The Eastern Desert

Abstract

The Eastern Desert of Egypt occupies the area extending from the Nile Valley eastward to the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea which is about 223 000 km², i.e. 21% of the total area of Egypt (Figure 2.1). It is higher than the Western Desert as it consists essentially of a backbone of high, rugged mountains running parallel to and at a relatively short distance from the coast. The peaks of many of these mountains are more than 1500 m above sea level. These mountains are flanked to the north and west by an intensively dissected sedimentary plateau. The folding and faulting that have occurred during geological history have caused these mountains to be dissected into several blocks of a series of mountain groups (Abu Al-Izz, 1971).