -133 m below sealevel. The lowest being Lake Assal in Djibouti. The depression covers about 19605 square kilometres (7,569.5 sq mi), a size comparable to Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
or twice as big as Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
. Due to its size and proximity to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
shore it has been studied for its potential to generate hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
.
Geography
The depression has the form of a teardrop with the point of the drop facing east and the broad deep area facing the south west. The northern side of the depression is characterised by steep escarpments up to 280 meters high, marking the edge of the adjacent El Diffa plateau. To the south however the depression slopes gently up to the Great Sand SeaEgyptian Sand Sea
The Egyptian Sand Sea is in Africa's Libyan Desert. The three sand seas contain dunes up to 110m in height and cover about 25% of the Libyan Desert. The dunes were created by wind.-See also:*Libyan Desert**Calanshio Sand Sea**Ribiana Sand Sea...
.
Within the Depression there are salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es, under the northwestern and northern escarpment
Escarpment
An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that occurs from erosion or faulting and separates two relatively level areas of differing elevations.-Description and variants:...
edges, and extensive dry lake
Dry lake
Dry lakes are ephemeral lakebeds, or a remnant of an endorheic lake. Such flats consist of fine-grained sediments infused with alkali salts. Dry lakes are also referred to as alkali flats, sabkhas, playas or mud flats...
s (dry lake beds) that flood occasionally. The marshes occupy approximately 300 square kilometres (115.8 sq mi), although wind blown sands are encroaching in some areas. About a quarter of the region is occupied by dry lakes composed of hard crust and sticky mud, and occasionally filled with water.
The depression was formed by salt weathering and wind erosion working together. First the salts crumble the depression floor and then the wind blows away the resulting sands.
Ecology
Groves of Acacia raddianaAcacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
, growing in shallow sandy depressions, and Phragmites
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...
swamps represent the only permanent vegetation. The Acacia
Acacia
Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
groves vary widely in biodiversity
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is the degree of variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or an entire planet. Biodiversity is a measure of the health of ecosystems. Biodiversity is in part a function of climate. In terrestrial habitats, tropical regions are typically rich whereas polar regions...
and rely on runoff from rainfall and groundwater to survive. The Moghra oasis in the northeast of the Depression has a 4 km² brackish lake and a Phragmites
Phragmites
Phragmites, the Common reed, is a large perennial grass found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Phragmites australis is sometimes regarded as the sole species of the genus Phragmites, though some botanists divide Phragmites australis into three or four species...
swamp.
The south western corner of the depression is part of the Siwa Protected Area which protects the wild oasis in and around the Siwa Oasis
Siwa Oasis
The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, nearly 50 km east of the Libyan border, and 560 km from Cairo....
.
The Depression is an important habitat for the cheetah
Cheetah
The cheetah is a large-sized feline inhabiting most of Africa and parts of the Middle East. The cheetah is the only extant member of the genus Acinonyx, most notable for modifications in the species' paws...
, with the largest number of recent sightings being in areas in the northern, western and northwestern part of the Qattara Depression, including the highly isolated, wild oases of Ain EI Qattara and Ein EI Ghazzalat and numerous Acacia groves both inside and outside the depression.
Gazelle
Gazelle
A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
s (Gazella dorcas and Gazella leptoceros) also inhabit the Qattara Depression, being an important food source for the cheetah. The largest gazelle population exists in the southwestern part of the Qattara Depression within a vast area of wetlands and soft sand. The area of 900 square kilometres (347.5 sq mi), includes the wild oases of Hatiyat Tabaghbagh and Hatiyat Umm Kitabain, and is a mosaic of lakes, salt marsh
Salt marsh
A salt marsh is an environment in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and salt water or brackish water, it is dominated by dense stands of halophytic plants such as herbs, grasses, or low shrubs. These plants are terrestrial in origin and are essential to the stability of the salt marsh...
es, scrubland, wild palm
Arecaceae
Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...
groves and Desmostachya bipinnata grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
.
