Eight Lowest Points On Earth - InfopediaPk - All facts in one site Eight Lowest Points On Earth Eight Lowest Points on Earth Name of Point A view from the Israeli side looking across to Jordan Dead Sea- In Dead Sea Depression The Dead Sea Depression is an extensive area of land that is below sea level. It contains the Dead Sea, the Sea of Galilee, a portion of the Jordan River, large areas of cultivated land and many communities. The shoreline of the Dead Sea is the lowest land on Earth. The Dead Sea (Arabic: البحر الميت Al-Bahr al-Mayyit or less commonly bahr lut,بحر لوط, "the Sea of Lot", Hebrew: Yam Ha-Melah, "Sea of Salt",Urdu بحیرہ مردار), also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Jordan to the east and Israel and the West Bank to the west. Its surface and shores are 422 metres (1,385 ft) below sea level,the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is 378 m (1,240 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world.

It is 8.6 or 9 times more salty than the ocean.This salinity makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River. The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. It was one of the world's first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash (Potassium,K) for fertilizers. People also use the salt and the minerals from the Dead Sea to create cosmetics and herbal sachets. In 2009, 1.2 million foreign tourists visited on the Israeli side. The sea has a density of 1.24 kg/L, making swimming difficult but providing a relaxing floating experience for tourists.

Lake Assal Lake Assal-In the Afar Depression The shoreline of Lake Assal is the lowest point in Africa and the second lowest location on Earth.Lake Assal is located in the Afar Depression which is formed at a triple junction of tectonic plates (Indian, African and Arabian). It Latitude and Longitude is 11°39′N 42°25′E. Lake Assal (French: Lac Assal) is a crater lake (A crater lake is a lake that forms in a volcanic crater or caldera, such as a maar, or in an impact crater caused by a meteorite) in central Djibouti, located at the southern border of Tadjoura Region, touching Dikhil Region, some 120 km (75 mi) west of Djibouti city (Capital of the Republic of Djibouti). It lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level in the Afar Depression and its shores comprise the lowest point on land in Africa and the second lowest land depression on Earth after the Dead Sea.

It measures 19 by 7 km (4.3 mi) and has an area of 54 km2 (21 sq mi). The maximum depth is 40 m (130 ft), whereas the mean depth is 7.4 m (24 ft), which makes for a water volume of 400 million cubic metres (320,000 acre·ft). The catchment area measures 900 km2 (350 sq mi), and there is just a residual runoff of fresh water into the lake. Lake Assal is considered the most saline body of water on earth outside Antarctica, with 34.8 percent salt concentration (up to 40% at 20 m (66 ft) depth), similar to Garabogazköl and higher than the 33.7 percent level in the Dead Sea (often incorrectly considered the world's most saline lake), and an average of 3.5 percent in the world's oceans. Only some hypersaline lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica such as Don Juan Pond have a higher salinity.

One thing that makes Assal unique is that, unlike the other major hypersaline lakes of the world, its major source of water is not from incoming streams. The sources of the lake are hot springs whose salinity is close to sea water, which are fed by the Gulf of Tadjoura (French: Golfe de Tadjoura), the western extension of the Gulf of Aden, specifically the nearly closed-off bay Ghoubet Kharab, about 10 km southeast of the lake. The area is wild and desert-like, and no fauna or flora can be seen in the syrupy waters of the lake. The high temperature of the water (33-34 °C) favors evaporation, and it is surrounded by a salt pan (extending west and mainly northwest). The salt is mined and transported by caravan to Ethiopia. Aydingkol Lake Aydingkol Lake-In Turpan Depression The Turfan Basin is a below sea level area in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region of western China. The lowest part of the basin is occupied by Aydingkol Lake.

The shoreline of Aydingkol Lake is the third lowest location on Earth.It Latitude and Longitude is 42°40′N 89°14′E. Aydingkol is a lake in the Turpan Depression, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,People's Republic of China. At 154 M below sea level, it is the third lowest land point on Earth (after the Dead Sea and Lake Assal).This lake is now totally dried, and very muddy and salty.In ancient times, Ayding Lake was known as juéluòwǎn (觉洛浣). The Uyghur derived name Aydingköl means "moon lake", due to the lake having a layer of white salt along its edge, giving the appearance of a shining moon. The lake is located in the south hinterland of the Turpan Depression, approximately 35 kilometres away from the city of Turpan. From east to west, the lake spans 40 kilometres; the north-south span is 8 kilometres; and the total area of the lake is 200 square kilometres.

The lake was formed from the formation of an orogeny of the Himalayas 249 million years ago, and once held approximately 5 million square kilometres of inland sea, which at one time surged up and became vastly extended. During the winter of 1948, the lake basin was once filled with freshwater, which primarily originated from melted snow water from the mountains, as well as supplementary groundwater; owing to the lesser use of water to irrigate cultivated land during the winter, the water level was higher. During the summertime, the water level declined as a result of increased use of irrigation water for farming, as well as significant natural evaporation. Due to the expansion of farming in the region, the population using water from the lake subsequently increased, and coupled with the effects of global warming, by 1958 the lake only held up to 22 square kilometres, with a water depth of about 0.8 metres. In 2000, except for the southwest region, little lakewater remains, and the entire lake area has become a saltpan, with the centre of the lake holding silt swamps, and no longer holds any native birds.

During times of intense sunshine, mirages can often be seen. Nowadays, Ayding Lake has a salt mill, which uses the region's alum salt crystals and saltpeter raw materials to manufacture chemical products. Scenic tours also run near the lake. A majestic view of sand dunes in the Qattara Depression which is almost impassible to motorized vehicles Qattara Depression The Qattara Depression (Arabic: منخفض القطارة‎ Munḫafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah) is a desert basin within the Libyan Desert of northwestern Egypt in the Matruh Governorate. The Depression, at 133 m below sea level, contains the second lowest point in Africa (The lowest being Lake Assal in Djibouti). The Depression covers about 19,500 km² (7,000 square miles), a size comparable to Lake Erie, and at its maximum is 220 km in length and 120 km in width. The bottom of the depression consists of a salt pan.It Latitude and Longitude is 29°32′N 27°07′E.

