Coasts - Nile Delta CS - LE

Question 1

What is the Nile Delta made from?

Answer 1

Made from silt (alluvium) deposited as the river which loses energy meets the sea.

Question 2

What is the delta?

Answer 2

• Has a dendritic like pattern
• Arcuate
• Flat low lying land

Question 3

What sea defences have been built on the Nile Delta?

Answer 3

• Sea walls
• Fisheries
• Changing land use

Question 4

How do people use the silt on the delta?

Answer 4

They use it to make mud bricks on the building

Question 5

Why did 30,000 fishermen lose their jobs?

Answer 5

• Less nutrients in the sea
• Sardine fisheries declined from 18,000 to nothing

Question 6

How far has sea level risen to and what has that resulted in?

Answer 6

• 1.2 mm/yr
• Strong waves
• Increased erosion

Question 7

How are lagoons being poisoned?

Answer 7

Chemical fertilisers -> due to less sediment because of dam

Question 8

What does the main river channel split into?

Answer 8

Distributaries

Question 9

At what rate does the delta erode per year?

Answer 9

30m/yr

Question 10

Whats the closest city?

Answer 10

Cairo

Question 11

Describe the forshore?

Answer 11

• Elongated ridges running parallel to the present coastline
• Salt marshes
• Lagoons
• Crescentic bar
• Two lobes - promontories

Question 12

What it the length of the Nile?

Answer 12

6650km

Question 13

Where is the fluvial sediment sourced from?

Answer 13

Ethiopian Traps

Question 14

What is the average discharge of the Nile?

Answer 14

3000 m^3/s

Question 15

What is the sediment load of the Nile?

Answer 15

• 30 % clay
• 40 % silt
• 30 % sand

Question 16

What is the direction of sediment movement?

Answer 16

Eastward

Question 17

Where does the prevailing wind come from?

Answer 17

The north west

Question 18

Why are crescentic bars found at Alexandria?

Answer 18

Rip currents + LSD

Question 19

Why has the sediment budget been affected?

Answer 19

Aswan Dam reducing amount of fluvial sediment

Question 20

How has the sediment budget been affected by the Aswan Dam?

Answer 20

• Rapid reduction in sediment accretion
• Changes in erosion

Question 21

Whats the rate of coastal retreat?

Answer 21

148 m/yr

Question 22

Why is Alexandria important?

Answer 22

• Major economic centre
• Vulnerable to rising sea levels
• Popular tourist destination
• Natural gas + oil pipelines from Suez

Question 23

What are the human causes and impacts?

Answer 23

• Rise of fish farms
• Increased salt production
• Heightened agriculture production -> use of freshwater
• Building dams

Question 24

How much of Egypt’s population live in the delta?

Answer 24

2/3

Question 25

Why has the store of water been reduced?

Answer 25

Agriculture
- Water extraction
- Irrigation

Question 26

What has reduced water store led to?

Answer 26

The shrinkage of the delta

Question 27

What are the main human activities taking place on the delta?

Answer 27

• Hydroelectric Power (Aswan Dam)
• Damiette Port
• Fish farms
• Oil extraction along tributary
• Cotton farms

Question 28

What are the physical factors which contribute to the low energy environment?

Answer 28

• Small fetch
• Low wind speeds
• Shallow bathematry
• Microtidal

Question 29

What land forms or features of the delta are interconnected?

Answer 29

1. Lobes and onshore bars
2. Distributaries and the lobes
3. Onshore bars and lagoons

Question 30

What are the mitigation strategies against the shrinking of the delta due to sea level rise and increased erosion?

Answer 30

• Crops with high tolerance to salinity
• Develop coastal protection policies
• Changing land use
• Develop early warning systems against floods