Other common fauna include the Cape Hare
Cape Hare
The Cape, Common or Brown Hare is a hare natively found throughout Africa, and has spread to many parts of the Europe, Middle East and Asia. The Cape Hare is a nocturnal herbivore.They are fast...
(Lepus capensis), Egyptian Jackal
Golden Jackal
The golden jackal , also known as the common jackal, Asiatic jackal, thos or gold-wolf is a Canid of the genus Canis indigenous to north and northeastern Africa, southeastern and central Europe , Asia Minor, the Middle East and southeast Asia...
(Canis aureus hupstar), Sand Fox
Rüppell's Fox
Rüppell's fox , also spelled Rueppell's fox and also called the sand fox, is a species of fox living in North Africa and the Middle East, from Morocco and the Sahel region to the Afghanistan hills. and SW Pakistan It is named after the German collector Eduard Rüppell...
(Vulpes rueppelli) and more rarely the Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda).
Barbary sheep
Barbary sheep
The Barbary Sheep is a species of caprid native to rocky mountains in North Africa. Six subspecies have been described. Although it is rare in its native North Africa, it has been introduced to North America, southern Europe and elsewhere...
(Ammotragus lervia) were once common throughout but now are few in numbers. Extinct species from the area include the Scimitar Oryx
Scimitar Oryx
The Scimitar Oryx, or Scimitar-Horned Oryx, is a species of oryx which formerly inhabited the whole of North Africa. It has been classified as extinct in the wild by the IUCN.-Etymology and taxonomy:...
(Oryx dammah), Addax
Addax
The Addax , also known as the screwhorn antelope, is a critically endangered species of antelope that lives in the Sahara desert. As suggested by its alternative name, this pale antelope has long, twisted horns. It is closely related to the oryx, but differs from other antelopes by having large...
(Addax nasomaculatus) and Bubal Hartebeest
Bubal Hartebeest
The Bubal Hartebeest is classified as an extinct antelope.The statement that the antelope was extinct in 1923 has been refuted by the following source written in 1945...
(Aclelaphus buselaphus).
Also the Droseridites baculatus, an extinct pollen, was found at the Ghazalat-1 Well.
Climate
The climate of the Qattara Depression is highly arid with annual precipitationPrecipitation
Precipitation may refer to:* Precipitation , rain, sleet, hail, snow and other forms of water falling from the sky* Precipitation , the condensation of a solid from a solution during a chemical reaction...
between 25 to 50 mm on the northern rim to less than 25 mm in the south of the depression. The average daily temperature averages between 36.2 to 6.2 °C (97.2 to 43.2 F) during summer and winter months. The prevailing wind comes from the north varying between north easterly and westerly directions. Wind speeds are maximal in March with of 11.5 m/s and minimal in December with 3.2 m/s.
The average wind speed is about 5-6 m/s.
Land use
There is one permanent settlement in the Qattara Depression, the Qara OasisQara Oasis
Qara or Cara is Egypt's 8th inhabited oasis, with a population of around 300 Berbers, though of a darker complexion than the inhabitants of Siwa. This oasis is often disregarded when it comes to counting the number of Egyptian oases as it is very small compared to the others...
. The oasis is located in the western most part of the depression and is inhabited by about 300 people. The Depression is also inhabited by the nomadic Bedouin
Bedouin
The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arab ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes or clans, known in Arabic as ..-Etymology:...
people and their flocks, with the uninhabited Moghra oasis being important in times of water scarcity during the dry seasons.
The Qattara Depression contains numerous oil concessions and several operating fields. Exploitants include Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
and the Apache Corporation
Apache Corporation
Apache Corporation is an American independent oil and gas corporation. It is headquartered in 1 Post Oak Central in the Uptown district of Houston, Texas....
.
