Qattara Depression
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The Qattara Depression ( ar, منخفض القطارة, Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah) is a depression in northwestern
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
, specifically in the
Matruh Governorate Matrouh Governorate ( ar, محافظة مطروح ) is one of the governorates of Egypt. Located in the north-western part of the country, it borders Libya. Its capital is Mersa Matruh. Municipal divisions The governorate is divided into munic ...
. 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 A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
, and
salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...
es. 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 Djibouti. The depression covers about , a size comparable with
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...
or twice as large as
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. Due to its size and proximity to the shores of the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
, studies have been made proposing to flood the area for various usages, such as the potential to generate
hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other Renewabl ...
there.


Geography

The Qattara Depression has the shape of a teardrop, with its point facing east and the broad deep area facing southwest. The northern side of the depression is characterised by steep escarpments up to high, marking the edge of the adjacent El Diffa plateau. To the south the depression slopes gently up to the
Great Sand Sea The Great Sand Sea is an approximately sand desert (erg) in the Sahara between western Egypt and eastern Libya in North Africa. Some 74% of the area is covered by sand dunes. Geography The Great Sand Sea stretches about from north to south an ...
. Within the Depression are
salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...
es, under the northwestern and northern
escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
edges, and extensive
dry lake A dry lake bed, also known as a playa, is a basin or depression that formerly contained a standing surface water body, which disappears when evaporation processes exceeds recharge. If the floor of a dry lake is covered by deposits of alkaline c ...
beds that flood occasionally. The marshes occupy approximately , 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 initiated by either wind or fluvial erosion in the late
Neogene The Neogene ( ), informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period million years ago ( Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period Mya. ...
, but during the
Quaternary Period The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three period (geology), periods of the Cenozoic era (geology), Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spa ...
the dominant mechanism was a combination of
salt weathering Weathering is the deterioration of rocks, soils and minerals as well as wood and artificial materials through contact with water, atmospheric gases, and biological organisms. Weathering occurs ''in situ'' (on site, with little or no movement), ...
and
wind erosion Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets). Winds may erode, transport, and deposit materials ...
working together. First, the salts break up the depression floor, then the wind blows away the resulting sands. This process is less effective in the eastern part of the depression, due to lower salinity groundwater.Aref M.A.M., El-Khoriby E., Hamdan M.A. 15 June 2002
''The role of salt weathering in the origin of the Qattara Depression, Western Desert, Egypt''
Geomorphology, Volume 45, Issues 3-4, Pages 181-195.


