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Saharan Halophytics
The Saharan halophytics ecoregion (WWF ID: PA0905) covers a series of low-lying evaporite depressions and wetlands spread across North Africa. The depressions are characteristically saline, variously chotts (saline lakes fed by groundwater and some winter rains) or sabkhas (coastal, supratidal mudflats of evaporites). The plants of the areas are highly specialized to survive in the harsh environment, with many being xerophytes (drought-tolerant) and halophytes (salt-tolerant). The biodiversity of the areas has been relatively protected by their isolation, and unsuitability of alkaline soil for farming. Location and description The sites making up this ecoregion contain a wide variety of habitat types: salt pans, seasonal salt lakes, salt marshes, reed beds, and spring-fed oases. Chott and sebkha areas exist in arid regions with clay soils heavy with evaporites. Specific locations assigned to this ecoregion include: * Chott Melrhir (Northeast Algeria). An extension of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siwa Oasis
The Siwa Oasis ( ar, واحة سيوة, ''Wāḥat Sīwah,'' ) is an urban oasis in Egypt; between the Qattara Depression and the Great Sand Sea in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert, 50 km (30 mi) east of the Libyan Egypt–Libya border, border, and 560 km (348 mi) from the capital. Its fame primarily from its ancient role as the home to an oracle of Ammon, the ruins of which are a popular tourist attraction which gave the oasis its ancient name Oasis of Amun Ra, a List of Egyptian deities#Amun, major Egyptian deity. Geography The Siwa oasis is in a deep Depression (geology), depression that reaches below sea level, to about . To the west the Jaghbub, Libya, Jaghbub oasis rests in a similar depression and to the east , the large Qattara Depression is also below sea level. Name The Ancient Egyptian name of the oasis was ''sḫt jꜣmw'', meaning "Field of Trees". The native Libyan toponym may be preserved in the Egyptian ''t̠ꜣ(j) n d̠rw “tꜣ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames and Kufra, situated in modern-day Libya, have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west Trans-Saharan trade, trade in the Sahara Desert. The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the Niger River to Tangier, Morocco. The Silk Road “traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as Turpan in China and Sam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salicornia
''Salicornia'' is a genus of succulent, halophytic (salt tolerant) flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae that grow in salt marshes, on beaches, and among mangroves. ''Salicornia'' species are native to North America, Europe, Central Asia, and southern Africa. Common names for the genus include glasswort, pickleweed, picklegrass, and marsh samphire; these common names are also used for some species not in ''Salicornia''. To French speakers in Atlantic Canada, they are known colloquially as ''titines de souris'' ('mouse tits'). The main European species is often eaten, called marsh samphire in Britain, and the main North American species is occasionally sold in grocery stores or appears on restaurant menus as sea beans, samphire greens or sea asparagus. Description The ''Salicornia'' species are small annual herbs. They grow prostrate to erect, their simple or branched stems are succulent, hairless, and appear to be jointed. The opposite leaves are strongly reduced to sma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megarine Lake Megarine Ouasis Ouergla 4
Megarine ( ar, اﻟﻤﻘﺎرﻳﻦ) is a town and commune in Touggourt Province, Algeria, located just north of the city of Touggourt. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 13,751, up from 10,996 in 1998, and an annual growth rate of 2.3%. Geography Megarine lies in a large area of palm plantations on an oasis network that extends from Sidi Slimane past Touggourt through to Balidat Ameur. Beyond the oases is the arid and barren landscape of the Sahara, featuring areas of sand dunes (ergs) and flat rocky plains ( regs). Climate Megarine has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification ''BWh''), with very hot summers and mild winters. Rainfall is light and sporadic, and summers are particularly dry. Transportation Megarine is connected to the N3 national highway a short long local road. From the intersection, the town is connected to Biskra to the north, and Touggourt Touggourt ( ar, ﺗﻗﺮت or تڤرت; ber, ⵜⵓⴳⵓⵔⵜ, Tugurt, lit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notably in 1918 and 1936. Later, the climatologist Rudolf Geiger (1894–1981) introduced some changes to the classification system, which is thus sometimes called the Köppen–Geiger climate classification system. The Köppen climate classification divides climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on seasonal precipitation and temperature patterns. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (temperate), ''D'' (continental), and ''E'' (polar). Each group and subgroup is represented by a letter. All climates are assigned a main group (the first letter). All climates except for those in the ''E'' group are assigned a seasonal precipitation subgroup (the second letter). For example, ''Af'' indi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Desert Climate
The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk''), is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert climates are dry and hold little moisture, quickly evaporating the already little rainfall they receive. Covering 14.2% of earth's land area, hot deserts are the second most common type of climate on earth after the polar climate. There are two variations of a desert climate according to the Köppen climate classification: a hot desert climate (''BWh''), and a cold desert climate (''BWk''). To delineate "hot desert climates" from "cold desert climates", there are three widely used isotherms: most commonly a mean annual temperature of , or sometimes the coldest month's mean temperature of , so that a location with a ''BW'' type climate with the appropriate temperature above whichever isotherm is being used is classified as "hot arid sub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Saharan Steppe And Woodlands
