A Unique Coincidence of Geomorphological, Geological, and Geoarchaeological Features in the Valley of Camels (Dakhla Oas
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A Unique Coincidence of Geomorphological, Geological, and Geoarchaeological Features in the Valley of Camels (Dakhla Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt) Kholoud M. AbdelMaksoud 1 & Hend Elfeky 2 & Dmitry A. Ruban 3,4 & Vladimir A. Ermolaev 5 Received: 18 October 2019 / Accepted: 10 September 2020 # The European Association for Conservation of the Geological Heritage 2020
Abstract Geosites constitute important natural resource of Egypt. Field investigations in the Dakhla Oasis of the Western Desert have permitted to assess unique geomorphological, geological, and geoarchaeological features co-occurring in the Valley of Camels. These features are assigned to geomorphological type (animal-shaped landforms sculptured by differential erosion), palaeogeographical type (continental facies of the Cretaceous sandstones and petroglyphs left by the past societies and partly suitable to palaeoenvironmental interpretations), sedimentary type (cross-bedding and multiple truncation planes in sandstones), and hydrogeological type (Roman wells). The Valley of Camels is a globally ranked geosite of complex type. It demonstrates coincidence of essentially different features. For instance, the Toutam landform is notable by its unusual shape resulting from weathering, it exhibits cross-bedding and multiple parallel truncation planes typical for continental sandstones, and it bears petroglyphs near its base. In the Valley of Camels, the geoheritage can be used as the resource for (geo)education and (geo)tourism. Excellent visibility and high aesthetic properties make the proposed geosite suitable to tourists with different geological knowledge or even without it. Geotourism development in the Valley of Camels can contribute to the local sustainable development via providing socio-economic benefits to the local community and strengthening the oasis integration into the Egyptian economy. Keywords Continental sandstones . Geosite . Landform . Rock art . Western Desert
Introduction Geoheritage is a general category comprising unique geological phenomena that are subjected to conservation and useful to scientists, educators, and tourists. It has been studied intensively for many decades (Prosser 2013; Ruban 2015; Brilha et al. 2018; Reynard and Brilha 2018; Brocx and Semeniuk * Dmitry A. Ruban [email protected] Kholoud M. AbdelMaksoud [email protected]; [email protected] Hend Elfeky [email protected]
2019). These studies have focused chiefly on Europe (Wimbledon and Smith-Meyer 2012). Absent vegetation cover on vast desert areas allows exceptional visibility of geological objects, structures, and ongoing processes in North Africa and the Middle East. For instance, Sallam and Ruban (2017) showed the existence of broad spectrum of valuable palaeogeographical features in Egypt, and Ólafsdóttir and 2
Department of Ancient History, Faculty of Postgraduate African Studies, Cairo University, Giza, Cairo 12613, Egypt
3
K.G. Razumovsky Moscow State University of Technologies and Management (the First Cossack
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