Karagiye Depression Karagiye Depression The Karagiye Depression is located in southwestern Kazakhstan. It has an elevation of approximately 132 meters below sea level.It Latitude and Longitude is 43°27′N 51°45′E. Denakil Desert Denakil Depression In the Afar Depression The Denakil Depression is a low area within the Afar Depression of Ethiopia. The Afar Depression is formed at a triple junction of tectonic plates (Indian, African and Arabian). The relative motions of the plates produce a divergence that results in the Denakil Depression.It Latitude and Longitude is 13°16′N 40°54′E. The Afar Depression (also called the Danakil Depression or the Afar Triangle) is a geological depression, includes Afar Triple Junction, near the Horn of Africa, also a part of the Great Rift Valley, where it overlaps Eritrea, the Afar Region of Ethiopia, and Djibouti.

Afar is well known as one of the cradles of hominids, containing the Middle Awash, site of many fossil hominid discoveries such as Ardi, (ardipithecus ramidus); Gona (Gawis cranium), site of the world's oldest stone tools; and Hadar, site of Lucy, the fossilized specimen of Australopithecus afarensis.The Afar Depression includes the Danakil Desert and the lowest point in Africa, Lake Asal (155 metres / 509 feet below sea level). Only the Awash River flows into the depression, where it ends in a chain of lakes that increase in salinity. Dallol is also part of the Depression, one of the hottest places year-round anywhere on Earth, with a shaded air-temperature record of 64.4 °C (148 °F). The climate varies from around 25 °C (77 °F) during the rainy season (September–March) to 48 °C (118 °F) during the dry season (March–September).

Laguna del Carbón Laguna del Carbón In San Julían's Great Depression San Julian's Great Depression is located in southeastern Argentina. It is the lowest land location in both the Western Hemispheres. The deepest part is Laguna del Carbón (Spanish: Coal Lagoon) is an endorheic salt lake in the Gran Bajo de San Julián of Santa Cruz Province, Argentina, 54 km from Puerto San Julián. at approximately 105 meters below sea level. The area has abundant salt marshes.It Latitude and Longitude is 49°35′S 68°20′W. In Death Valley National Park. Badwater Basin In Death Valley Death Valley is a desert located in Eastern California.

Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America.Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location (36° 15' N 116° 49.5' W) of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet (86.0 m) below sea level.Death Valley holds the record for the highest reliably reported temperature in the Western hemisphere, 134 °F (56.7 °C) at Furnace Creek on July 10, 1913 just short of the world record, 136 °F (57.8 °C) in Al 'Aziziyah, Libya, on September 13, 1922. Located near the border of California and Nevada, in the Great Basin, east of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Death Valley constitutes much of Death Valley National Park and is the principal feature of the Mojave and Colorado Deserts Biosphere Reserve. It is located mostly in Inyo County, California.

It runs from north to south between the Amargosa Range on the east and the Panamint Range on the west; the Sylvania Mountains and the Owlshead Mountains form its northern and southern boundaries, respectively. It has an area of about 3,000 sq mi (7,800 km2). Badwater Basin is an endorheic basin in Death Valley National Park, Death Valley, Inyo County, California, noted as the lowest point in North America, with an elevation of 282 ft (86 m) below sea level. The site itself consists of a small spring-fed pool of "bad water" next to the road in a sink; the accumulated salts of the surrounding basin make it undrinkable, thus giving it the name. The pool does have animal and plant life, including pickleweed, aquatic insects, and the Badwater snail. Adjacent to the pool, where water is not always present at the surface, repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles gradually push the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes. The pool itself is not actually the lowest point of the basin: the lowest point (which is only slightly lower) is several miles to the west and varies in position.

However, the salt flats are hazardous to traverse (in many cases being only a thin white crust over mud), and so the sign is at the pool. The area is often mistakenly described as the lowest elevation in the Western Hemisphere, however, the record goes to Laguna del Carbón in Argentina at -105 m (−344 ft). At Badwater, significant rainstorms flood the valley bottom periodically, covering the salt pan with a thin sheet of standing water. Each newly-formed lake does not last long though, because the 1.9 in (48 mm) of average rainfall is overwhelmed by a 150 in (3,800 mm) annual evaporation rate. This, the United States' greatest evaporation potential, means that even a 12-foot-deep, 30-mile-long lake would dry up in a single year. While the basin is flooded, some of the salt is dissolved; it is redeposited as clean crystals when the water evaporates.A popular site for tourists is the sign marking "sea level" on the cliff above Badwater. Create a free website Qattara Depression The map created by people like you!

Qattara Depression World / Egypt / Matruh / Marsa Matruh, Matruh , 197 km from center (مرسى مطروح) World / Egypt depression (geology), sebkha / sebkhat / sebjet / chott, solonchak The Qattara Depression, covering about 18,000 km² (7,000 square miles), is a desert basin located in the Libyan Desert of northwestern Egypt. At 133 meters below sea level it is the second lowest point in Africa. The bottom of the depression consists of a salt pan. The depression has no settlements and other than nomadic herders it supports no commercial activity. It contains many highly isolated, wild oases, and is home to numerous Acacia groves and is an important ...habitat for the Cheetah.

Nearby cities: Oase Siwa, الريفية - مطروح, ي المهندس عبد الدايم قاسم سكران العشيبي Coordinates: 29°24'20"N 26°52'59"E Qattara Depression | basin, Egypt | Britannica.com Qattara Depression Alternative Titles: Munkhafaḍ al-Qaṭṭārah, Qaṭṭārah Depression Similar Topics Central Valley Qattara Depression, Qattara also spelled Qaṭṭārah, arid Libyan Desert (Eastern Saharan) basin in northwestern Egypt . It covers about 7,000 square miles (18,100 square km) and contains salt lakes and marshes, and it descends to 435 feet (133 metres) below sea level. During World War II , because it was impassable to military traffic, the depression formed a natural anchor at the southern end of the British defense lines at El-Alamein (Al-ʿAlamayn; in northwestern Egypt) against the final advance of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ’s German army in July 1942.

