| dc.description.abstract |
"The Eastern Desert of Egypt comprises almost one-fourth of the land surface of Egypt and covers an area of about 222117 km2. The northern tier is a limestone plateau, consisting of rolling hills, stretching from the Mediterranean coastal plain to a point roughly opposite Qena town on the River Nile. Near Qena, the plateau breaks up into cliffs about 487 m high and is deeply scored by wadis, which make the terrain very difficult to traverse. The outlets of some of the main wadis form deep bays, which contain small settlements of semi nomads. The second tier includes the sandstone plateau from Qena southward. The plateau is also deeply indented by ravines, but they are relatively free from obstacles, and some are usable as routes. The third tier consists of the Red Sea Hills and the Red Sea coastal plain. The hills run from near Suez town to the Sudanese border; they are not a continuous range but consist of a series of interlocking systems more or less in alignment. They are geologically complex, with ancient igneous and metamorphic rocks. These include granite that, in the neighborhood of Aswan area, extends across the Nile Valley to form the First Cataract—that is, the first set of rapids on the river. At the foot of the Red Sea Hills the narrow coastal plain widens southward, and parallel to the shore there are almost continuous coral reefs." |
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