42
The Suez Canal
Fig.15. Satellite picture ofSuez Canal (Gemini VI; courtesy NASA)
salt swamp. Lake Menzaleh is a brackish oligohaline waterbody, 1 to 2 m deep,
periodically supplied with fresh water from the Nile Delta. A few kilometers south
ofPort Said there is a narrow channe1 with a lock which connects Lake Menzaleh
and the Canal. The Canal works started in the Menzaleh section. In the very first
phases waters ofthis lake served to fill the first "service channel".
The following 30 km are artificially dug either through the salt and gypsum
swamp of Ballah or through a sandy ridge which at EI Guisr (km 72) reaches a
height of 23 m.
A stretch of 4 km leads through Lake Timsah (Fig.18). The undredged maximum depth of this depression is 6 m. Before the construction of the Canal the
basin was marshy with Nile waters reaching it from time to time at very high
floods through the valley ofWadi Tumilat. The lake has been dredged to a depth
of 13 m to allow the passage of ships. There are many lagoons and gulfs on both
sides of Lake Timsah, some of them fairly deep (3 m). Since the lake receives an
inflow of fresh water from various sources it is reported to have a brackish
stratification with the heavy salty water overlain by a diluted layer. The marginal
lagoons offer, therefore, a wealth of different salinity conditions. The main source
The Suez Canal
Fig.15. Satellite picture ofSuez Canal (Gemini VI; courtesy NASA)
salt swamp. Lake Menzaleh is a brackish oligohaline waterbody, 1 to 2 m deep,
periodically supplied with fresh water from the Nile Delta. A few kilometers south
ofPort Said there is a narrow channe1 with a lock which connects Lake Menzaleh
and the Canal. The Canal works started in the Menzaleh section. In the very first
phases waters ofthis lake served to fill the first "service channel".
The following 30 km are artificially dug either through the salt and gypsum
swamp of Ballah or through a sandy ridge which at EI Guisr (km 72) reaches a
height of 23 m.
A stretch of 4 km leads through Lake Timsah (Fig.18). The undredged maximum depth of this depression is 6 m. Before the construction of the Canal the
basin was marshy with Nile waters reaching it from time to time at very high
floods through the valley ofWadi Tumilat. The lake has been dredged to a depth
of 13 m to allow the passage of ships. There are many lagoons and gulfs on both
sides of Lake Timsah, some of them fairly deep (3 m). Since the lake receives an
inflow of fresh water from various sources it is reported to have a brackish
stratification with the heavy salty water overlain by a diluted layer. The marginal
lagoons offer, therefore, a wealth of different salinity conditions. The main source