In the late 1970s oil deposits were discovered in the southern part of the depression. Learn More in these related articles: Libyan Desert northeastern portion of the Sahara, extending from eastern Libya through southwestern Egypt into the extreme northwest of Sudan. The desert’s bare rocky plateaus and stony or sandy plains are harsh, arid, and inhospitable. The highest point is Mount Al- ʿUwaynāt (6,345 feet... Egypt country located in the northeastern corner of Africa. Egypt’s heartland, the Nile River valley and delta, was the home of one of the principal civilizations of the ancient Middle East and, like Mesopotamia farther east, was the site of one of the world’s earliest urban and literate... World War II conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45. The principal belligerents were the Axis powers— Germany, Italy, and Japan —and the Allies— France, Great Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and, to a lesser extent, China. The...

3 References found in Britannica Articles physiography of Libyan Desert (in Libyan Desert ) Maṭrūḥ governorate (in Maṭrūḥ ) Corrections? Updates? Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. MEDIA FOR: You have successfully emailed this. Error when sending the email. Try again later. Edit Mode Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Submit Thank You for Your Contribution!

Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Date Published: July 08, 2009 URL: Access Date: January 18, 2017 Share Flooding the Qattara Depression | The Basement Geographer Flooding the Qattara Depression Source: cheesy42, . Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic licence. A barren 18 000 km2 sand-and-salt bed 133 metres below sea level in the heart of the Libyan Desert probably would not get the average person to think about hydroelectricity . Scientists, academics, and even the CIA, however, have been thinking about flooding Egypt’s Qattara Depression for the past century. Jules Verne even wrote a book about the idea of flooding a low-lying portion of the Sahara in order to create an inland sea for economic benefit back in 1905.

How could one go about flooding the desert? Where would the water come from? Wouldn’t it eventually evaporate in the heat of the desert? And what would be the purpose of such a reservoir? The key to the Qattara Depression as a spot for power generation is its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. Despite being so far below sea level and in a desert, it actually isn’t too far away from the sea; about 65 kilometres. If one could somehow dredge a 65-kilometre channel from the Mediterranean down into the Qattara, the 133-metre drop would be substantial enough to have a quite a bit of water pour down into the depression. As the water headed downhill, it could pass through sets of penstocks , generating hydroelectric power at each structure. There would only have to be one small rise in elevation to be tunnelled through. To keep the new inland sea going in the desert heat, a flow approximately half that of Niagara Falls would have to be generated in order to combat evaporation.

Such a flow would steadily generate 1 000 megawatts of power, a very useful thing in a country with a rapidly growing population such as Egypt which is over-dependent on the Aswan Dam for power despite the inconsistent flows of the Nile and the need to use Nile water for agricultural purposes. As well, this would provide a new recreation and vacation destination, and perhaps even increase oil production in the area currently unfeasible due to the soft ground. The hydroelectric potential of the Qattara was first noted in 1912 by the German geographer Albrecht Penk, and was first studied thoroughly in 1927 by Dr. John Ball , technical adviser to the Geological Survey Department of Egypt. Studying the formation of reservoirs at 50, 60, and 70 metres below sea level, Ball arrived at an optimal lake level of 50 metres below sea level taking into account climatic changes, evaporation, seepage, minor transmission losses, and the lowest cost per kW installed. Excess flow could be pumped into a separate reservoir that would supplement power generation during times of peak use. Various proposed channels from the Mediterranean Sea to a Qattara reservoir.

Line D near Alamein was determined by Ball to be the optimal inflow location with regards to terrain condition and distance from the sea. Source: . A Qattara Depression electric power supply scheme. Source: . The project was next revisited in 1957 by the Central Intelligence Agency , who recommended it to Egyptian president Gamal Abder Nasser as a way to alter the interior climate and generate power while providing jobs for Palestinian workers, but this was never followed up with any action. The idea experienced its greatest level interest in the 1970s and 1980s, where numerous papers were published on the effects and feasibility of flooding the Qattara. For example, Friedrich Bassler proposed a scheme in 1975 based upon hydro-solar and pumped storage generated by two tunnels. Water flowage would be generated from tunnels via evaporation-induced flow: Bassler’s tunnel plan. Source: . The level of the lake would be 62.5 metres below sea level, and would take around 35 years to fill using the tunnels. Bassler’s second plan was similar but instead would use an open canal much like Ball’s channel plan.

Where Bassler differed was that his planned called for the canal to be built using nuclear blasting, which would be unthinkable today, one would hope. Modern boring technology would certainly be able to handle the task. Currently, the Qattara is home to various fauna such as gerbils, cheetahs, hares, foxes, and gazelles, as well the occasional acacia grove surviving on groundwater. A saltwater reservoir in the Qattara would not be so rich in life. With the inflow into the lake consisting entirely of saltwater, the salt concentration levels in the water would continually be increasing; eventually, the salt concentration would be similar to that of the Dead Sea , ensuring the new lake would be devoid of macroscopic life. The area surrounding the lake, however, would bloom thanks to an increase in moisture and decrease in temperature generated by the lake’s presence. In the past few years, talk of the hydroelectric potential of the Qattara has been superseded by that of larger solar-based projects such as the Desertec Industrial Initiative , which would theoretically power all of Europe using massive solar farms throughout North Africa.

While the energy potential is far, far greater under the Desertec model (about 100 gigawatts ), the cost of such a project would be astronomical. Further Reading Ball, J. (1933). The Qattara Depression of the Libyan Desert and the possibility of its utilization for power-production. The Geographical Journal 82(4): 298-314. Berrahmouni, N. and N. Burgess (2001). Saharan halophytics (PA0905). Ecoregions – World Wildlife Fund. Available at . Accessed 17 November 2010. Black, R. (2009). Desert dreams of the solar age. BBC News, 13 July 2009. Available at . Accessed 18 November 2010. Cocks, F.H. (2009). Going with the Flow: Water, Dams and Hydropower. In Energy Demand and Climate Change: Issues and Resolutions, 100-102. Weinheim, B.-W.: Wiley-VCH. Ibrahim, F.N.

