Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Rise And Demise Of The New Lakes Of Sahara, Mohamed G. Abdel Salam, Ahmed M. Youssef, Sayed Arafat, Mohamed Alfarhan

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Multispectral remote sensing data and digital elevation models were used to examine the spatial and temporal evolution of the New Lakes of Sahara in southern Egypt. These lakes appeared in September 1998, when water spilled northwestward toward the Tushka depression due to an unusual water rise in Lake Nasser induced by high precipitation in the Ethiopian Highlands. Five lakes were formed in local depressions underlain by an impermeable Paleocene shale and chalk formation. The lakes developed through three stages. (1) A rise stage occurred from September 1998 to August 2001; the area covered by the lakes reached ~1586 km^{2 …}