History
The depression was discovered in 1917 by an officer of the British Army leading a light car patrol into the region. The officer took readings of the height of the terrain with an aneroid barometerBarometer
A barometer is a scientific instrument used in meteorology to measure atmospheric pressure. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather...
on behalf of Dr. Ball who later would also publish on the region. He discovered that the spring Ain EI Qattara lay about 60 metres (196.9 ft) below sea level. Because the barometer got lost and the readings were so unexpected this find had to be verified. In 1924-25 Dr. Ball once again organised a survey party this time with the sole purpose to triangulate the elevation on a westerly line from Wadi El Natrun
Wadi El Natrun
Wadi El Natrun is a valley located in Beheira Governorate, Egypt, including a town with the same name. The name refers to the presence of eight different lakes in the region that produce natron salt. In Christian literature, the region is also referred to as the Nitrian Desert...
. The survey was led by Mr. G.F.Walpole who had already distinguished himself by triangulating the terrain across 500 km from the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
to Siwa
Siwa
Siwa may refer to:* 140 Siwa, an asteroid* Siwa, Indonesian pronunciation of the Hindu god Shiva* Siwa , spider genus in the Araneidae family* Siwa Oasis, an oasis in Egypt* Siwa, Panchthar, a Village Development Committee in Nepal...
via Bahariya. He confirmed earlier readings and proved the presence of a huge area below sea level with places as deep as -133 m.
Our knowledge about the geology of the Qattara Depression was greatly extended by Ralph Alger Bagnold
Ralph Alger Bagnold
Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold, FRS OBE, was the founder and first commander of the British Army's Long Range Desert Group during World War II. He is also generally considered to have been a pioneer of desert exploration, an acclaim earned for his activities during the 1930s...
, a British military commander and explorer, through numerous journeys in the 1920s and 1930s. Most notable being his 1927 journey during which he crossed the depression east to west and visited the oasis of Qara
Qara Oasis
Qara or Cara is Egypt's 8th inhabited oasis, with a population of around 300 Berbers, though of a darker complexion than the inhabitants of Siwa. This oasis is often disregarded when it comes to counting the number of Egyptian oases as it is very small compared to the others...
and Siwa
Siwa Oasis
The Siwa Oasis is an oasis in Egypt, located between the Qattara Depression and the Egyptian Sand Sea in the Libyan Desert, nearly 50 km east of the Libyan border, and 560 km from Cairo....
. Many of these trips used motor vehicles (Ford Model-Ts) which employed special techniques for driving in desert conditions. These techniques were an important asset of the Long Range Desert Group
Long Range Desert Group
The Long Range Desert Group was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commander of the German Afrika Corps, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, admitted that the LRDG "caused us more damage than any other British unit of equal strength".Originally called...
which Bagnold founded in 1940.
After the discovery of the depression Dr. Ball published the triangulation findings about the region on October 1927 in The Geographical Journal
The Geographical Journal
The Geographical Journal is a journal of the Royal Geographical Society and has been published since 1831. Its original title was Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London. The journal publishes original research papers and review articles across geography, and has the highest...
. He also gave the region its name 'Qattara' after the spring Ain EI Qattara where the first readings were took. The name literally means 'dripping' in Arabic. Six years later in 1933 Dr. Ball was the first to publish a proposal for flooding the region to generate hydro power in his article "The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Dessert and the possibility of its utilisation for power-production".
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the depression's presence shaped the 1st and 2nd Battles of El Alamein
Battle of El Alamein
There were two battles of El Alamein in World War II, both fought in 1942. The Battles occurred in Egypt in and around an area named after a railway stop called El Alamein at .* First Battle of El Alamein – 1–27 July 1942...
. It was considered impassable by tanks and most other military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s because of features as salt lakes, high cliffs and/or escarpments, and Fech fech
Fech Fech
Fech fech is a very fine powder caused by the erosion of clay-limestone terrain. This pulverized soil is common under a thin crust in deserts. It is not determinable from the surface and can therefore pose a significant transportation hazard acting as a surprise "trap" as the ground collapses...