Ecology

Groves of umbrella thorn acacia (''
Vachellia tortilis ''Vachellia tortilis'', widely known as ''Acacia tortilis'' but now attributed to the genus '' Vachellia'', is the umbrella thorn acacia, also known as ''umbrella thorn'' and Israeli babool, a medium to large canopied tree native to most of Afr ...
''), growing in shallow sandy depressions, and ''
Phragmites ''Phragmites'' () is a genus of four species of large perennial reed grasses found in wetlands throughout temperate and tropical regions of the world. Taxonomy The World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, maintained by Kew Garden in London ...
'' swamps represent the only permanent vegetation. The acacia groves vary widely in
biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and rely on runoff from rainfall and groundwater to survive. The
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. Geograph ...
in the northeastern part of the Depression has a brackish lake and a ''Phragmites'' swamp.Hughes, R. H. and J. S. Hughes. 1992. ''A Directory of African Wetlands''. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. . The southwestern corner of the depression is part of the Siwa Protected Area which protects the wild oasis in and around the
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–Li ...
. The Depression is an important habitat for the
cheetah The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...
, 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.Saleh, M.A., Helmy, I. and Giegengack. 2001. ''The Cheetah, "Acinonyx jubatus" (Schreber, 1776) in Egypt (Felidae, Acinonychinae)''. "Mammalia" 65 (2): 177–194.
Gazelle A gazelle is one of many antelope species in the genus ''Gazella'' . This article also deals with the seven species included in two further genera, '' Eudorcas'' and '' Nanger'', which were formerly considered subgenera of ''Gazella''. A third ...
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 A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...
and soft sand. The area of , includes the wild oases of Hatiyat Tabaghbagh and Hatiyat Umm Kitabain, and is a mosaic of
lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
s,
salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...
es,
scrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, Herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or ...
, wild
palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...
groves and ''
Desmostachya bipinnata ''Desmostachya bipinnata'', commonly known as halfa grass, big cordgrass, and salt reed-grass, is an Old World perennial grass, long known and used in human history. The grass is tall, tufted, leafy, perennial grass, branching from the base, erec ...
''
grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...
. Other common fauna include the
Cape hare The Cape hare (''Lepus capensis''), also called the brown hare and the desert hare, is a hare native to Africa and Arabia extending into India. Taxonomy The Cape hare was one of the many mammal species originally described by Carl Linnaeus ...
(''Lepus capensis''), Egyptian jackal (''Canis aureus hupstar''), sand fox (''Vulpes rueppelli'') and more rarely the
fennec fox The fennec fox (''Vulpes zerda'') is a small crepuscular fox native to the deserts of North Africa, ranging from Western Sahara to the Sinai Peninsula. Its most distinctive feature is its unusually large ears, which serve to dissipate heat and l ...
(''Vulpes zerda'').
Barbary sheep The Barbary sheep (''Ammotragus lervia''), also known as aoudad (pronounced ɑʊdæd is a species of caprine native to rocky mountains in North Africa. While this is the only species in genus ''Ammotragus'', six subspecies have been describ ...
(''Ammotragus lervia'') were once common here but now they are few in number. Extinct species from the area include the
scimitar oryx The scimitar oryx (''Oryx dammah''), also known as the scimitar-horned oryx and the Sahara oryx, is a ''Oryx'' species that was once widespread across North Africa. In 2000, it was declared extinct in the wild on the IUCN Red List. A captive b ...
(''Oryx dammah''),
addax The addax (''Addax nasomaculatus''), also known as the white antelope and the screwhorn antelope, is an antelope native to the Sahara Desert. The only member of the genus ''Addax'', it was first described scientifically by Henri de Blainvil ...
(''Addax nasomaculatus'') and
bubal hartebeest The bubal hartebeest, also known as northern hartebeest or bubal antelope or simply bubal (''Alcelaphus buselaphus buselaphus'') is the extinct nominal (i.e., first described) subspecies of hartebeest. It was formerly found north of the Saharan De ...
(''Alcelaphus buselaphus''). Also the ''
Droseridites ''Droseridites'' is a genus of extinct plants of possible droseracean or nepenthacean affinity. It is a form taxon known only from fossil pollen. Species assigned to this genus originate from numerous regions of the world, including Europe (f ...
baculatus'', an extinct plant known only from fossils of its pollen, was found at the Ghazalat-1 Well.


Climate

The climate of the Qattara Depression is highly
arid A region is arid when it severely lacks available water, to the extent of hindering or preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life. Regions with arid climates tend to lack vegetation and are called xeric or desertic. Most ar ...
with annual
precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravitational pull from clouds. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. ...
between on the northern rim to less than in the south of the depression. The average daily temperature varies between during summer and winter months. The prevailing wind forms a largely bimodal regime with most wind coming from north easterly and westerly directions. This causes the linear dune formations in the Western desert between the Qattara Depression and the Nile valley. Wind speeds peak in March at and minimal in December at . The average wind speed is about .Mortensen, N. G.; Said, U.S.; Badger, J. (2006). ''Wind Atlas for Egypt: Measurements, Micro- and Mesoscale Modeling''. New and Renewable Energy Authority, Cairo, Egypt Several days each year in the months March to May khamsin winds blow in from the south and bringing extremely high temperatures as well as sand and dust with them.


Land use

There is one permanent settlement in the Qattara Depression, the
Qara Oasis The Qara Oasis (also spelt Cara or Gara; ar, واحة القارة; also Qarat Umm El Sagheir, i.e. ) is an inhabited oasis in Egypt, with a population of only 363 (as of the 11 November 2006 census). This oasis is often disregarded when it come ...
. The oasis is located in the westernmost part of the depression and is inhabited by about 300 people. The Depression is also inhabited by the nomadic
Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
people and their flocks, with the uninhabited Moghra oasis being important in times of
water scarcity Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water Water resources, resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water ...
during the dry seasons. The Qattara Depression contains many oil concessions, and several operational
oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...
s. The drilling companies include
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...
and the
Apache Corporation APA Corporation is the holding company for Apache Corporation, an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. It is organized in Delaware and headquartered in Houston. The company is ranked 431st on the Fortune 500. Current operations ...
.


