the egyptian nile, its floodplains and delta

The Egyptian Nile, its floodplains and delta

Pre-Eonile (<6 Ma)

West flowing river systems (e.g. Subeira - Kobbania) originating from the uplifted Red Sea Hills

Eonile (6 – 5.4 Ma)

Grand Canyon of Egypt forms in response to the desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea

Gulf Phase (5.4 – 3.3 Ma)

Mediterranean Sea filled with seawater flooding the Eonile Canyon and converting it into a Gulf

Paleo-Nile (3.3 – 1.8 Ma

Restricted drainage. The Nile Gulf is filled with sediments from the Red Sea Hills to form Egypt’s Nile Valley

Desert Phase (1.8 – 0.8 Ma)

North Africa is a desert for the first time. Nile stopped flowing for more than a million years

Pre-Nile & Neo-Nile (0.8 Ma – 12,000 years)

Pre-Nile: Vigorous river connected for the first time to sources in in Equatorial Africa and Ethiopia. Neo-Nile: Less competent seasonal (Mansoonal) river erratically connected with Ethiopia

Modern Nile(12,000 years – Present)

Overflow of Equatorial lakes provides year- round flow of white Nile

The floodplains and delta of the Egyptian Nile covers ~4000 km2

About ~4000 km3 of sediments are needed to be deposited within the Eonile canyon to build the floodplains and delta of the Egyptian Nile assuming an average depth of ~100 meters

This requires a depositional rate of ~125 m3/km2/year since ~800,000 years

Building the Egyptian Nile Floodplains and Delta