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Tunis Algier – Refugee Camps of the Western Sahara – – Atlas: Geography of Western Sahara – TUNISIA GEOGRAPHY OF THE WESTERN SAHARA AND ITS REGIONS TOPOGRAPHY A T L A S Tripoli ALGERIA MOROCCO Cairo Tindouf LYBIA LA ‘YOUN A haggar moun tains ( hoggar ) EGYPT F Tassili N’Ajjer National Park WESTERN SAHARA S A H e z z an A R A T ibesti Emi Koussi (3415m) banc d’arguin national park N ubian D esert MAURITANIA E NIGER MALI Nouakchott nnedi CHAD Khartoum Dakar SUDAN SENEGAL THE GAMBIA Niamey darfur Banjul BURKINA FASO Bamako GUINEA-BISSAU N’Djamena Ouagadougou Bissau GUINEA BENIN Conakry SIERRALEONE GHANA Freetown K O NIGERIA D O F A N Abuaja TOGO IVORY COAST LIBERIA S CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Cotonou Lome Monrovia Abidjan R Accra U D D 2445 0 Span-Sahara The Western Sahara and its region DRAFT El-Hank Western Sahara borders the Atlantic Ocean, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. The land is one of the most arid and inhospitable regions. Due it is sparsely populated. Nevertheless it is rich in phosphates. The Western Sahara is on © ETH Studio Basel Eglab Tidikelt the boarder of the Sahara. The biggest desert in the world stretches from the Atlantic Ocean on the West across North Africa to the Red Sea and highlands of Ethiopia. It contains a variety of forms: rocky plateau, pebbly plain, dunes of – 2 – Tassili Ghat Murzuk Djebel Ben Ghnema Djebel Haroudi shifting sand, mountainous escarpments The central core has rare, almost no rainfall. This “dead” land is not lifeless. In this dried vegetation we can find insects, scorpions or lizards. – 3 – Rebiana Kufrah Gilf Kebir Arabian Desert SAHARA Arabic: ىربكلا ءارحصلا, English: The Great Desert Area: 9,00,000km2 Highest point: Emi Koussi 3,415 m 3,5 Length: 4,800 km E/W Width: 1,800 km N/S Kasar el Kebir – Refugee Camps of the Western Sahara – Kenitra RABAT Casablanca POPULATION, CLIMATE, FAUNA, FLORA, SOILS POPULATION OF THE SAHARA Two thirds of Sahara’s population (2 million inhabitants) live in oases, where date palms, vegetables, fruits and other crops are produced under irrigation. Nomads, mainly in drier areas, continue to use/create oases, including modern oasis created by the drilling of wells. Principal ethnic groups in the Sahara: <1 10-25 25-50 > 200 CLIMATE The climate of the Sahara traverses enormous variations between wet and dry. The Sahara is located in the trade wind belt. Winds blow constantly from the northeast. They are known as Sirocco, Khamsin, Simoon or Harmattan. These winds reach often hurricane speeds. Rainfall is sparse and variable. The annual total average is less than 12.7 cm. Long dry periods can sometimes last for years. The southern part receives rain in summer, the Mediterranean coast in winter. Daytime temperatures are high. The world’s highest official temperature in the shadow was recorded in Azzizia, Lybia (58°C). At night it looses heat rapidly. From December to February freezing temperatures are common. Generally the Sahara is divided in two sub-climates; a dry subtropical climate in the north and a dry tropical climate in the south. 1,2,3 Population density inhab./km2 0-2 2-5 Marrakech Essaouira MOROCCO Area: 458,730 km2 Population: 32,200,000 (2009 estimate) MAURITANIA: Area: 1,030,700 km2 Population: 3,291,000 (2009 estimate) 5-10 10-20 Tarhjicht 20-30 30-50 50-100 Khourbiga Khenifra Fkih Ben Salah Beni Mellai Safi ALGERIA Area: 2,381,741 km2 Population: 35,423,000 (2010 estimate) 100-200 Fès Meknès Mohammedia MOROCCO WESTERN SAHARA Area: 266,000 km2 Population: 513,000 (2009 estimate) 1-10 Tuareg, Berber, Arab, Tibu 1 Berkane – Atlas: Geography of Western Sahara – Rainfall June-August cm/3month ALGERIA ATLANTIC OCEAN Tindouf Rabouni LA ‘YOUN Bu Craa Bu Jaydur El Aiun Awserd Smara Samara Dakhla P Rainfall December-February Bir Moghrein FLORA Three quarters of the Sahara are without vegetation. The flora of the Sahara is estimated to have 1200 species, about 104 families.3 Because of the hard conditions, plans have small leaves and long roots. In Bed Rivers we find tamarisks and acacias. In the region near gueltas only laurel and cypress trees remain. The Arabs introduced the Date palms. Dates are very energetic food and are important for humans in the oasis WESTERN SAHARA Date palm Coconut palm Oil palm Citrus fruits Flora FAUNA Animals have adapted to the extremely conditions of the desert. They live in strategies to preserve water and avoid hot weather: Thick skin and underground life for scorpions, coloured skin reflects the sun, search for water and food at night, large ears to regulate calorific waste, short hair for better thermolysis. Most common animals in the Sahara: SOILS Shifting sands and bare rock occupy about one-fifth of the Sahara. More than half of the area comprises soils known as yermosols. 3 The south-eastern part of Western Sahara is covered by large NE-SW striking dune accumulations. The major part contains soils. Western Sahara has only one significant mineral production, the phosphate mine at Bou Craa (central-northern West Sahara). Over the past years the production of phosphates was stable, 1.5mt/year. Addaxes, gazelles, fennecs, camels, cheetah, ostrich, goats, The exploration for hydrocarbon in Tarafaya was not yet monitor lizard, sand vipers, death stalker scorpoion.1 successful. 4 DRAFT Desert Locust Schistocerca gregaria Cheetah Acinonyx jubatus © ETH Studio Basel MAURITANIA Daja Bananas|Ananas Desert fennec Vulpes zerda – 4 – Dromedary Camelus dromedarius MALI Zouerate Fdérik STRUCTURE Thrust fault Cambrian P Phosphate GEOLOGICAL OVREVIEW4 0 250 500 Mainly dunes Mainly marine sediments Basic / ultrabasic intrusive rocks Sabkhas, lake deposits, dunes Mostly marine sediments Basic igneous complex Mainly consolidated sand formations Gneisses, marbles, quartzites Silurian to Ordovician Sediments Granites, gneisses, migmatites Cambrian Marine sediments Sediments and low-grade metasediments Granites Metamorphic rocks related to the Mauritanide orogeny Devonian Quartzites, limestones with stromatlites – 5 –