History


Measurement

The elevation of the depression was first measured 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 barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...
on behalf of John Ball, who later would also publish on the region. He discovered that the spring Ain EI Qattara lay about below sea level. Because the barometer got lost and the readings were so unexpected, this find had to be verified. During 1924–25, Ball again organised a survey party, this time with the sole purpose to
triangulate In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle me ...
the elevation on a westerly line from
Wadi El Natrun Wadi El Natrun (Arabic: "Valley of Natron"; Coptic: , "measure of the hearts") is a depression in northern Egypt that is located below sea level and below the Nile River level. The valley contains several alkaline lakes, natron-rich salt dep ...
. The survey was led by G.F. Walpole who had already distinguished himself by triangulating the terrain across from the
Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin language, Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered ...
to Siwa via
Bahariya El-Wahat el-Bahariya or el-Bahariya ( ar, الواحات البحرية "''El-Wāḥāt El-Baḥrīya''", "the Northern Oases"); is a depression and a naturally rich oasis in the Western Desert of Egypt. It is approximately 370 km away from ...
. He confirmed the earlier readings and proved the presence of a huge area below sea level, with places as deep as below sea level. Knowledge about the geology of the Qattara Depression was greatly extended by
Ralph Alger Bagnold Brigadier Ralph Alger Bagnold, OBE, FRS, (3 April 1896 – 28 May 1990) was an English 20th-century desert explorer, geologist and soldier. In 1932, he staged the first recorded East-to-West crossing of the Libyan Desert. His work in the ...
, a British military commander and explorer, through numerous journeys in the 1920s and 1930s. Most notable was his 1927 journey during which he crossed the depression east to west and visited the oases of Qara and Siwa. Many of these trips used motor vehicles ( Ford Model-Ts) which used special techniques for driving in desert conditions. These techniques were an important asset of the
Long Range Desert Group )Gross, O'Carroll and Chiarvetto 2009, p.20 , patron = , motto = ''Non Vi Sed Arte'' (Latin: ''Not by Strength, but by Guile'') (unofficial) , colours = , colours_label ...
which Bagnold founded in 1940.Bagnold, R.A. 1931. "Journeys in the Libyan Desert, 1929 and 1930". ''The Geographical Journal'' 78(1): 13-39; (6):524-533. After the discovery of the depression, Ball published the triangulation findings about the region in October 1927 in ''
The Geographical Journal ''The Geographical Journal'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers). It publishes papers covering research on all aspects of geography. It also publishes shorter C ...
''. He also gave the region its name "Qattara" after the spring Ain EI Qattara where the first readings were taken. The name literally means "dripping" in Arabic. Six years later in 1933, Ball was the first to publish a proposal for flooding the region to generate hydroelectric power in his article "The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Desert and the possibility of its utilisation for power-production".


World War II

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the depression's presence shaped the 1st and 2nd Battles of El Alamein. It was considered impassable by
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s and most other
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
vehicle A vehicle (from la, vehiculum) is a machine that transports people or cargo. Vehicles include wagons, bicycles, motor vehicles (motorcycles, cars, trucks, buses, mobility scooters for disabled people), railed vehicles (trains, trams), wa ...
s because of features such as salt lakes, high cliffs and/or
escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''escar ...
s, and
fech fech Fech fech ( ar, فش فش) is a very fine powder caused by the erosion of clay-limestone terrain and it is most commonly found in deserts. It consists of a surface horizon of pulverized soil with low particle cohesion protected under a thin crus ...
(very fine powdered sand). The cliffs in particular acted as an edge of the El Alamein battlefield, which meant the
British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
's forces could not be
outflanked In military tactics, a flanking maneuver is a movement of an armed force around an enemy force's side, or flank, to achieve an advantageous position over it. Flanking is useful because a force's fighting strength is typically concentrated i ...
to the south. Both Axis and Allied forces built their defences in a line from the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
to the Qattara Depression. These defences became known as the
Devil's gardens The Devil's gardens was the name given by Field Marshal () Erwin Rommel, commander of the German during the Second World War, to the defensive entanglements of land mines and barbed wire built to protect Axis defensive positions at El Alamein ...
, and they are for the most part still there, especially the extensive minefields. No large army units entered the Depression, although German
Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...
patrols and the British
Long Range Desert Group )Gross, O'Carroll and Chiarvetto 2009, p.20 , patron = , motto = ''Non Vi Sed Arte'' (Latin: ''Not by Strength, but by Guile'') (unofficial) , colours = , colours_label ...
did operate in the area, since these small units had considerable experience in desert travel. The RAF's repair and salvage units (e.g. 58 RSU) used a route through the depression to salvage or recover
aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines ...
that had landed or crashed in the Western desert away from the coastal plain. The RSUs included six-wheel-drive trucks, Coles cranes, and large trailers, and were particularly active from mid-1941 when
Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...
G.G. Dawson arrived in Egypt to address the lack of serviceable aircraft. A German communications officer stationed in the depression was cited by
Gordon Welchman William Gordon Welchman (15 June 1906 – 8 October 1985) was a British mathematician. During World War II, he worked at Britain's secret codebreaking centre, "Station X" at Bletchley Park, where he was one of the most important contributors. ...
as being unintentionally helpful in the breaking of the Enigma machine code, due to his regular transmissions stating there was "nothing to report".


