Egypt and the Nile

Geologic eras in Egypt

Egypt was so different than it is now when the first man started to appear in it. In  order for us to get an idea about the natural state of the country in that age,  we must go back to the early geologic eras in the distant past at a relatively  short period before man showed up on Earth. That age is known in geology as  the Teracene. We will not discuss here the geologic stages that came before  that era which are the Iocene and the ~Biocene. We will also not talk about the  Ancient Nile which predated the current Nile.  We will only mention here some details that are important for researchers in  the history and nature of Egypt.

Layers of the Earth crust in Egypt

The surface of the earth in Egypt consisted of three consecutive layers one on top of the other. Firstly, we find that during the Iocene the surface of the earth consisted of crystallized ~chists of which are perfer, granite then diorite rocks. Secondly, during the Diocene, we find that the earth consisted of sand rocks. Thirdly, during the Tricene, lime rock layers containing temoltic shels appeared.

The above mentioned crystallized chistic rocks only appears in the Western Desert and around the First Waterfall. As for sand stones, they are found in Nuba. and in the South till Isna. They also appear in Luxor and near Cairo and in the external Oases. As for the lime layers, the Libyan Desert was formed from it and so were the highest surrounding the River Nile from Luxor to Cairo.

Dual Nile in the land of Egypt

The dense Nubian sand rocks from which the land of Egypt consists has passed through many varying geologic conditions for it was partly covered by water at some periods then reappeared once again which made it easy for the Lime Sea and later the Numaletic Sea to leave sediments on the surface and form thick lime layers which cover layers of Nubian rock everywhere from Edfo till the beginning of the Nile Delta. After that region had completely emerged from beneath water, which had taken place after the Iocene era, we find that the wide region, which was later called Egypt, appeared. Yet double slopes were seen on its surface: a slight slope from one side and a sharp slope from the other.  The first slope bends from South to North in the direction of the Nile. As for the second slope, it is a sharper slope and bends from East to West, that is from the shores of the Red Sea to the oases region. Those two slopes in the geology of the Nile Valley are definitely a result of volcanic activities that had taken place at the east side of it and in the region of Sudan. Such volcanic activities have had great geographic effects since it was like other changes which the surface of the Valley had to come under the influence of due to the effect of the water of the river.

The Arab Desert and the Libyan Desert

The River Nile actually created its way in this ~valley, which contained mountains of varying heights, with an almost straight line effectively creating from it two separate regions that differ greatly with respect to height and shape. One of those two regions is in the East and is called Arab Desert. Its geologic nature is that its mountains reach great heights near the shore then slope gradually towards the Valley. As for the second region, it is called the Libyan Desert. It starts with ~low areas some of which are below sea level. Such ~low regions are called oases.

How the Nile Valley was formed

On such structure the land of the pharaohs was formed during the Triocene. During the end of the Triocene and the beginning of the Tetracene, atmospheric conditions kept making their effects eroding the surface of that ~region which now is the Nile Valley, for heavy rain fell in that direction. The extent of such heavy rain can be witnessed by observing the current tropical rain. Such rain has created several water streams that have done the work of workers in shaping several valise in the rocks. The water running in those valise has dried long ago, yet their places remain till this day a witness to their presence despite the drying of water in it.

Role of rocks in forming the river stream

It appears that the Nile did not culminate in its current stream except at relatively recent times. The River Nile stream had been blocked during the early days of the Aswan Heights with a granite barrier and remained for long unable to overcome such granite ~slabs facing the water of the Nile to go around such huge masses. Yet the water was able to overcome such obstacle at the end creating its current stream. Rocks of the first waterfall remain a witness to the resistance that faced and still faces the Nile in its way.

In addition to this, the Nile was also faced by Nubian rocks which are not as hard as granite. Such rocks used to result in several small water falls from the beginning of the Selsela city at the South thus hindering the flow of the river by putting one obstacle after the other in its path. During its journey, the Nile also encountered levels higher than the level of its current stream which resulted in the formation of a number of ~ponds behind them at different places of the valley.

A good evidence for this are the remains of the dam that used to stand in the way of the River at the Selsela Mountain as well as the Komombo valley which is a water reservoir that stored water that encountered a natural dam (which was in its path).

The River Nile forms along two stages

Using the laws of nature and of river formation we can conclude that the River Nile went through two distinct and consecutive stages in the history of its formation.

During the first stage, the river had rapidly flowing water from south to north which enabled it to first cut for itself a very huge yet shallow stream which it carved for itself along the years. That wide stream then kept shrinking gradually. The valley region at that stage was V shaped and the differences in the intensity of the streams resulted in increasing the intensity of erosion of the rocks at some times and in decreasing it at other times. The different intensity levels of such erosion can be observed in the differences in size of ~stairs which can be seen one on top of the other all along the shores of the river. We now see it clearly in rocks for at one time the ~stairs are wide and at another phase they become narrow which indicates the irregularity of such natural phenomena.

As for the second stage, we find that after the stage in which the river carved its path there came another stage during which the stream was carved again. The explanation of this is that after the stage in which the river had carved its path it was observed that the base of the stream became nearly as deep as the sea level then stopped at such depth. Yet the effect of erosion continued in the slope of the river but the debris resulting from such erosion was not all swept into the sea because the slope was not sharp and thus it accumulated at the base of the river. Such sediments increased one year after the other at the bottom which resulted in an increase in the water level of the river and a decrease in its slope thus resulting in making the flow of its water steady and Egypt started to benefit from it.

Formation of the Nile Delta

There exists clear evidence for such changes in the river stream from Aswan till the Mediterranean. For example, at the area of Cairo, the Nile during the Treicene had a stream of huge width. The Mekattam mountain and the Pyramid Heights were the two sides between which the river flew at that time. Yet during the ~Terracene, sediments gradually filled that stream. Those sediments consisted of pebbles which was propelled with the current then was later covered by soil. The wide stream thus kept shrinking gradually until nothing but a small stream of no more than a few hundred meters wide remained from such enormous expanse at that location. The Nile finally poured into the Mediterranean yet not through its current ~shape but through a ~triangle shaped gulf at a distance of around 200 km from the sear. Sediments brought annually by the Nile started covering such gulf until it formed the current Delta out of it. The old ~gulf occupies part of today’s Cairo city.

Egypt is the gift of the Nile

A surprising coincidence is that the Greek traveler Hikato had described Egypt or more precisely the Delta as being the gift of the Nile. Herodotus later on copied this from him. This description was identical to reality, it was actually reality itself.

North Africa during that age

During such ancient times there had been no desert in North Africa for all such land between the two oceans was immersed into hot humidity making the land more green. Such regions must have looked like regions north of the Mediterranean where the growth of plants depends on weather conditions and heavy rain which render the role of rivers in land irrigation as secondary.

Formation of the oases

Such rain used to form wide lakes in which crocodiles and water buffalos swam and in which ponds formed above which birds flew. Such ponds occupied ~low places. The current oases are a living proof of this. The existence of Karoon Lake in Fayoum, the Salt Lakes and Natroon Valley is a strong proof of what we have just mentioned. Animals existed in regions surrounding these lakes some of which were herbivores while others were carnivores. Some species of such animals faced distinction disappearing completely.

That is how the land of Egypt looked like at the beginning of the Tetracene which is the time at which the first human tribe appeared.

Now we will start discussing these ages during which humans started to appear then started to advance gradually till they reached the stage of recording their thoughts through writing which is the beginning of history.