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
=Wadi Feqoh=, a tributary of Wadi Dif, is many times longer than
Wadi Dif itself, and even longer than the Wadi Hodein of which Wadi
Dif is a tributary, having a length along its main channel of 150
kilometres, with feeders totalling several times that length. Though
only portions of Wadi Feqoh have been surveyed in detail, the
position of its entire course is known with tolerable accuracy from
the statements of guides at various stations from which portions
of it could be pointed out. It is for the most part a very barren
wadi, forming an ill-defined drainage line through a dreary waterless
sandy waste. Its very name, which means “devoid of nourishment,”
indicates its character. It originates near the west side of Gebel
Soaorib, only some twenty kilometres north of the 22nd parallel of
latitude, where the main watershed separates it from the feeders
of the Wadi Alaqi. From here it follows a north-westerly course,
passing between the mountains of Eir Arib and Hadal Derqa. Curving
slightly to the north, it crosses the great sandy plain west of Gebel
Korabkansi, and passes close west of the isolated mountain called
Gebel Shabih. Further on, it enters a country of low hills with sandy
interspaces, passing close west of the low range called Gebel Um el
Kalala, and then sweeps round in a great curve towards the east to
join the Wadi Dif close to Bir Dif. The fall of its bed from near
Gebel Shabih to its junction with Wadi Dif, that is, in a length of
seventy-two kilometres, is from 470 metres to 280 metres above sea,
giving an average slope of only about 2·6 metres per kilometre;
Wadi Feqoh has in fact the most gentle gradient of all the great
seawards-draining wadis.
Wadi Feqoh has many tributaries. Those near its head, and others
coming in from the western mountains through the low hill country
north of Gebel Mishbih, have not been traced; but those draining Gebel
Korabkansi and Gebel Niqrub, which are probably the most important,
have been mapped in detail. Most of the drainage from these localities
eventually finds its way into the great trunk feeder of Wadi Feqoh,
called the =Wadi Gimal=,[98] which joins Wadi Feqoh about sixteen
kilometres before its junction with Wadi Dif. The tributaries of
Wadi Feqoh are of much more interest than Wadi Feqoh itself, as they
contain in many places a fair or even relatively rich assemblage of
trees and bushes, and at least one good well, Bir Sararat Seyet.
The most southern tributaries of Wadi Feqoh which have been mapped
are =Wadi Kamoyib=, draining eastward from Gebel Wadhait, and =Wadi
Tawayib=, draining the east face of Gebel Korabkansi. These are for
the most part barren wadis each coursing for about sixteen kilometres
across a sandy plain to join Feqoh.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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