(1982). Ecological and economic problems of the Qattara-depression project, Egypt. GeoJournal 6(1): 88-89. Available at . Accessed 18 November 2010. Murakami, M. (1995). Mediterranean-Qattara solar-hydro and pumped-storage development. In Managing Water for Peace in the Middle East: Alternative Strategies. Tokyo: United Nations University Press. Available at . Accessed 18 November 2010. Murray, J.J. (1975). Hydroelectric power generation and mineral recovery in the Qattara Depression of Egypt. Energy 4(3): 463-468. Segal, M. et al. (1983). On Climatic Changes Due to a Deliberate Flooding of the Qattara Depression (Egypt). Climatic Change 5: 73-83. Available at . Accessed 18 November 2010. Verne, J. (1905) (2001). Invasion of the Sea.

Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. Sahara Desert | Article about Sahara Desert by The Free Dictionary Sahara Desert | Article about Sahara Desert by The Free Dictionary Also found in: Dictionary , Thesaurus , Medical , Wikipedia . Sahara (səhâr`ə) [Arab.,=desert], world's largest desert, c.3,500,000 sq mi (9,065,000 sq km), N Africa; the western part of a great arid zone that continues into SW Asia.

Extending more than 3,000 mi (4,830 km), from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, the Sahara is bounded on the N by the Atlas Mts., steppelands, and the Mediterranean Sea; it stretches south c.1,200 mi (1,930 km) to the Sahel Sahel , name applied to the semiarid region of Africa between the Sahara to the north and the savannas to the south, extending from Senegal and Mauritania on the west, through Mali, N Burkina Faso, Niger, N Nigeria, and Chad, to Sudan and Eritrea on the east. ..... Click the link for more information. , a steppe in W and central Africa that forms its southern border. The desert includes most of Western Sahara, Mauritania, Algeria, Niger, Libya, and Egypt; the southern portions of Morocco and Tunisia; and the northern portions of Senegal, Mali, Chad, and Sudan. The E Sahara is usually divided into three regions—the Libyan Desert Libyan Desert, northeast part of the Sahara Desert, NE Africa, in SW Egypt, E Libya, and NW Sudan; called the Western Desert in Egypt.

It is a region of sand dunes, stony plains, and rocky plateaus. There are few inhabitants and little traffic across it. ..... Click the link for more information. , which extends west from the Nile valley through W Egypt and E Libya; the Arabian Desert Arabian Desert or Eastern Desert, c.86,000 sq mi (222,740 sq km), E Egypt, bordered by the Nile valley in the west and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez in the east. It extends along most of Egypt's eastern border and merges into the Nubian Desert in the south. ..... Click the link for more information. , or Eastern Desert, which lies between the Nile valley and the Red Sea in Egypt; and the Nubian Desert Nubian Desert, eastern region of the Sahara Desert, c.157,000 sq mi (407,000 sq km), NE Republic of Sudan, NE Africa, between the Nile and the Red Sea. The arid region, largely a sandstone plateau, has numerous wadis flowing toward (but never reaching) the Nile, whose great ..... Click the link for more information. , which is in NE Sudan.

Regions of sand dunes (erg) occupy only about 15% of the Sahara; "stone deserts," consisting of plateaus of denuded rock (hammada) or areas of coarse gravel (reg), cover about 70% of the region; mountains, oases, and transition zones account for the remainder. Sparse vegetation is found in most parts of the Sahara, with the exception of the sand dune regions. High mountain massifs rise in the central regions; they are the Ahagger (Hoggar) in S Algeria, which rises to more than 9,000 ft (2,740 m); the Tibesti Massif in N Chad, which rises to more than 11,000 ft (3,350 m); and the Aïr Mountains (Azbine) in N Niger, which rise to more than 6,000 ft (1,830 m). The mountains are deeply dissected and were in the past infamous for the shelter they provided to marauders preying on desert traffic.

From west to east the four principal land routes across the desert are from Colomb-Bechar to Dakar; from Colomb-Bechar to Gao and Timbuktu by way of Reganne; from Touggourt to Agadez and Kano by way of In-Salah; and from Tripoli to Ghat. Climate The Sahara has one of the harshest climates in the world. Located in the trade winds belt, the region is subject to winds that are frequently strong and that blow constantly from the northeast between a subtropical high-pressure cell and an equatorial low-pressure cell. As air moves downward from the high-pressure into the low-pressure cell, it becomes warmer and drier. The desiccating and dust-laden winds are sometimes felt north and south of the desert, where they are variously known as sirocco, khamsin, simoom, and harmattan. The northern slopes of the Atlas Mts. intercept most of the moisture from winds blowing inshore from the Mediterranean Sea. Border zones on the north and south, where the desert merges with the steppe, receive about 10 in.

(25 cm) of rain a year with some seasonal regularity, but over most of the region rainfall is sparser, with an average annual total of less than 5 in. (12.7 cm); rainfall is usually torrential when it occurs after long dry periods that sometimes last for years. The region's low relative humidity rarely exceeds 30% and is often in the 4% to 5% range. Daytime temperatures are high, averaging 86&degF; (30&degC;) and often over 100&degF; (37.5&degC;). Heat loss is rapid at night, and the diurnal range can be as great as 70&degF; (38&degC;). Freezing temperatures are not uncommon at night from December to February. Water and Other Resources The Nile and Niger rivers, both fed by rains outside the desert, are the only permanent rivers in the region. Water is present at or just below the surface gravel in wadis (intermittent streams) that radiate from the mountain massifs, in scattered oases where the water table comes to the surface, and at greater depths in huge underground aquifers.

The aquifers are believed to be filled with water dating from the Pleistocene epoch, when the Sahara was much wetter than it is today and had very large lakes. The more than 20 lakes (called chotts in the north) and areas of salt flats and boggy salt marshes are also considered relics from this pluvial period. Important discoveries of minerals, oil, and gas have been made in the Sahara. There are huge oil and gas deposits in Algeria and Libya, but in most cases, inaccessibility has delayed exploitation. In searching for oil reserves, underground deposits of water also have been found. Extensive iron ore deposits are worked in the Fort Gouraud area of Mauritania. Salt is still mined, as in the past, at Taoudenni, Mali, and at Bilma, Niger, and is transported, as in the days of the great medieval kingdoms of W Africa, by camel caravans across the desert. People Two thirds of the Sahara's estimated 2 million inhabitants (excluding those in the Nile valley) are concentrated in oases where date palms, fruits, vegetables, grains, and other crops are produced under irrigation.

