93-10 Geoscience in the Eastern Sahara: International, Interdisciplinary Science in Northeast Africa

Session: Crossing Borders in the History and Philosophy of the Geosciences

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Abstract:

The Nubian Nile Valley and Eastern Sahara include the border region of southwestern Egypt and northern Sudan.  Collaborative international and interdisciplinary research has been undertaken in this part of northeast Africa by the Combined Prehistoric Expedition (CPE), starting with field studies conducted during the 1960s in the region now flooded by the Aswan High Dam.   The Quaternary sedimentary record and geomorphology in the presently hyperarid desert of this border area has been the subject of sustained research by the CPE, documenting the evidence for paleoenvironmental change and prehistoric human activity. Geological, archaeological and other palaeoecological proxy data have been used to examine the linkages between landscape change and biotic communities, including humans.  Middle and Late Pleistocene geologic contexts are associated with Acheulian and Levallois (typically designated as Middle Paleolithic or Middle Stone Age) artifact occurrences.  The Atmur El Kibeish contains evidence of Middle-Late Pleistocene spring vents, wetlands and paludal environments associated with higher groundwater tables and Paleolithic artifacts, as in the Bir Tarfawi area.  On the Nubia-Shab Plain some sedimentary basins contain playa-pan and alluvial deposits resulting from past and (occasional) present-day rain within the drainage.  In the vicinity of Gebel Ramlah, Pleistocene alluvial and playa (mud pan) deposits are overlain by Holocene alluvium, wetland-playa, and eolian sediments associated with Neolithic archaeological occurrences.

In terms of applied geomorphology, hydrology, and engineering geology, there are several major irrigation initiatives being undertaken in the region (e.g. Oweinat East and Tushka). These are focused either on using nonrenewable groundwater resources or divert water resources from the Nubian Nile Valley into Egypt’s Western Desert.  In the Bir Tarfawi region and south to the Sudan border (in Qweinat East), groundwater from the regional Nubian Sandstone Aquifer is being used to support dry-land agriculture.  Irrigation canals transport Nile River water impounded upstream of the Aswan High Dam into the Nubia-Shab Plain and Tushka area. The large-scale irrigation projects can be viewed within policy and economic contexts linked to applied hydrology and engineering geology as well as geoheritage and archaeological resources. 

This research was supported by grant 2023/51/B/HS3/02286 to J.K. from the National Science Centre, Poland. 

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program. Vol. 57, No. 6, 2025

doi: 10.1130/abs/2025AM-7120

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