The Nile's journey through space and time: A geological perspective

Abdelsalam, Mohamed G.

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.01.010

Cited by 48 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…The highest point in the Nile basin is Mount Stanley (5109 m) in the Rwenzori Mountains (the third highest peak in Africa) between Lake Edward and Lake Albert on the border between the DRC and Uganda. The geological evolution of this area is complexit was subjected to tectonic movements related to the African Rift system from Late Miocene to Quaternary times (Said, 1981;Talbot and Williams, 2009;Abdelsalam, 2018). The drainage of the Lake Plateau region into the Nile channel network followed regional uplift and the formation of Lake Victoria (Talbot and Williams, 2009).…”

Section: The White Nile Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

The River Nile: Evolution and Environment

Woodward

Macklin²,

Krom³

et al. 2022

Large Rivers

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The Nile Basin drains about one tenth of the African continent and contains the longest river channel system in the world (>6500 km). The evolution of the modern drainage network and its fluvial geomorphology reflect both long-term tectonic and volcanic processes and associated changes in erosion and sedimentation, in addition to sea level changes (Said, 1981) and major shifts in both climate and vegetation during the Quaternary (Williams and Faure, 1980;Talbot and Williams, 2009;Woodward et al. 2015a;Williams 2019). In the Holocene, abrupt climate shifts, human impacts in the form of land use change over the last few millennia, and large dam construction over the last hundred years or so, have had major catchment-wide impacts on the hydrology and sediment budget of the River Nile. The river basin extends over 35° of latitude (4° S to 31° N) incorporating a great diversity of climates, river regimes, biomes and terrainsincluding the Equatorial lakes plateau of the White Nile headwaters, the semi-arid volcanic uplands of Ethiopia, the Sahara Desert, and the vast delta complex at the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is also the world's longest exotic riverit flows for almost 2700 km without any significant perennial tributary inputs. The true desert Nile begins at Khartoum (15° 37′ N 32° 33′ E) on the Gezira Plain where the Blue and White Nile converge (Figure 14.1). These two systems, and the Atbara to the north, are large rivers in their own right with distinctive fluvial landscapes and flow regimes. The Nile has a

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Section: The White Nile Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

The River Nile: Evolution and Environment

Woodward

Macklin²,

Krom³

et al. 2022

Large Rivers

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“…While the Sahara has likely existed since the Miocene 39 , the Nile evolved though the Plio-Pleistocene [40][41][42] . The timings of its various development stages are not well constrained, but a recent synthesis 41 proposes a Late Pliocene/early Pleistocene connection of the Blue Nile/Atbara-Tekeze rivers to the palaeo-Nile, and emergence of the modern Egyptian Nile flood plain and delta (the White Nile joined the main channel within the last 0.5 Ma ref. 41 ).…”

Section: African Climate/environment Shift At 32 Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The timings of its various development stages are not well constrained, but a recent synthesis 41 proposes a Late Pliocene/early Pleistocene connection of the Blue Nile/Atbara-Tekeze rivers to the palaeo-Nile, and emergence of the modern Egyptian Nile flood plain and delta (the White Nile joined the main channel within the last 0.5 Ma ref. 41 ). Nile evolution could, therefore, account for a major mid/late Pliocene shift in drainage pathways and suspended sediment.…”

Section: African Climate/environment Shift At 32 Mamentioning

confidence: 99%

Abrupt change in North African hydroclimate and landscape evolution 3.2 million years ago

Grant

Amarathunga

Amies

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Dark organic-rich layers (sapropels) have accumulated in Mediterranean sediments since the Miocene due to deep-sea dysoxia and enhanced carbon burial at times of intensified North African run-off during ‘Green’ Sahara Periods (GSPs). The existence of orbital precession-dominated Saharan aridity/humidity cycles is well known, but lack of long-term, high-resolution records hinders understanding of their precise relationships with environmental and hominin evolution. Here we present continuous, high-resolution geochemical and environmental magnetic records for the Eastern Mediterranean that span the past 5.2 million years, which reveal that organic burial in sapropels intensified 3.2 Myr ago. We deduce that fluvial terrigenous sediment inputs during GSPs doubled abruptly at this time, whereas monsoon run-off intensity remained relatively constant. We attribute the increase in sediment mobilisation to an abrupt non-linear North African landscape response associated with a major increase in arid:humid contrasts between GSPs and intervening dry periods. This likely limited hominin (and other animal) inhabitation of, and migration through, the Sahara region to GSPs only.