(very fine powdered sand). The cliffs in particular acted as an edge of the El Alamein battlefield, which meant the British position could not be outflanked
Flanking maneuver
In military tactics, a flanking maneuver, also called a flank attack, is an attack on the sides of an opposing force. If a flanking maneuver succeeds, the opposing force would be surrounded from two or more directions, which significantly reduces the maneuverability of the outflanked force and its...
. Both the Axis and Allied forces built their defences in a line from the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
to the Qattara Depression. These defences became known as the Devil's gardens
Devil's gardens
The Devil's gardens was the name given by Erwin Rommel, commander of the German Afrika Korps during World War II, to the defensive entanglements of land mines and barbed wire protecting his positions during the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942...
and are for the most part still there, especially the extensive minefields. No large army units entered the Depression although German Afrika Korps
Afrika Korps
The German Africa Corps , or the Afrika Korps as it was popularly called, was the German expeditionary force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II...
patrols and the British Long Range Desert Group
Long Range Desert Group
The Long Range Desert Group was a reconnaissance and raiding unit of the British Army during the Second World War. The commander of the German Afrika Corps, Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, admitted that the LRDG "caused us more damage than any other British unit of equal strength".Originally called...
did operate in the area as these small units had considerable experience in desert travel.
Hydroelectric possibilities
The large size of the Qattara Depression and the fact that it falls to a depth of 133 m below mean sea level has led to several proposals to create a massive hydroelectricHydroelectricity
Hydroelectricity is the term referring to electricity generated by hydropower; the production of electrical power through the use of the gravitational force of falling or flowing water. It is the most widely used form of renewable energy...
project in northern Egypt rivalling the Aswan High Dam. The proposals call for a large canal or tunnel being excavated from the Qattara due north of 55 to 80 km (34.2 to 49.7 mi) depending on the route chosen to the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
to bring seawater into the area. Or otherwise a 320 kilometres (198.8 mi) pipeline north-east to the freshwater
Freshwater
Fresh water is naturally occurring water on the Earth's surface in ice sheets, ice caps, glaciers, bogs, ponds, lakes, rivers and streams, and underground as groundwater in aquifers and underground streams. Fresh water is generally characterized by having low concentrations of dissolved salts and...
Nile River at Rosetta
Rosetta
Rosetta is a port city on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt. It is located east of Alexandria, in Beheira governorate. It was founded around AD 800....
. Water would flow into a series of hydro-electric penstock
Penstock
A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydraulic turbines and sewerage systems. It is a term that has been inherited from the technology of wooden watermills....
s which would generate electricity by releasing the water at 90 m below sea level. Because the Qattara Depression is in a very hot dry region with very little cloud cover the water released at the -70 m level would spread out from the release point across the basin and evaporate from solar influx. Because of the evaporation more water can flow into the depression thus forming a constant source of energy. Eventually this would result in a hyper-saline lake or a salt pan as the water evaporates and leaves the salt it contains behind.
Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer Professor Penk. The subject was discussed in more detail by Dr. John Ball in 1927. In 1957 the American Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
proposed to President Dwight Eisenhower that peace in the Middle East could be achieved by flooding the Qattara Depression. The resulting lagoon, according to the CIA, would have four benefits:
- It would be "spectacular and peaceful."
- It would "materially alter the climate in adjacent areas."
- It would "provide work during construction and living areas after completion for the PalestinianPalestinian peopleThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
Arabs." - It would get EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian president Gamel Abdel Nasser's "mind on other matters" because "he need[ed] some way to get off the Soviet Hook."
