The Tanezrouft ( ar, تنزروفت) is a

natural region A natural region (landscape unit) is a basic geographic unit. Usually, it is a region which is distinguished by its common natural features of geography, geology, and climate. From the ecology, ecological point of view, the naturally occurring fl ...

located along the borders of

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

and

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

, west of the

Hoggar Mountains The Hoggar Mountains ( ar, جبال هقار, Berber: ''idurar n Ahaggar'') are a highland region in the central Sahara in southern Algeria, along the Tropic of Cancer. The mountains cover an area of approximately 550,000 km. Geography This ...

. Along with the

Libyan Desert The Libyan Desert (not to be confused with the Libyan Sahara) is a geographical region filling the north-eastern Sahara Desert, from eastern Libya to the Western Desert of Egypt and far northwestern Sudan. On medieval maps, its use predates t ...

it is one of the most desolate and most arid parts of the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. This area has no permanent residents and is known for its soaring temperatures and scarce access to crucial resources: water and food. Due to this, it is commonly referred to as the "land of terror". Natural regions

Geographic features

The Tanezrouft is a vast barren plain extending to the west of th
Adrar Ahnet
southeast of the

Erg Chech The Erg Chech ( ar, عرق شاش), is a large erg in southwestern Algeria and northern Mali. Geography It is an almost uninhabited part of the greater Sahara Desert, an inhospitable desert region with long, extremely hot summers and short, very w ...

sand sea, and north of the

Adrar des Ifoghas The Adrar des Ifoghas (also Adrar des Iforas; Tamasheq: ⴰⴷⵔⴰⵔ ⵏ ⵉⴼⵓⵖⴰⵙ in Tifinagh; Adrar n Ifoghas; ar, أدرار إيفوغاس Ifoghas' Mountains) is a massif located in the Kidal Region of Mali, reaching into Algeri ...

hills in northern Mali. Almost all in Algeria, the Tanezrouft is notoriously flat, featureless and without wells. In 1922 the firm gravel plain enabled the first crossing of the Sahara by motor vehicle. The terrain shows stark evidence of long-ago water erosion (when the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

's climate was much wetter; present annual rainfall is much less than 20 mm). In the present era the terrain is being shaped by wind erosion, which occurs much faster than in other areas, since there is little or no vegetation to hold the surface in place. The area is known for aridity and extreme heat, and temperatures in summer can easily reach 52 °C (125.6 °F). Because it is so arid, bleak and flat, the Tanezrouft was never the site of human occupation (in the Tuareg language its name means "Land of Thirst"). Since perhaps 500 BC a desolate trade route connected the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

with the Tidikelt,

Touat Tuat, or Touat, is a natural region of desert in central Algeria that contains a string of small oases. In the past, the oases were important for caravans crossing the Sahara. Geography Tuat lies to the south of the Grand Erg Occidental, to th ...

and the Hoggar in Algeria. It is now spanned north-south by a trans-Saharan route from

Béchar Béchar ( ar, بشار) is the capital city of Béchar Province, Algeria. It is also a commune, coextensive with Béchar District, of Béchar Province. In 2008 the city had a population of 165,627, up from 134,954 in 1998, with an annual growth ...

in Algeria via

Reggane Reggane (from Berber "Argan"; ar, رقان) is a town and commune, and the capital of Reggane District, in Adrar Province, central Algeria. Reggane lies in the Sahara Desert near an oasis. According to the 2008 census it has a population of 20,4 ...

Tessalit Tessalit is a rural commune and village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village is the administrative centre of Tessalit Cercle (district). The village lies north of Adjelhoc and about from the Algerian border. The ''commune'' extends over ...

and

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

in Mali. During the colonial era Poste Maurice Cortier (also known as Bidon V, or 'oil drum 5') was a desolate refueling station along this route, 250 kilometres (or five oil drum markers) north of Tessalit. Because of its desolation, in the early 1960s the French thought it a good place to test

atomic bombs A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...

south of Reggane.

Fauna

In the Niger portion of Tanezrouft, populations of the

endangered An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inva ...

painted hunting dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' Lyca ...

were previously viable west of the Hoggar Mountains,Hogan but now the painted hunting dog is thought to be extinct for the entirety of Niger.

Eponym

In 2018, the asteroid 26871 Tanezrouft was named after the Tanezrouft Basin.

References

;Notes ;Sources *C. Michael Hogan. 2009
''Painted Hunting Dog: Lycaon pictus'', GlobalTwitcher.com, ed. N. Stromberg
*William Basil Morgan and John Charles Pugh. 1969. ''West Africa'', Published by Methuen, 788 pages, Geography of Mali Geography of Algeria Tuareg Sahara Natural regions of Africa {{Niger-geo-stub