The topography and geology of the Fayum province of Egypt

by H. J. L. Beadnell

Degree of Salinity.With regard to the extent of salinity of such a lake Dr. Schweinfurth’s figures are of considerable interest and value, although based wholly on assumed data. The greater part of the salt would be derived from the rocks and soil forming the bed of the reservoir and only by extensive sample collecting and analysis can reliable figures be obtained. We believe that in the lowest parts of the basin the salt content of the ground would be found considerably in excess of the two per cent used by Schweinfurth in his calculation, although his total estimate would probably be found well within the mark.

Section V.—CENTRAL AREA OF THE REGION.

Central Plain at the Fayûm Depression.The great central plain, forming the floor of the depression as a whole, is composed of a hard bed of limestone some thirty metres thick. This limestone, forming the uppermost member of the Rayan series, is, as already mentioned, almost certainly identical with that capping the cliffs to the south of the depression, and in all probability in the eastern extension of the plain under description underlies the whole of the cultivated lands of Gharaq and the Fayûm. The feature of the plain as a whole is its marked and constant, though low, dip to the north; so that its surface, bared by denudation of the overlying soft limestones of the Ravine series, over a distance of some twenty kilometres, is a true dip-slope, at the base of which lies a strip of low-lying country extending from beyond Gar el Gehannem through the Birket el Qurûn to the Nile Valley ridge east of Tamia. The central and lowest portion of this low-lying area is occupied by the Birket el Qurûn, the bed of which lies fifty metres below sea level and is thus the lowest known spot in the whole of the Libyan desert. Thirty kilometres south-west of the western end of the lake, at the base of the dip-slope of the central plain and immediately under the southern scarps of the great outlying hill-mass west of Gar el Gehannem, lies another low lying basin, which receives the drainage from a considerable area of the plain to the south-west. The latter, consisting of the limestone above-mentioned, is here superficially covered by gravel, and its dark undulating surface is scored by numerous shallow winding water-courses marked by an abundant growth of scrubby vegetation; some of the principal of these drain into the basin just mentioned and after heavy rainfall the water collects and forms a pool 600 metres in length by 100 to 150 metres wide. The base of the basin, at about 80 metres above sea level, is marked by a level deposit of silt of considerable thickness, the east end of the site being surrounded by great numbers of luxuriantly growing tamarisks. Other similar basins exist on the plain to the south, and under an isolated hill five kilometres W.S.W. several full grown acacias were noticed. On the low ground to the north-west of Gar el Gehannem, and at several points between it and the head of the Birket el Qurûn, similar silt covered areas exist, some being only from 30 to 40 metres above sea level.

In the extreme south-west of the region the limestone forming the central plain is gradually overlain by the succeeding beds, so that the ground rises imperceptibly to the level of the plateau separating the depression from that of Baharia, distant some two days march. On the eastern side, if the superficial alluvial deposits could be stripped off, the underlying surface of limestone, sloping from south to north, would not differ materially from the plain further west, except that here, at any rate north of Gharaq, the Rayan limestone is overlain by the basal beds of the Ravine series.

Section VI.—RIDGE SEPARATING THE NILE VALLEY AND THE FAYUM.

The desert ridge separating the Nile Valley from the Fayûm has, to the north of the Bahr Yusef, an average width of some ten kilometres; further south it narrows, until due east of Gharaq the ridge is barely 2½ kilometres wide. The highest points are situated to the east of Sersena and Qalamsha respectively.

In both these localities the Eocene rocks, consisting of clays alternating with beds of calcareous sandstone and sandy limestone (pp. 39, 40) are overlain by thick deposits of conglomerate and gravel, attaining altitudes of over 100 metres above the cultivated land below. From these summits the slope is usually very gradual on the Nile Valley side but much more rapid towards the Fayûm.

The ridge is cut down, however, to a comparatively low level in four localities; to the north-east of Tamia; to the east of Sêla, where the railway crosses; between Lahûn and Hawara, where the Bahr Yusef canal enters; and to the south of Qalamsha, where along the site of the proposed Wadi Rayan canal the highest point is only some 40 metres above the Gharaq basin and 27 metres above the adjoining Nile Valley cultivation.

Outline of earliest connection of Nile with Fayûm.One of the most interesting problems connected with the Fayûm may be briefly alluded to here—When did the waters of the Nile first obtain access to the depression?

As will be shown later the Fayûm was occupied by the sea in Pliocene times, when the great gravel accumulations and gypseous deposits were formed. Later the area became dry and denudation of the land surface completed the work of erosion already begun in earlier times.