Nile delta Flashcards
Why is it low energy
The rate of fluvial deposition has exceeded the rate of marine deposition for over 3000 years
How has this changed
Due to the influence of both physical and human factors
How long is the Nile
6650 km
What is the catchment size
Greater than 3,000,000 km²
What is the average discharge
Less than 3000 m³ per second
Where is the source
Ethiopia
What is the annual average sediment yield for the Nile in Ethiopia
4.26 tons per hectare per year
What are the three different planes
The foreshore plain, frontal plain and Nile delta
What is the coastal plain
The coastal plane is on the northern part of the Delta and runs parallel to the Mediterranean coast line
What is the foreshore plain
Does elongated ridges, running near parallel to the present shoreline, it alternate with lagoons, salt marshes and alluvial deposits in the depression between them
What is the frontal plane
It is south of the foreshore plane, has scattered around eroded limestone outcrops and clay deposit
Description of the sandy zone
Composed of a variety of different formations such as sheets, dunes and hammocks
Where does it split into distributaries
Cairo, 160 km inland
How deep are the deposit
9 m Aswan, 9.6m at cairo
What is occurring at the front of the delta
Wave action in the Mediterranean redistribute the sediment and forms a series of curved barrier bars, which close of segments of the Mediterranean sea to form lagoons. The lagoons in then form a silt environment, it then becomes filled with fine sediment
What is the direction of sediment
 East
Direction of the prevailing wind
Northwest
What are two near shore features
Underwater sand bars and long crescentic bar
Why are parallel sandbars found here
They are generated by the dominant eastward longshore drift of sediment
Why are crescents bars found at Alexandria
Due to rip currents and negligible longshore drift
What has affected the sediment budget
The building of the Aswan dam
How’s the sediment budget been affected
Rapid reduction from 120,000,000 tons a year to only trace amounts today
What changes have occurred as a result of the dam
Accelerated erosion and rates of coastal retreat as high as 1.48 m per year
What are the factor has affected the sediment budget and how
Rising sea levels in the Mediterranean of 1.2 mm per year I’ve also contributed to hire erosion rates as deeper water produces large waves with higher amounts of energy and therefore they reach further inland
