Re-geomorphic Mapping of Unroofed Cave of Crystal Mountain Area, Bahariya – Farafra Depressions, Western Desert of Egypt
(2024). Re-geomorphic Mapping of Unroofed Cave of Crystal Mountain Area, Bahariya – Farafra Depressions, Western Desert of Egypt. EKB Journal Management System, 16(2), 7-30. doi: 10.21608/ejec.2024.381173
. "Re-geomorphic Mapping of Unroofed Cave of Crystal Mountain Area, Bahariya – Farafra Depressions, Western Desert of Egypt". EKB Journal Management System, 16, 2, 2024, 7-30. doi: 10.21608/ejec.2024.381173
(2024). 'Re-geomorphic Mapping of Unroofed Cave of Crystal Mountain Area, Bahariya – Farafra Depressions, Western Desert of Egypt', EKB Journal Management System, 16(2), pp. 7-30. doi: 10.21608/ejec.2024.381173
Re-geomorphic Mapping of Unroofed Cave of Crystal Mountain Area, Bahariya – Farafra Depressions, Western Desert of Egypt. EKB Journal Management System, 2024; 16(2): 7-30. doi: 10.21608/ejec.2024.381173

Re-geomorphic Mapping of Unroofed Cave of Crystal Mountain Area, Bahariya – Farafra Depressions, Western Desert of Egypt

The Egyptian Journal of Environmental Change
Article 2, Volume 16, Issue 2, October 2024, Page 7-30  XML PDF (9.67 MB)
Document Type: Peer-reviewed articles
DOI: 10.21608/ejec.2024.381173
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Abstract
The Bahariya and Farafra depressions lie in the heart of Egypt's Western Desert, between the Dakhla and Qattara depressions. The depressions called Bahariya and Farafra, which separate the plateau, are mostly made up of carbonate rocks from the Late Cretaceous and Late Tertiary periods. These rocks are broken up by a number of paleokarst or karstified breaks and classic interval rocks. Layers of shallow and deep marine sediments, fluctuating sea levels, and varying rates of sedimentation, particularly in the Paleocene and Eocene periods east of the Great Sand Sea, comprise the Farafra depression. Karstic processes of limestone solution formed the Upper Cretaceous snow-white chalk that covers it. In the late Quaternary, the study area, located in the heart of the Western desert, experienced limited surface runoff activities during humid periods and wind-induced deposition activities during dry periods. We recognized an eroded, unroofed cave system between the Bahariya and Farafra depressions. The northern and southern cavern parts are located in a hilly area on the plateau, about 17 km south of the Naqb El-Sellem area and 4 km southeast of Qaret Sheihk Abdalla Muhammed. Fluvial erosion of a Wadi, filled with windblown sand due to climate change, separates these two parts of the cavern system. A recent buildup of Aeolian sand and a sand prominence above the surface with calcite and quartz crystals entangled in it are geomorphological signs of activity in the past few thousand years. The cave system’s karst remains are characterized by the existence of several solution features, such as karst hills, karren, caverns, stalactites, cave columns, cones, and other palaeo-karstic deposits. This work aims to create a detailed geomorphological map of the eroded cave, detailing the features of the karst remains. It also aims to define the stages of its exposure to erosion factors as well as the stages of erosion itself while studying the types of its epikarstic deposits. This study primarily focuses on the geomorphological evidence of the paleo-cavern system. It does this by using a total station to perform detailed field surveys and field topographic profiling, as well as interpret satellite images, analyze DEMs, and create geomorphic maps.
Keywords
Farafra Depression; Bahariya Depression; Unroofed Cave; Paleocave; PaleoKarst; Eroded Cave; Egypt
References
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