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“…The Cenozoic evolution of the Nile Basin reflects the interaction of tectonic, volcanic and climatic events operating at a variety of different spatial and temporal scales Abdelsalam, 2018). Uplift of the Ethiopian-Arabian dome during the Oligocene triggered widespread regional erosion (Avni et al, 2012) and culminated in extrusion of the Trap Series basalts in the Ethiopian Highlands in late Oligocene times, with much of the volcanism apparently taking place during a million or so years centred on 30 Ma (Hofman et al, 1997).…”

Section: Cenozoic Evolution Of the Nile Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Uplift of the Ethiopian-Arabian dome during the Oligocene triggered widespread regional erosion (Avni et al, 2012) and culminated in extrusion of the Trap Series basalts in the Ethiopian Highlands in late Oligocene times, with much of the volcanism apparently taking place during a million or so years centred on 30 Ma (Hofman et al, 1997). Uplift seems to have occurred in stages with long intervals of tectonic stability interspersed with a few phases of relatively rapid uplift (Minucci, 1938;Merla, 1963;Gani et al 2007;Abdelsalam, 2018). The inception of the ancestral Atbara/Tekezze and Blue Nile/ Abbai dates from about 30 Ma, subsequent to initial uplift and widespread extrusion of the highly fluid Trap Series basalts (Williams, 2016).…”

Section: Cenozoic Evolution Of the Nile Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

A river flowing through a desert: late Quaternary environments in the Nile basin – current understanding and unresolved questions

Williams

2021

JPS

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Late Quaternary environments in the Nile Basin reflect the influence of the African summer monsoon upon plant cover, sediment yield and flood discharge in the Ethiopian and Ugandan headwaters of the Nile. Intervals of prolonged and very high Nile flow coincide with times of stronger summer monsoon and have been dated using a combination of 14C, OSL and 10Be methods. Periods of high Nile flow into the eastern Mediterranean coincide with the formation of highly organic sedimentary layers termed sapropels. Ages obtained so far for these times of sustained middle to late Pleistocene high flow in the Blue and White Nile are broadly coeval with sapropel beds S8 (ca 217 ka), S7 (ca 195 ka), S6 (ca 172 ka), S5 (ca 124 ka), S4 (ca 102 ka) S3 (ca 81 ka), S2 (ca 55–50 ka) and S1 (10–6.5 ka). Sapropel 5 (ca 124 ka) was synchronous with extreme Blue Nile floods and the formation of the 386 m lake in the lower White Nile Valley, as well as with a prolonged wet phase in the eastern Sahara. Fluctuations in Nile flow and sapropel formation reflect the influence of the precessional cycle upon the East African monsoon. Between 75 ka and 19 ka the climate in the Nile headwaters region became progressively colder and drier. During the Last Glacial Maximum, Lake Tana in Ethiopia and Lake Victoria in Uganda became dry, flow in the White Nile was reduced to a trickle, and the Blue Nile and Atbara became highly seasonal bed–load rivers. The return of the summer monsoon at 14.5 ka ushered in extreme Blue Nile floods, widespread flooding across the Nile Basin and the formation of the 382 m lake in the lower White Nile Valley. There was a brief return to aridity during the Younger Dryas (12.8–11.5 ka), after which the climate again became wetter and widespread flooding in the Nile Valley resumed. The early Holocene floods were later followed by incision and creation of the modern relatively narrow flood plain.

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The Nile's journey through space and time: A geological perspective

Cited by 48 publications

References 66 publications

The River Nile: Evolution and Environment

The River Nile: Evolution and Environment

Abrupt change in North African hydroclimate and landscape evolution 3.2 million years ago

A river flowing through a desert: late Quaternary environments in the Nile basin – current understanding and unresolved questions

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