The geography and geology of south-eastern EgyptBall, John
Science
The geography and geology of south-eastern Egypt
Ball, John
Geology -- Egypt; Physical geography -- Egypt
Below the point of influx of Hafafit, the Wadi Gemal becomes more
narrow, and shut in by high hills. Near the meridian of 34° 49′
there are some ruins on the north side of the wadi, and a little
further on the Wadi Nugrus, one of the largest tributaries of Wadi
Gemal, enters from the north-west at a rather sharp bend. Further
down, Wadi Gemal receives =Wadi el Mukhatatat= and =Wadi Um Sueh=
from the south, and =Wadi Um Heran= and =Wadi el Nasbia= from the
north. The Wadi Abiad, which next joins Wadi Gemal from the south,
is an important feeder. Two kilometres below the mouth of Wadi el
Abiad, the =Wadi Um Kabu= enters Wadi Gemal from the north-west,
while nearly opposite to it is a small wadi, called =Um Sellimi=,
in which there are water pools after rain. The wadi now curves more
northward round the base of the double-topped hill mass called Madaret
Um Gamil. Just beyond the northward turn a road[90] leads up a narrow
tortuous gully in a north-westerly direction, passing close south
of the hill summit and forming the most ready means of ascent of
Madaret Um Gamil; the climb from the road at the top of the gully is
only about 200 metres. The course of the Wadi Gemal to the sea has not
been surveyed beyond four kilometres east of Madaret Um Gamil; it goes
through low hilly country and enters the sea in about latitude 24°.
The fall of the Wadi Gemal averages about six metres per kilometre,
being as low as four metres per kilometre in some places, and probably
exceeding ten metres per kilometre where it emerges from the hills on
to the coast-plain. It is interesting to note that the observations
of level indicate a local increase of gradient above the place of
influx of Hafafit and Nugrus. The Wadi Gemal is well supplied with
trees, as are also almost all its tributaries with the exception of
the sandy Wadi Hafafit.
=Wadi Huluz= is a long winding wadi, mostly shut in by high rock
walls, draining the high mountains round Gebel Hamata and coursing
north-east for a distance of over seventy-five kilometres to the
point, near Gebel Um Suerab, where, turning sharply eastward,
it enters more open country and takes the name of Wadi Gemal. The
slope of Wadi Huluz averages fifty metres per kilometre for the
first ten kilometres from its heads in the mountains. In the next
ten kilometres the slope is much flatter, being twenty metres per
kilometre. From twenty to forty kilometres from its head the average
fall is only ten metres per kilometre, while still further down the
rate of fall lessens till in the last reaches, just before entering
the Wadi Gemal, it is only six and a half metres per kilometre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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