Egypt’s Western Desert

Abstract

Including the Sinai Peninsular, Egypt occupies some one million square kilometres in the north east corner of Africa.  Of this landmass, the cultivated areas of the Nile Valley and Nile Delta represent only about 3.5%, the rest of Egypt being occupied by desert.  The dune fields and rocky plateaux of the Western Desert, which extend from the Nile Valley to the border with Libya, are large enough to accommodate the entire British Isles and this hour long presentation will be an exploration of features as varied as the famed Cave of the Swimmers, the Oases and the Great Sand Sea and will take a look at some of the surprising geological process that led to their formation.

Colin Reader

As an engineering geologist, I was first attracted to Ancient Egypt as a result of the controversy over the age of the Great Sphinx at Giza and what the weathering and erosion of that monument could tell us about its age. My geological background, however, has presented other opportunities to work and undertake research in Egypt. For four years I undertook geological survey work at North Saqqara, with the Saqqara Geophysical Survey Project, headed by the late Ian Mathieson. Most recently, I have been researching the geology of Egypt, principally in terms of the way the Egyptian landmass and its features, such as the Nile Valley, the Red Sea Hills and the Great Sand Sea, evolved. Flyer Click for directions