About the Black desert

The Black Desert (Arabic: ‏الصحراء السوداء, aṣ-Ṣaḥrāʾ as-sawdāʾ) is a region of volcano-shaped and widely spaced mounds, distributed along about 30 km (19 mi) in western Egypt between the White Desert in the south and the Bahariya Oasis in the north. Most of its mounds are capped by basalt sills, giving them the characteristic black color.

Geology of the Black desert

The mounds of it, up to 100 metres (328 feet) high, vary in size,and composition, also height, and shape as some are dark consisting of iron quartzite while others are more reddish as its surface rocks consist of iron sandstone. On the outskirts of it are volcanic hills proving the eruption of dark volcanic dolerite, dating back to the Jurassic period 180 million years ago.

Palaeobiology

Remains of shrubs, and fossilized woodlands have been found in it indicating that plants once grew there.

Declaration of Natural Reserve

After discovering a large dinosaur skeleton on its borders, the Black Desert has been declared a natural reserve as of 2010.

الصحراء السوداء

Formation of the Black desert

The Black Desert of Egypt dunes were at some point regular sand dunes. But millions of years ago the remnants of volcanic eruptions that happened in this region covered them. Most of the hills are easy to climb and perfect to get a panoramic view of this vast surreal landscape.

The mountains have eroded to coat it with a layer of black powder and rocks giving it its name. Towards the end of it are black volcanic hills that ages ago erupted a dark volcanic material.

The desert covers an area of 680,650 km² (262,800 sq mi) . which is two-thirds of the land area of the country. Its highest elevation is 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the Gilf Kebir plateau to the far south-west of the country. On the Egypt-Sudan-Libya border.