The Nile Delta

• Where is the Nile Delta located?

  Located in northern Egypt where the River Nile meets the Mediterranean Sea
• What are some characteristics of the foreshore zone of the Nile Delta?

  Has elongated ridges, running almost parallel to the present shoreline, alternating with lagoons, salt marshes and alluvial deposits in the depressions between them
• What are some characteristics of the frontal zone of the Nile Delta?

  Located south of the foreshore plain and has scattered eroded limestone outcrops and clay deposits
• What are some characteristics of the sandy zone of the Nile Delta?

  Composed of a variety of different sand formations such as sheets, dunes and hammocks
• What are some characteristics of the River Nile?

  . One of the longest rivers in the worlds

  . A large proportion of the Nile flow originates in Ethiopia and its summer monsoon rains

  . River carries a huge sediment load, the average sediment yield is 4.26 and the total is 91.3 million tonnes
• Why is the river important in regards to the formation of the delta?

  Because the river carries a huge sediment load. The delta is a plain made up of material deposited at the mouth of a river.
• Landforms on the delta are..

  All depositional
• What are some human influences on the formation of the landforms on the delta?

  Farming/irrigation, industry, fishing, Cairo and Aswan Dam
• What are some physical influences on the formation of the landforms in the delta?

  Waves, wind, geology, tides and ocean currents
• How does the delta affect peoples’ activities?

  . Deposited silt provides fertile farmland

  . The land on the delta was not stable - earthquakes caused buildings to collapse and land to sink

  . People use the silt to make mud bricks for building

  . Less nutrients in the sea means less fish. Sardine fisheries declined from 18,000 tonnes a year to nothing. 30,000 fishermen lost their jobs

  . Due to less sediment, farmers have to buy expensive fertiliser

  . Because the delta is fertile it allows 3 crops cycles a year
• What is the delta made of?

  Silt (alluvium) deposited by the river as it loses energy when entering the sea
• Why does the delta no longer receive an annual supply of nutrients and sediments from upstream?

  Upstream construction of the Aswan High Dam. Having to bring in fertilisers to keep the land as fertile as it used to be. Soils on the floodplains have become poorer.
• Why is sea level rise a challenge for the Nile delta?

  Nile delta is shrinking. 100 yards a year lost in some places. It will also turn the Nile delta into a salty wasteland.