Qattara Depression
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Coordinates: 29 ° 30 ' N , 27 ° 30' E
The Qattara Depression (also Kattara Depression ; Arabic منخفض القطارة, DMG Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭāra ) is a depression in the Libyan desert in Egypt and in its northwestern governorate of Matruh . At around 18,000 square kilometers, its area is as large as Saxony . The maximum length is 120 and the maximum width 80 kilometers. 133 meters below sea level , the depression has the second deepest bottom in Africa after Lake Assal in Djibouti . The bottom of the depression consists primarily of a salt pan .
environment
The only permanently inhabited settlement in the Qattara Depression is the Qara Oasis at the western end of the depression, with a population of around 300. The depression is also inhabited by nomadic Bedouins and their herds, with the largest oasis in the depression, the Moghra -Oasis at the eastern end of the valley with a four square kilometer brackish water lake and a reed-covered swamp, which is particularly important in times of water scarcity.
Salt marshes are located on the northwestern and northern cliff edge of the depression. Salt marshes also appear and cover an area of almost 300 km², although in some areas the drifting sand is becoming rampant. About a quarter (26%) of the area is a salt flat , which consists of a hard crust and tough mud and is occasionally flooded.
Acacia groves growing in sandy depressions represent the only permanent vegetation. The acacia trees vary greatly in biodiversity and depend on groundwater and precipitation for survival .
The depression is an important biotope for cheetahs , with most of the animals being seen in the northern, western and northwestern parts of the Depression, where the isolated, wild oases of Ain al-Qattara and Ain al-Ghazalat and many acacia groves lie.
Also gazelles ( Gazella dorcas and Gazella leptoceros ) inhabit the Qattara Depression, which they are an important food source for the cheetah. The largest gazelle population exists in the southwestern part of the Depression, in an area of 900 km² of wetland and fine sand that includes the oases of Hatiyyat Tabaghbagh and Hatiyyat Umm Kitabain . This area is a mosaic of lakes , salt marshes , bushland , wild palm groves and grasslands from Desmostachya bipinnata .
Other animals to be found here are the Cape phase ( Lepus capensis ), the African gold wolf ( Canis anthus ), the Rüppellfuchs ( Vulpes rueppelli ) and, more rarely, the Fennec ( Vulpes zerda ).
And the Barbary sheep ( Ammotragus lervia ) was once widespread here, but now he seems to have died; the last horns were found in 1927. Other extinct species here are the saber antelope ( Oryx dammah ), the mendes antelope ( Addax nasomaculatus ) and the North African hartebeest .
Reptiles are represented by the Egyptian wall gecko ( Tarentola mindiae ) , among others .
Second World War
During the Second World War , the depression with its salt lakes, extremely high cliffs and the Fech Fech , a very fine sand, was considered impassable for most military vehicles , especially tanks . Their existence shaped the Battle of El Alamein , in which the cliffs partially delimited the battlefield.
The film Eiskalt in Alexandria - Firestorm over Africa from 1958 presents the situation in the Qattara Depression during the Second World War.
Planning a hydropower plant
A hydropower plant was planned in this depression in a desert , which is surprising because of the extensive absence of water. Albrecht Penck had this idea in 1916 , but it stayed that way for the time being. This idea can only be explained by the fact that the deepest point of the depression is 133 meters below sea level, in principle enough gradient for a hydropower plant. The area has a teardrop-shaped ground plan, the point of which points to the east and the deep curve to the south-west - to the north the depression had a relatively steep break, in which one believed to have found an ideal place for such a power plant. The concept was based on creating a waterway over several dozen kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea to the northern edge of the depression. However, it was precisely this waterway that was the real obstacle for the planning - after all, there is a hilly landscape between the depression and the Mediterranean Sea with a height difference of several hundred meters, almost entirely well above sea level. In any case, the idea was to only let so much sea water into the depression through the waterway that natural evaporation would keep the water level in the depression low enough, which would leave enough difference in altitude to drive water turbines . In 1927, John Ball began to report on the Qattara Depression as a site for a hydroelectric power station and the progress made in its exploration.
Since the idea itself always creates fascination, there are still new suggestions to this day to actually implement such a project for a hydropower plant in the desert. The effort is enormous, which is why newer proposals are trying to get multiple benefits from the project. It was proposed to combine the hydropower plant with water extraction for agriculture. This includes u. a. the proposal from 2009 to lead the water of the Nile Delta through a canal and a subsequent pipeline into the depression instead of Mediterranean water in order to have fresh water available for the cultivation of the wide slopes of the depression in addition to electricity generation.
Individual evidence
- ↑ QARA. Beyond space and time
- ↑ Erase hell . In: Der Spiegel . December 6, 1976 ( online [accessed January 9, 2014]).
- ^ John Ball: The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Desert and the Possibility of its Utilization for Power-Production . In: The Geographical Journal . Volume 83. Royal Geographical Society , October 1933, pp. 289-314 , JSTOR : 1785898 .
- ↑ Mohamed Mahmoud: The River Nile - Qattara Depression Pipeline. In: Web. private, accessed December 15, 2014 .
literature
- Annotations. Central University Libraries at Southern Methodist University. Vol. VI, No. 1, Spring 2004.
- M. Manlius, A. Menardi-Noguera, A. Zboray: Decline of the Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) in Egypt during the 20th century: literature review and recent observations. In: J. Zool. (London). Volume 259, No. 4, 2003, pp. 403-409.
- Nora Berrahmouni, Neil Burgess: Saharan halophytics (PA0905) . World Wildlife Fund, 2001. (online)
- MA Saleh, I. Helmy, R. Giegengack: The Cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus (Schreber, 1776) in Egypt (Felidae, Acinonychinae). In: Mammalia. Volume 65, No. 2, 2001, pp. 177-194.
- Niklas Maak: Technophoria . In: Carl Hanser Verlag, 256 pages, ISBN 978-3446264038 .