Nomads, with herds of sheep and goats and with camels for transportation, predominate in drier areas and continue to use oases (including modern oases created by the drilling of wells), as in centuries past, for water, trade, and provisioning stops. The principal ethnic groups of the Sahara are the Tuareg (of Berber origin), who dominate the mountains of the central Sahara; the peoples of mixed Berber and Arab origin in W Sahara; and the Tibu (Tébu), who dominate the Tibesti Massif. History The Sahara has undergone a series of wet periods, the most recent occurring c.5,000–10,000 years ago; it was not until c.3000 B.C. that the Sahara transformed into its present arid state. There is dispute as to whether the desertification of the region has continued into historic time. Those who support this theory contend that increasing aridity is the reason for the recorded advance of desert conditions into areas under cultivation in Roman times in the north and more recently (since the late 1960s) in the south.

Opponents of this view explain such changes as being the result of alterations in land-use practices and neglect of water-supply and irrigation systems. The camel was introduced probably in the 1st cent. A.D. and facilitated occupation by nomads (first the Berbers, later the Arabs), who lived in interdependence with the oasis dwellers, providing protection against enemies in exchange for supplies of food and water. A profitable trans-Saharan trade in gold and slaves from W Africa, salt from the desert, and cloth and other products from the cities on the Mediterranean coast was carried on by the nomads. The first European explorers to travel in the Sahara were Friedrich Horneman in 1805 and Mungo Park in 1806. Some areas of the Sahara remain virtually unexplored, although a network of air and automobile routes now crosses the desert and links the major oases and mining areas. Bibliography See C. Kruger et al., Sahara (tr. 1969); M. Williams and H. Faure, ed., The Sahara and the Nile: Quarternary Environments and Prehistoric Occupation in Northern Africa (1980); J.

Cloudsley-Thompson, ed., Key Environments: Sahara Desert (1984); E. Gautier, Sahara (1987). Sahara (from the Arabic sahra, “desert”), a desert in North Africa and the largest tropical desert in the world, occupying roughly one-quarter of the African continent. The desert occupies southern Morocco and Tunisia, most of Algeria, Mauritania, Libya, and Egypt, and the northern parts of Mali, Niger, Chad, and the Sudan. It stretches for a maximum of 5,700 km from east to west and as much as 2,000 km from north to south in the middle. Various methods are used to determine the boundaries of the Sahara, including the isohyets for 100 mm and 200 mm, the boundary of fruit-bearing date palms in the north and other botanical characteristics in the south, and indexes of aridity. Some geographers consider the Nile Valley to be the eastern boundary of the Sahara. In view of these differences, estimates of the area of the Sahara vary from 6 to 8 million sq km. Topography.

The relief is dominated by plains with elevations of less than 500 m; along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts the plains lie below 200 m. Major uplifts are found only in the central Sahara, where the Ahaggar (Tahat, 3,003 m) and Tibesti (Emi Koussi, 3,415 m) highlands bear traces of active Neogene and Anthropogene volcanism (lava fields and geyser deposits in the Tibesti massif). The highlands are dissected by deep canyons and wadis, the dry beds of ancient and present-day streams. South of the Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands are the Iforas (to 728 m), Air (to 1,900 m), and Ennedi (to 1,310 m) plateaus. There are many nondraining basins, some of them lying below sea level. Among the largest are the Chott Melghir in the Algerian Sahara (26 m below sea level) and the al-Fayyum, Siwa, and Qattara (133 m below sea level) in the Libyan Desert.

The desert landscape is highly diversified. Some 70 percent of the Sahara is occupied by rocky deserts (hammadas), by gravel deserts, called regs in the Algerian Sahara and serirs in the Libyan Desert, by sandy deserts (ergs), and by flat saline plains known as sebkhas. The remainder of the area consists of mountain landscapes with rock and gravel deserts. Thick accumulations of sand covering some 2.2 million sq km are found in the depressions and major wadis. The largest are the Erg Iguidi, Erg Chech, the Great Western Erg, and the Great Eastern Erg. The sands of the ergs, rising in ridges, are stabilized to some extent by xerophytic vegetation. There are ridges with elevations of up to 200–300 m, as well as circular and star-shaped dunes. Shifting sands are found in the southern parts of the northern and northeastern Sahara, in the Idehan Ubari, Idehan Marzuq, Ténéré, and Libyan Desert. Geological structure and minerals.

Geologically, the Sahara constitutes the northwestern part of the African-Arabian Platform, whose Precambrian basement emerges in the Rigaibat, Ahaggar, Tibesti, and al-Uwaynat massifs and in the western projection of the Nubian-Arabian Shield. Together, the outcrops form the central Sahara uplift zone. To the north and south of this zone stretch the north Sahara and south Sahara subsidence zones, filled by Phanerozoic deposits. Minerals include petroleum and gas, iron ore (Kediet Ijill), and copper ore (Akjoujt). The Precambrian basement contains deposits of gold, and ores of rare metals, tungsten, and uranium are associated with younger intrusions. Climate. Excluding the north, which has a subtropical climate, the Sahara has a marked tropical desert climate, dry and hot. The climate is strongly influenced by the northeasterly trade winds that prevail over most of the Sahara throughout the year. The present arid climate has lasted roughly 10,000 years.

During the Ice Age the climate was more humid, and the prehistoric population engaged not only in livestock raising and farming but also in hunting and even fishing, as shown by cliff drawings in various parts of the Sahara. Air dryness (a relative humidity of 30–50 percent), an enormous moisture deficit, and a high rate of evaporation (potentially 2,500–6,000 mm) are characteristic everywhere but in the narrow coastal zones. The north Sahara receives most of the precipitation in winter and the south Sahara, in summer. The annual precipitation, 100–200 mm in the border regions, decreases to less than 50 mm over most of the Sahara plains and is normally less than 100 mm in the mountains. In the interior there may be no rain for several years in a row, although occasional downpours cause flash floods in the wadis and mudflows in the mountains. Abundant morning dew (condensation caused by low nighttime temperatures) is typical for most of the Sahara and promotes the formation of a surface dust crust. Snow falls for a short time in the high parts of the Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands almost every year.

