The Egyptian Nile, its floodplains and delta
9
The Egyptian Nile, its floodplains and delta
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The Egyptian Nile, its floodplains and delta. Pre-Eonile (
Transcript of The Egyptian Nile, its floodplains and delta
The Egyptian Nile, its floodplains and delta
Pre-Eonile (<6 Ma)
West flowing river systems (e.g. Subeira - Kobbania) originating from the uplifted Red Sea Hills
Eonile (6 – 5.4 Ma)
Grand Canyon of Egypt forms in response to the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea
Gulf Phase (5.4 – 3.3 Ma)
Mediterranean Sea filled with seawater flooding the Eonile Canyon and converting it into a Gulf
Paleo-Nile (3.3 – 1.8 Ma
Restricted drainage. The Nile Gulf is filled with sediments from the Red Sea Hills to form Egypt’s Nile Valley
Desert Phase (1.8 – 0.8 Ma)
North Africa is a desert for the first time. Nile stopped flowing for more than a million years
Pre-Nile & Neo-Nile (0.8 Ma – 12,000 years)
Pre-Nile: Vigorous river connected for the first time to sources in in Equatorial Africa and Ethiopia. Neo-Nile: Less competent seasonal (Mansoonal) river erratically connected with Ethiopia
Modern Nile(12,000 years – Present)
Overflow of Equatorial lakes provides year- round flow of white Nile
The floodplains and delta of the Egyptian Nile covers ~4000 km2
About ~4000 km3 of sediments are needed to be deposited within the Eonile canyon to build the floodplains and delta of the Egyptian Nile assuming an average depth of ~100 meters
This requires a depositional rate of ~125 m3/km2/year since ~800,000 years
Building the Egyptian Nile Floodplains and Delta
