244
E.-S. E. Omran
Fig. 1 Imagery of Egypt showing the location of Dakhla and Kharga Oases and surrounding
landmarks as well as the approximate northeastern boundary (saline freshwater interface) of the
Nubian Aquifer
Qattara Depression. The extensive topographical research emphasizes that the AbuTarture plateau is, in fact, a linkage node between the two depressions of Kharga and
Dakhla, rather than a separation barrier. Few indigenous elderly people in the area
still remember the ancient caravan routes across the back wing of the Abu Tartur
plateau, where it links the entire area with Farafra’s third depression until the first
quarter of the twentieth century.
Ain Amur, Darb El-Tawil, Kharafesh, and El-Dakar dunes were well-known
“short-cut” passes (Naqbs) across the plateau’s tabular property, bypassing the lower
depression and wetlands, moving faster from Kharga through Dakhla to Farafra.
Egypt’s Geological Map shows that this area consists of calcareous (Lower
Eocene)/chalk (Palaeocene) as a cap rock for the plateaus, and shale, clay, sandstone
(Cretaceous) clastics that shape the floor and the escarpments below the caprock.
The bedrocks are unconformably overlain by quaternary fluvial, karst, and aeolian
sediments. The natural drainage of underground water from the Nubian sandstone on
E.-S. E. Omran
Fig. 1 Imagery of Egypt showing the location of Dakhla and Kharga Oases and surrounding
landmarks as well as the approximate northeastern boundary (saline freshwater interface) of the
Nubian Aquifer
Qattara Depression. The extensive topographical research emphasizes that the AbuTarture plateau is, in fact, a linkage node between the two depressions of Kharga and
Dakhla, rather than a separation barrier. Few indigenous elderly people in the area
still remember the ancient caravan routes across the back wing of the Abu Tartur
plateau, where it links the entire area with Farafra’s third depression until the first
quarter of the twentieth century.
Ain Amur, Darb El-Tawil, Kharafesh, and El-Dakar dunes were well-known
“short-cut” passes (Naqbs) across the plateau’s tabular property, bypassing the lower
depression and wetlands, moving faster from Kharga through Dakhla to Farafra.
Egypt’s Geological Map shows that this area consists of calcareous (Lower
Eocene)/chalk (Palaeocene) as a cap rock for the plateaus, and shale, clay, sandstone
(Cretaceous) clastics that shape the floor and the escarpments below the caprock.
The bedrocks are unconformably overlain by quaternary fluvial, karst, and aeolian
sediments. The natural drainage of underground water from the Nubian sandstone on