Lake Timsah, also known as Crocodile Lake ( ar, بُحَيْرة التِّمْسَاح); is a lake in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

on the

Nile delta The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...

. It lies in a basin developed along a fault extending 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 ...

to the Gulf of Suez through the Bitter Lakes region. In 1800, a flood filled the Wadi Tumilat, which caused Timsah's banks to overflow and moved water south into the Bitter Lakes about nine miles (14 km) away. In 1862, the lake was filled with waters from the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, and became part of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popula ...

Geography

Lake Timsah lies within a depression that spans the isthmus between the

and the Mediterranean Sea. The lowest points of the depression form shallow natural lakes, of which Timsah is one. The surface area of Lake Timsah covers 5.4 square miles. Most of the lake is marshy and depth rarely exceeds 3 feet (1 metre). It has been asserted that, in ancient times, Lake Timsah was the northern terminus of the

.''The Columbia Encyclopedia'', Sixth Edition, s.v
"Suez Canal"
Accessed 14 May 2008. Naville, Édouard. "Map of the Wadi Tumilat" (plate image), in ''The Store-City of Pithom and the Route of the Exodus'' (1885). London: Trubner and Company. On March 4, 1863, the city of Ismailia, named in honor of the viceroy Ismail Pasha, arose on Lake Timsah's northern bank. Several beaches overlook the lake, including the Moslem Youth, Fayrouz, Melaha, Bahary, Taawen, and a few Suez Canal Authority beaches.

Canals

Canal of the Pharaohs

Lake Timsah possibly first became a juncture for canal construction approximately 4,000 years ago during the

Middle Kingdom of Egypt The Middle Kingdom of Egypt (also known as The Period of Reunification) is the period in the history of ancient Egypt following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period. The Middle Kingdom lasted from approximately ...

, and was expanded by

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

Suez Canal

Suez Canal construction in the vicinity of Lake Timsah began in 1861 on the segment north of the lake. Initial preparations included the construction of sheds to house 10,000 workers, steam sawmills, and importation of large quantities of wheelbarrows and wooden planks. 3,000 laborers dug a channel (

Ismailia Canal Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

) from the

Nile 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 riv ...

to Lake Timsah in 1861 and 1862, which brought a fresh water supply to the area. It was also proposed to construct a halfway port at this point along the canal. The Ismailia section of the

, which connected Lake Manzala to Lake Timsah, was completed in November 1862. Construction of the segment was completed with

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

, which expanded the workforce to 18,000 men. The trench measured wide by four to six feet deep and connected Lake Timsah to the

. Work began south of Lake Timsah in 1862-1863 as expansion continued on the northern segment. Forced labor was used during canal construction from March 1862 until Ismail Pasha outlawed the practice in 1864. As a result of the canal, waters from Lake Manzaleh flowed into Lake Timsah. Expansion continued on the northern segment until 1867 and on the southern segment until 1876.

Environment

Salinity

Lake Timsah is a

brackish Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estua ...

lake that experiences significant variations in salinity. Human engineering projects have impacted salinity, with resulting changes in the lake's biota. Decreases in salinity were noted as early as 1871 following Suez Canal construction, and subsequent enlargement of the channel from the Nile and other construction projects increased the inflow of fresh water to the lake. The El-Gamil outlet serves as Lake Timsah's principal source of salt water. Timsah's main source of fresh water was annual Nile flooding until 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 ...

interrupted these flows in 1966, although

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit ...

also accounts for much of the lake's freshwater supply. Lake Timsah experiences both stratification variations in salinity and seasonal surface variations in salinity, and in recent decades freshwater taxa have been overtaking brackish taxa.

Pollution

In 2002, a study was conducted to check the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in fish and shellfish species that locals consume from the lake. Samples included tilapia, crabs,

bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

, clams and gastropods. The results showed that crabs contained "significantly higher concentrations of both total and carcinogenic PAHs than other species, while clams contained significantly lower levels of PAHs." In 2003, a number of groups attempted to relieve the lake of pollution. It was a significant event for the local community, since the lake is of economic importance to the city and its fishermen.

Notes

References

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External links

Encyclopædia Britannica Online
{{Authority control

Timsah The Nile Delta ( ar, دلتا النيل, or simply , is the delta formed in Lower Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to ...

Nile Delta Wadi Tumilat