Fech Fech
Fech Fech ( Arabic فش فش; According to the French transcription, pronounced as "fesch-fesch" ) is a regional technical term used in the Sahara for fine, silty sediments with a powdery consistency and fine-grained, low-density deposits close to the surface. Fech Fech arises either from the weathering of fine-grain lacustrine or fluviolakustrine , Holocene sediments, often in connection with evaporites or as the weathering product of claystones . Due to the lack of cohesion between the sediment particles (“dry quicksand”), vehicles in particular have no grip on this ground and can break in up to 40 cm deep. Fech Fech areas are very often covered by a thin layer of drifting sand. As a result, this terrain can often not be recognized by its surface and creates a danger for vehicles.
Fech Fech is common in the Qattara Depression and makes this part of the Sahara impassable for most vehicles, which among other things had a significant influence on the planning and course of the two battles of El Alamein during the Second World War.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b W. A. Franke: What is quicksand? In: Der Aufschluss , Vol. 54, pp. 61–64, 2003. (digitized version)
- ^ A. Goudie: Encyclopedia of Geomorphology. 1200 S., Routledge, 2013. ISBN 0-415-27298-X (reading sample)
- ↑ P. Kaplan: Rolling Thunder: A Century of Tank Warfare. 192 pp., Pen and Sword, 2012. ISBN 978-1-4738-3136-0 (reading sample)