High daytime temperatures and great daily and annual fluctuations in temperature are characteristic. Temperatures may reach 56°-58°C, almost the highest on earth, and the surface of the ground may heat up to 70°-80°C. The mean July temperature reaches 37.2°C at Adrar. Ground frosts occur almost everywhere during winter nights, and in the central mountains nighttime temperatures as low as - 18°C have been recorded. Long windy periods and dust (or sand) storms lasting many days are frequent, with the wind velocity increasing from 3–5 m per sec to 50 m per sec or more. The winds are locally called sirocco, khamsin, or simoom. Rivers and lakes. With the exception of the Nile, there are no permanent streams flowing through the Sahara. After heavy rainfall the dry watercourses of the north Sahara are filled with water, as are the channels of the ancient river network spreading out from the Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands (Igharghar, Tafasaset, and Tamanrasset wadis). Small relict lakes have survived in the marginal regions of the Sahara and in the central mountains.

They are somewhat swampy and often strongly mineralized. The Sahara has large basins of groundwater, including artesian water, most of it occurring in continental Lower Cretaceous sandstones. The groundwater supports life in the oases, which are usually located in low-lying areas where there are springs or where it is easier to establish wells. The north Sahara is richest in groundwater. Here, the underground flow is more abundant, and there are more artesian wells with significant reserves. In the south Sahara groundwater is less abundant and lies deeper, and there is virtually no artesian water. Active drilling for water is under way in the Sahara, and the new basins of underground water that have been discovered are being used for water supply in the petroleum- and gas-producing regions. In the northern Sahara the newly discovered groundwater reserves are used for irrigation as well. Soils and vegetation. The typical soils of most of the Sahara are the primitive soils of tropical deserts and semideserts (gravel, pebble, and sand), frequently saline. Limestone and gypsum crusts ranging in thickness from a few centimeters to 1–2 m are widespread. The vegetation belongs to the Holarctic floristic region and includes many Mediterranean species.

There are roughly 1,200 species of higher plants, although an average of only 150 species are encountered over 1,000 sq km, about one-tenth the number found in Europe and one twenty-fifth the number found in the humid tropics. Differences in the vegetative cover are governed by the Sahara’s position in two climatic zones and by characteristics of the relief and surface lithology (whether the area is a rocky, sandy, or other type of desert). Most of the vegetation consists of perennial drought-resistant grasses and shrubs with extensive and deep (up to 15–20 m) root systems, as well as ephemerals that appear after rainfall. The vegetation is extremely sparse everywhere, and the regs, hammadas, and parts of the sand accumulations are completely devoid of vegetation. The mountain regions, where relicts of Neogene flora have survived and where there are many endemic plants, are richer in vegetation. The most common trees and shrubs in the south Sahara are various species of acacia, tamarisk, Ephedra and Genista. Almost everywhere the vegetation has been strongly affected by human activity—livestock grazing, the gathering of useful plants, and fuel extraction.

As a result of the large-scale destruction of vegetation and the cultivation of light sandy soils, the shifting sands are advancing the oases. In 1974, Algeria launched the Green Wall Project, under which stone pines, eucalyptuses, and other trees were planted to block the advance of the sands over a 1,500-km stretch. In addition to dates, the principal crop, figs, olives, citrus and other fruit, and various vegetables are raised in the oases. Doum palms are grown in the southern oases. Wildlife. The fauna belongs to the Holarctic and Ethiopian zoogeographic regions and includes some 4,000 species, most of them invertebrates. Roughly 40 percent of all the species are African endemics, although not more than 10–12 percent are Sahara species. The highlands of the central Sahara are isolated habitats for typical Sahara animals. Excluding birds, more than 50 percent of which are migratory, there are very few species in the drier regions, where the biomass of animals drops to 2 kilograms per hectare or less.

There are only about 60 species of mammals in the Sahara, among them the addax, the ungulate best adapted to long periods without water and now in danger of extinction, several species of gazelles, the mouflon (Ahaggar and Tibesti highlands), and one species of monkey (Air Plateau and Tibesti Highlands). Predators include fennecs, and, in the border regions, jackals, cheetahs, and hyenas. Common rodents are the gerbils and jerboas; lagomorphs are represented by the Sahara hare. Lizards (skinks, monitors) and snakes (horned vipers, cobras) are found everywhere in large numbers. Small crocodiles inhabit the relict lakes in the Ahaggar Highlands. Most Sahara animals are nocturnal. Population. Excluding the densely populated regions of the Nile Valley and Delta, the Sahara has a population of roughly 3 million, most of whom live in the northern part of the Algerian Sahara, in the western and southern border regions of the Sahara, and in groups of oases (about two-thirds of the population), where the density reaches 1,000 persons per sq km or more.

The present ethnic makeup of the Sahara population is diverse, with Berber-Arab peoples predominating. There are roughly 30,000 Tuareg, nomadic herders related to the Berbers, living in the Ahaggar Highlands and on the Air Plateau. The Negroid Tibbu inhabit the Tibesti Highlands. The chief cities are Touggourt, Ouargla, Laghouat, Touat, and Tidikelt in Algeria, al-Kufrah, Sabhah, Tazerbo, Jaghbub, and Marzuq in Libya, and Siwa, Dakhilah, al-Farafirah, and al-Bahriyah in Egypt. Economy. The traditional occupations of the Sahara population are nomadic livestock raising, the gathering of wild plants and fruits, and farming in the oases. Dates are the principal crop, but grains and vegetables are also raised. The nomads and seminomads raise camels, sheep, and goats. Each spring they set out from the oases with their herds in search of summer pastures.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s the discovery and exploitation of major petroleum and natural gas deposits in the Algerian Sahara and in Libya fundamentally changed the economic significance of the Sahara. It became one of the world’s major petroleum-producing regions. Rock salt is extracted at Taoudenni in Mali, hard coal at Kenadsa in Algeria, iron ore at Kediet Ijill in Mauritania (9.3 million tons in 1972), copper ore at Akjoujt in Mauritania, and phosphorites at Bu Craa in the Western Sahara. In addition to the pipelines that connect the petroleum and gas deposits with the Mediterranean ports in Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya, motor-vehicle and air transport are important. The Trans-Sahara Highway from Algeria to Niger (Agades) has an asphalt surface as far as Aïn Salah. A railroad connects Abadía with northern Algeria and Morocco. Touggourt is linked by rail with the Mediterranean coast, and ore is carried by rail from Ijil to the Atlantic coast. REFERENCES THE WORLD GEOGRAPHY: Top 5 Depressions Of The Earth Top 5 Depressions Of The Earth 1.