The North Saharan steppe and woodlands is a desert ecoregion, in the deserts and xeric shrublands biome, that forms the northern edge of the Sahara. It extends east and west across Northern Africa, south of the Mediterranean dry woodlands and steppe ecoregion of the Maghreb and Cyrenaica, which is part of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome. Winter rains sustain shrublands and dry woodlands that form an ecotone between the Mediterranean climate regions to the north and the hyper-arid Sahara Desert ecoregion to the south. Geography The North Saharan steppe and woodlands covers in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. Climate The climate in this ecoregion is hot and dry in the summer but cooler with some rain in the winter. Atlantic depressions sometimes penetrate inland between October and April. Rainfall is erratic, but averages in the north and in the south. During the summer, temperatures regularly rise to and evapo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moghra Oasis
The Moghra Oasis is an uninhabited oasis in the northeastern part of the Qattara Depression in the Western Desert (Egypt), Western Desert of Egypt. It has a lake containing brackish water, salt marshes and a swamp with Phragmites, reeds. Geography The Qattara Depression is about below sea level and is shaped like a teardrop, with Moghra Oasis in its northeastern corner. The floor of the Depression consists of salt marshes and dry lake beds that flood occasionally and there are also large areas of windblown sand. Moghra Oasis consists of a lake containing brackish water some below sea level. Adjoining it are salt marshes and some ''Phragmites'' swamps. To the south and west there are sand dunes near the lake and extensive sheets of sand beyond. Geology The water rises to the surface from an aquifer in the Nubian Sandstone, Nubian sandstone, but its precise source is unclear as the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System is at great depths in this area. Just to the north of the oasis is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Qattara Depression
The Qattara Depression ( ar, منخفض القطارة, Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah) is a depression in northwestern Egypt, specifically in the Matruh Governorate. The depression is part of the Western Desert of Egypt. The Qattara Depression lies below sea level, and its bottom is covered with salt pans, sand dunes, and salt marshes. The depression extends between the latitudes of 28°35' and 30°25' north and the longitudes of 26°20' and 29°02' east.El Bassyony, Abdou. 1995. ''"Introduction to the geology of the Qattara Depression,"'' International Conference on the Studies and Achievements of Geosciences in Egypt, 69 (85-eoa) The Qattara Depression was created by the interplay of salt weathering and wind erosion. Some west of the depression lie the oases of Siwa in Egypt and Jaghbub in Libya in smaller but similar depressions. The Qattara Depression contains the second lowest point in Africa at an elevation of below sea level, the lowest point being Lake Assal in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chott El Djerid
Chott el Djerid ( ar, شط الجريد ') also spelled ''Sciott Gerid'' and ''Shott el Jerid'', is a chott, a large endorheic salt lake in southern Tunisia. The name can be translated from the Arabic into English as "Lagoon of the Land of Palms". Geography The bottom of Chott el Djerid is located between 10 and 25 meters (about 30 to 80 feet) below sea level. The lake's width varies widely; at its narrowest point, it is only across, compared to its overall length of . At times, parts of it appear in various shades of white, green and purple. The narrow eastward inlet of the chott is also known as Chott el Fejej. It is the largest salt pan of the Sahara Desert, with a surface area of over 7,000 km2 (some sources state 5,000 km2). The site has a typical hot desert climate. Due to the harsh climate with mean annual rainfall of below 100 mm and daytime temperatures sometimes reaching 50 °C (122 °F) or more during summer with dense solar radiation, water ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tell Atlas
The Tell Atlas ( ar, الاطلس التلي, Latn, ar, al-ʾaṭlas al-tlī) is a mountain chain over in length, belonging to the Atlas mountain ranges in North Africa, stretching mainly across northern Algeria, with ends in both north-eastern Morocco and north-western Tunisia. The ranges of this system have an average elevations of about and form a natural barrier between the Mediterranean and the Sahara. Its highest summit is the high Lalla Khedidja in the Jurjura Range. Several large cities such as the Algerian capital, Algiers, with ~1,500,000 residents (2005) and Oran with ~770,000 residents (2005) lie at the base of the Tell Atlas. The Algerian city Constantine with approximately 505,000 residents (2005) lies 80 km inland and directly in the mountains at 650 meters in elevation. A number of smaller towns and villages are situated within the Tell; for example, Chiffa is nestled within the Chiffa gorge. Geography The Tell Atlas runs parallel to the Mediterranean c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chott El Hodna
The ''Chott el Hodna'' ( ar, شط الحضنة) is a very shallow saline lake in Algeria. It is located within an endorheic basin in the Hodna region, towards the eastern end of the ''Hautes Plaines''. The ''Chott el Hodna'' includes seasonal brackish and saline pools and marshes, but the central zone of the lake is characterized by a complete absence of vegetation. J. Despois argues that the ''Chott el Hodna'' is not a proper '' Chott'', but a '' Sebkha''. Ecology The ''chott'' area provides an important habitat for certain endangered species such as the Cuvier's gazelle, the marbled duck and different kinds of bustards, as well as indigenous fish species. The ''Chott el Hodna'' was declared a Ramsar site on 2 February 2001. See also *Geography of Algeria *Hodna The Hodna (french: Le Hodna) is a natural region of Algeria located between the Tell and Saharan Atlas ranges at the eastern end of the ''Hautes Plaines''. It is a vast depression lying in the northeastern section of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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