Qattara Depression Project

The large size of the Qattara Depression and the fact that it falls to a depth of below mean sea level has led to several proposals to create a massive
hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
project in northern Egypt rivalling that of the
Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan Lo ...
. This project is known as the Qattara Depression Project. The proposals call for a large canal or tunnel being excavated from the Qattara due north of depending on the route chosen to the
Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...
to bring seawater into the area. An alternative plan involved running a pipeline northeast to the
freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...
Nile River The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest rive ...
at
Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette  ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...
.Mahmoud, Mohamed
''The River Nile - Qattara Depression Pipeline''
June 2009
User:TGC
''Great Circle Mapper - Rosetta to Qattara''
2011
Water would flow into a series of water
penstock A penstock is a sluice or gate or intake structure that controls water flow, or an enclosed pipe that delivers water to hydro turbines and sewerage systems. The term is inherited from the earlier technology of mill ponds and watermills. H ...
s which would generate electricity by releasing the water at below sea level. Because the Qattara Depression is in a very hot dry region with very little cloud cover, the water released at the level would spread out from the release point across the basin and evaporate from solar influx. Because of evaporation, more water can flow into the depression, thus forming a continual source of power. Eventually this would result in a hypersaline lake or a salt pan as the water would evaporate and leave behind the salt that it contained. Plans to use the Qattara Depression for the generation of electricity date back to 1912 from Berlin geographer
Albrecht Penck Albrecht Penck (25 September 1858 – 7 March 1945) was a German geographer and geologist and the father of Walther Penck. Biography Born in Reudnitz near Leipzig, Penck became a university professor in Vienna, Austria, from 1885 to 1906, a ...
.Murakami M
''Managing water for peace in the Middle East''
United Nations University Press. p.64-66
The subject was discussed in more detail by Dr. John Ball in 1927, who estimated a hydroelectric potential of 125 to 200 megawatts. In 1957, the American
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
proposed to President
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
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 is easier to extract oil from offshore platforms than in swamps *the flow will turn the hydroelectric power station". *fishing, resorts, pearls". *It would get
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian president
Gamel Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, . (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian politician who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 and introduced far-re ...
's "mind on other matters" because "he need dsome way to get off the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
hook". In the 1970s and early 1980s, several proposals to flood the area were made by
Friedrich Bassler Friedrich Bassler (21 June 1909, Karlsruhe – 7 September 1992, Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German hydraulic engineer. From 1961 to 1977 he was director of the ''Institut für Wasserbau und Wasserwirtschaft'' (Department of water engineering ...
and the ''Joint Venture Qattara'', a group of mainly German companies. They wanted to make use of
peaceful nuclear explosions Peaceful nuclear explosions (PNEs) are nuclear explosions conducted for non-military purposes. Proposed uses include excavation for the building of canals and harbours, electrical generation, the use of nuclear explosions to drive spacecraft, and a ...
to construct a tunnel, drastically reducing construction costs compared to conventional methods. This project proposed to use 213
H-bombs A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lo ...
, with yields of one to 1.5
megaton Megaton may refer to: * A million tons * Megaton TNT equivalent, explosive energy equal to 4.184 petajoules * megatonne, a million tonnes, SI unit of mass Other uses * Olivier Megaton (born 1965), French film director, writer and editor * ''Me ...
s, detonated at depths of . That fit within the Atoms for Peace program proposed by US President
Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
in 1953. The Egyptian government turned down the idea. Planning experts and scientists intermittently put forward potentially viable options, whether of a tunnel or canal, as an economic, ecological, and energy solution in Egypt, often coupled with the idea of new settlements.Kelada, Maher
''Global Hyper Saline Power Generation Qattara Depression Potential''
MIK Technology


References

*Antonio Mascolo Die Kattara-Utopie http://www.kattara-utopie.de


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. * * * * Ramsar Sites Information Service (RSIS). Egypt. Accessed 21 August 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. . * Zittel, K.A. von. 1875. ''Briefe aus der libyschen Wüste'' (Letters from the Libyan Desert). München.


External links


A detailed map of Egypt (including the Qattara Depression) from 1955 by the Army Map Service, US Army, scale 1: 250,000


{{Egypt topics Deserts of Egypt Depressions (geology) Landforms of Egypt Lowest points Western Desert (Egypt) Basins of Africa