Dead Sea - Jordan-Israel The Dead Sea also called the Salt Sea, is a salt lake bordering Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. Its surface and shores are 422 metres (1,385 ft) below sea level, the lowest elevation on the Earth's surface on dry land. The Dead Sea is 378 m (1,240 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also one of the world's saltiest bodies of water, with 33.7% salinity, though Lake Assal (Djibouti), Garabogazköl and some hypersaline lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica (such as Don Juan Pond) have reported higher salinities. It is 8.6 times more salty than the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish, hence its name. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometres (42 mi) long and 18 kilometres (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River. 2.

Lake Assal - Djibouti Lake Assal is a crater lake in central Djibouti, located at the southern border of Tadjoura Region, touching Dikhil Region, some 120 km (75 mi) west of Djibouti city. It lies 155 m (509 ft) below sea level in the Afar Depression and its shores comprise the lowest point on land in Africa and the second lowest land depression on Earth after the Dead Sea. It measures 19 by 7 km (4.3 mi) and has an area of 54 km2 (21 sq mi). The maximum depth is 40 m (130 ft), whereas the mean depth is 7.4 m (24 ft), which makes for a water volume of 400 million cubic metres (320,000 acre·ft). The catchment area measures 900 km2 (350 sq mi), and there is just a residual runoff of fresh water into the lake. 3.

Turpan Depression - China The Turpan Depression or Turfan Depression is a fault-bounded trough located around and south of the city-oasis of Turpan, in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in far western China, about 150 km southeast of the provincial capital Ürümqi. It includes the third lowest exposed point on the Earth's surface (dry Lake Ayding, -154m), after the Dead Sea and Lake Assal (Djibouti). It is entirely below sea level. By some measures, it is also the hottest and driest area in China. 4. Qattara Depression - Egypt The Qattara Depression is a desert basin within the Libyan Desert of northwestern Egypt in the Matruh Governorate. The Depression, at 133 m below sea level, contains the second lowest point in Africa (The lowest being Lake Assal in Djibouti). The Depression covers about 19,500 km² (7,000 square miles), a size comparable to Lake Erie, and at its maximum is 220 km in length and 120 km in width. The bottom of the depression consists of a salt pan. 5.

Karagiye - Kazahstan Karagiye is the lowest point in Kazakhstan. Also called the "Karagiye Depression", it lies at approximately 132 meters (about 433 feet) below sea level, and is the lowest point in the former USSR. 1 comment: Category:Qattara Depression - Wikimedia Commons Category:Qattara Depression English: The Qattara Depression is a desert endorheic basin within the Libyan Desert the landform is located in the Matruh Governorate of northwestern Egypt . The geologic Qattara Depression , at 133 m (436 ft) below sea level, contains the second lowest point in Africa . Subcategories Below Sea Level: The World's Ten Lowest Points of Land | WanderWisdom Below Sea Level: The World's Ten Lowest Points of Land Below Sea Level: The World's Ten Lowest Points of Land Updated on October 13, 2016 Joined: 7 years agoFollowers: 383Articles: 98 59 Twelve Places to Visit in Hampton Roads, Virginia 6 months ago Unknown to many is the fact that there is dry land below the level of the ocean.

It sounds counter-intuitive but our planet has a number of dry patches of land which occur, unbelievably, below 0 feet—or mean sea level. The origins of these areas, featured below, are mostly the result of two geological and geographical phenomena. The first is a rift valley, or an area on the surface of the Earth which is being split or rended apart, causing the ground to 'drop' resulting in a graben. The second is merely the drying of lake or sea. Dry climates, or deserts, are handmaidens of these two aforementioned phenomena as previously submerged areas have gradually been evaporated leaving dry ground below sea level. In other instances, the most famous being in the Netherlands, people have reclaimed land from the sea or a lake and built protective walls around the reclaimed land, and often the areas reclaimed fall slightly below sea level. Advertisement Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands. | Source 1. Lammefjord, Denmark & Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands Western Europe’s two lowest points are split between two areas in Denmark and the Netherlands respectively, each 23 feet below sea level (-7 meters.) Unlike the other areas on this page, both low points are the result of human-induced land drainage.

The polders in the Netherlands are areas that were reclaimed from the sea by the Dutch since the 13thcentury. Land was drained and a wall was built up around it to protect it from the sea, not unlike natural levees that formed in the lower Mississippi River near New Orleans that left some areas around the Crescent City five to seven feet below sea level. Similar to Zuidplaspolder, Lammefjord in Denmark was reclaimed to make room for agricultural land. An arm of the Isefjord, it was finally pumped dry of water in 1943, and a dyke was constructed to keep water out. Advertisement Lake Hart in the Lake Eyre basin, South Australia. | Source 2. Lake Eyre, Australia Occasionally this basin will fill with water, temporarily turning it into Australia’s largest lake, but the occasion is only ephemeral. Most of the time the Lake Eyre Basin in South Australia is the continent’s lowest point at 49 feet below sea level (15 meters.) Filled with a salt pan and having no outlets, similar to many of the Earth’s below-sea-level basins, Lake Eyre is typically hot for most of the year and located in a desert.

The basin floor is the remnant of an ancient lake bed. Advertisement Pelicans at the Salton Sea, California. | Source 3. Salton Sea, California, USA The Salton Sea sits in a graben in the Southern California desert, submerging part of the otherwise exposed San Andreas rift zone between two continental plates, not unlike the Dead Sea rift zone between Israel and Jordan, the lowest spot on earth. The Salton Sea is 234 feet (71.3 meters) below sea level and is a saline lake as well as the largest lake in California. With a maximum depth of 43 feet (13 meters), the lake’s deepest point is only 5 feet higher than Death Valley’s Badwater. The lake was formed in 1905 after heavy rains swelled waters enough to overrun canals in the Imperial Valley. The excess water flowed back into the basin to the north. Various settlements have attempted to exploit the lake recreationally with some sporadic success but the Salton Sea remains threatened by increasing levels of salinity and fertilizer runoff from the Imperial Valley. Still, it remains an important bird migratory stop on the North American flyway.

