Erg Issaouane
| Erg Issaouane | ||
|---|---|---|
| Highest peak | unnamed ( 740 m ) | |
| location |
Illizi Province , Algeria
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| Coordinates | 27 ° 50 ′ N , 7 ° 15 ′ E | |
| rock | sand dunes | |
| surface | 28,000 km² | |
The Erg Issaouane or Issaouane-N-Irrararene is a large sandy desert ( Erg ) of the Sahara in the southern Algerian province of Illizi .
topography
Erg Issaouane covers an area of around 28,000 km² and is bordered in the south by the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains and in the north by the Tinrhert plateau . In the west it is replaced by the smaller Erg Tifferine , with which it is connected via a narrow passage about 20 km wide. The eastern border of the Erg extends to national road 3 between Hassi Messaoud , In Aménas and Illizi . In north-south direction, it extends over around 220 km in length, the width also reaches up to 220 km.
The frame and solid rock base of Erg Issaouane have heights of 400 to 550 m . The dunes built above reach heights of up to 270 m. The highest dune ridges are at 740 m . Within the erg there are numerous deep drainage-free depressions ( sebkhas ) without sand cover, the altitude of which mostly corresponds to that of the framing of the erg. In these depressions in the southernmost areas of the Erg, terrain levels of the underground rocks emerge. The sand-free depressions are sometimes up to 60 km long and up to 10 km wide. In the east, the Erg Issaouane fans out into numerous elongated and narrow strands of dunes directed towards the northeast.
There are no settlements and hardly any vegetation within the erg.
Cultural history
In the sand-free solid rock base in the South and particularly in the West at the mountain Khannfoussa, individual find cairns as witnesses of a Neolithic settlement.
Natural resources
In Erg Issaouane there are large oil fields that have been managed by the state oil company Sonatrach since 1998 . However, many of the funding agencies are already exhausted and have been closed. These abandoned production sites and the associated connecting roads are already disappearing under sand drifts. From the active production sites, the crude oil is pumped in pipelines to the refinery production facilities at Ohanet on the northern edge of Erg Issaouane and to the west of it.
Individual evidence
- ^ Algerian Embassy Germany: Hydrocarbons - Research and Operating Contracts ; accessed on January 29, 2020