In the seventies and early eighties several proposals to flood the area were made by Friedrich Bassler
Friedrich Bassler
Friedrich Bassler was born on 21 June 1909 in Karlsruhe and died on 7 September 1992 in Freiburg im Breisgau. He was a German hydraulic engineer....
and the Joint Venture Qattara, a group of mainly German companies. They wanted to make use of peaceful nuclear explosions
Peaceful nuclear explosions
Peaceful nuclear explosions are nuclear explosions conducted for non-military purposes, such as activities related to economic development including the creation of canals...
to construct a tunnel as it would drastically reduce construction costs compared to conventional methods. This project proposed to use 213 devices, with yields of 1 to 1.5 megatons detonated at depths of 100 to 500 m (328.1 to 1,640.4 ft). This fit within the Atoms for Peace program
Atoms for Peace
"Atoms for Peace" was the title of a speech delivered by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to the UN General Assembly in New York City on December 8, 1953....
proposed by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953. Because of this frightening solution the Egyptian government turned down the plan. Present day scientists still explore the viability of such a project, as a key to resolving economic, population, and ecological stresses in the area. However the project has never been undertaken.
In popular culture
- Ice-Cold in AlexIce-Cold in AlexIce-Cold in Alex is a British film based on the novel of the same name by British author Christopher Landon. Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring John Mills, the film was a prizewinner at the 8th Berlin International Film Festival...
The 1958 film features the Depression during World War II. - Invasion of the SeaInvasion of the SeaInvasion of the Sea is an adventure novel written by Jules Verne. It was published in 1905, the very last to be published before the author's death, and describes the exploits of Berber nomads and European travelers in Saharan Africa...
The 1905 book by Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
features a plan to create an inland sea in the Sahara. - The Last TheoremThe Last TheoremThe Last Theorem is a 2008 science fiction novel written by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl. It was first published in the United Kingdom by HarperVoyager in July 2008, and in the United States by Del Rey Books in August 2008...
The 2008 book by Arthur C. ClarkeArthur C. ClarkeSir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
and Frederik PohlFrederik PohlFrederik George Pohl, Jr. is an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years — from his first published work, "Elegy to a Dead Planet: Luna" , to his most recent novel, All the Lives He Led .He won the National Book Award in 1980 for his novel Jem...
features the Depression as a location for an alien landing.
Further reading
- Annotations. Central University Libraries at Southern Methodist University. Vol. VI, No. 1, Spring 2004.
- Bagnold, R.A. 1931. Journeys in the Libyan Desert, 1929 and 1930. The Geographical Journal 78(1): 13-39; (6):524-533.
- Bagnold, R.A. 1933. A further journey through the Libyan Desert. The Geographical Journal 82(2): 103-129; (3): 211-213, 226-235.
- Bagnold, R.A. 1935. Libyan Sands: Travel in a Dead World. Travel Book Club, London. 351 p.
- Bagnold, R.A. 1939. A lost world refound. Scientific American 161(5, November): 261-263.
- Eizel-Din, M. A.; Khalil, M. B. 2006. Development potential: Evaluation of the hydro-power potential of Egypt's Qattara Depression. International Water Power and Dam Construction 58(10), pp. 32-36
- Hassanein Bey, A.M. 1924. Crossing the untraversed Libyan Desert. The National Geographic Magazine 46(3):233-277.
- Hughes, R. H. and J. S. Hughes. 1992. A Directory of African Wetlands. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. ISBN 2880329493.
- Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS). Egypt. Accessed August 21, 2011.
- Rohlfs G. 1875. Drei Monate in der Libyschen Wüste (Three Months in the Libyan Desert). Verlag von Theodor Fischer, Cassel. 340 p.
- Saint-Exupéry, A. de. 1940. Wind, Sand and Stars. Harcourt, Brace & Co, New York.
- Scott, C. 2000. Sahara Overland: A Route and Planning Guide. Trailblazer Publications. 544 p. ISBN: 978-1-873756-76-8.
- Zittel, K.A. von. 1875. Briefe aus der libyschen Wüste (Letters from the Libyan Desert). München.