Fishing for Tilapia is popular as it's the only species that can survive the levels of salinity here at 5.0% w/v. Advertisement 'Badwater', Death Valley, California. Telescope Peak is in the background (left). | Source 4. Death Valley, California, USA This is the lowest, driest, and hottest place in North America. The ancient lakebed which serves as the floor of this graben is 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level and the lowest point is known as ‘Badwater.’ Death Valley, like many other deep valleys in the same region, is the result of a block of the Earth’s crust sinking as the ‘skin’ gets stretched forming the basin and range region of the area collectively known as the Great Basin. Interestingly, there is a marker on the cliff overhead which denotes ‘Sea Level’, or zero feet. Across the salt flat is the summit of Telescope Peak which rises to more than 11,000 feet above sea level—a huge contrast in elevations and life zones respectively. Death Valley is within Death Valley National Park in the Mojave Desert of California and is easily accessed by roadways.

Not to anyone’s surprise, it is not often visited in the summer because of the extreme heat. Advertisement 5. Argentina: Laguna del Carbon, Bajo del Gualicho, Salina Grande, and Saline Chica Within Argentina are all of the significant areas in South America that are below sea level. Among them is the lowest place in the southern and western hemisphere respectively, the Laguna del Carbon which bottoms out at -344 feet (-105 meters.) All three areas are located in the southern provinces of Argentina. The Laguna del Carbon, in Santa Cruz Province, is an endorheic salt lake, meaning it has no outflow or is in a closed basin. Bajo del Gualicho, in Rio Negro Province, is 236 feet below sea level (-72 meters.) Best known for its wildlife, the Valdes Peninsula in Chubut Province is home to the barren Salina Grande and Salina Chica which have a low elevation of -138 feet (-42 meters.) Caspian Sea, Kazakhstan. | Source 6.

Caspian Sea/Caspian Depression The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water in the world and its shore is 92 feet below sea level (-28 meters.) It sits at the bottom of the largest area in the world below sea level straddling the borders of Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. It’s a salt lake and considered endorheic having no natural outflow. The deepest dry point of this huge depression lies in Kazakhstan. Known as the Caspian Depression in general, the low point, Karigiye, is 433 feet (–132 meters) below sea level which is a karst trench on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea. Siwa Oasis, Qattara Depression, Egypt. | Source 7. Qattara Depression, Egypt Africa is home to the largest number of places below sea level and North Africa in particular has the most locations within the continent.

The Qattara Depression in Egypt’s Libyan Desert, Africa’s second lowest point, is a huge area covering over 7,000 square miles of land, below sea level, averaging close to 200 feet below sea level (-70 meters.) The maximum depth below sea level reaches -436 feet (-133 meters.) An endorheic basin, the Qattara Depression is very dry but supports oases, of which the most famous are Siwa and Cana, both inhabited. Salt pans, dunes, and bizarre wind-eroded rocks are common in the Qattara Depression. Other areas in North Africa below sea level include Sebkha paki Tah, Morocco, (-55 meters/-180 feet below sea level), Sabkhat Ghuzayyil, Libya (-47 meters/-154 feet), Chott Melrhir, Algeria (-40 m/-131 feet), and Shatt al Gharsah, Tunisia (-17 m/-56 feet.) Bezeklik, Turpan Depression, China. | Source 8.

Turpan Depression, China This trough is the Earth’s third lowest point reaching an elevation of 505 feet below sea level (-154 meters.) Located in China’s western desert region south of Mongolia, the Turpan Depression is the country’s hottest and driest area. Formed by a fault, this depression is huge and expansive and is surrounded by some of the tallest mountains on earth, notably the Tian Shan and Bogda Shan. The region has a storied history and the ruins found throughout the basin are attributed to the Silk Road route that ran through here two thousand years ago. A crossroads of cultures, some of the historic and archeological sites in the region include the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, the Gaochang Ruins, and the Astana-Karakhoja ancient tombs. Lake Assal, Djibouti. | Source 9. Lake Assal, Djibouti Lake Assal is at the bottom of a crater lake which lies 509 feet (-155 meters) below sea level, making it the second lowest point on earth after the Dead Sea rift zone.

The larger region, known as the Afar Depression, extends into Ethiopia where the Danakil Depression has a low elevation of 410 feet below sea level (-125 meters.) National Geographic described it as the “cruelest place on earth.” The area is at the northern reaches of Africa’s Great Rift Valley, which is an elongated rift valley where two plates are splitting apart. Lake Assal is the lowest point of land in Africa and it is marked by extremely high temperatures, volcanic landscapes, and desert—typical of most the Earth’s low points. Dead Sea from the Israeli side. | Source 10. Dead Sea and Sea of Galilee, Israel, Jordan The Dead Sea is the world’s lowest point of land at 1,388 feet below sea level (-423 meters), more than twice as deep as the remaining areas below sea level. Sitting between Israel and Jordan, the Dead Sea is incredibly saline, at 33.7%, and mostly devoid of life.

Connected by the Jordan River fifty miles to the north, the Sea of Galilee, also called Lake of Gennesaret, Kinneret, and Lake Tiberias, is the world’s lowest freshwater lake at 702 feet below sea level (-214 meters), making it the second lowest point on the Earth’s surface. While the Dead Sea is considered a hypersaline, endorheic body of water, the Sea of Galilee has both an inflow and outflow provided by the Jordan River. The two bodies of water can hardly be more of a contrast. Occupying the Jordan Rift Valley, the Dead Sea is a stark, forbidding landscape seemingly barren of life whereas the Sea of Galilee, true to its biblical roots, is life-giving with leafy shores now occupied by dozens of resort hotels which sit adjacent to fertile groves of fruit orchards. The area’s historical significance requires no special explanation as both lakes are located at arguably the world’s crossroads of history and civilization.

Question: What is the name of the desert basin in the Libyan Desert which, at 133 m below sea level, contains the second lowest point in Africa?
Answer: The Qattara Depression