1993/04/30 by Daniel Jean Stanley, Andrew G. Warne · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Geological formations and processes #Aeolian processes and effects #Delta #Erosion #Subsidence #Population #Natural (archaeology) #River delta #Ecosystem #Physical geography #Desertification #Climate change #Productivity #Environmental science #Geology #Hydrology (agriculture) #Geography #Oceanography #Ecology #Structural basin #Paleontology
paper · doi:10.1126/science.260.5108.628
openalex publication_date 1993/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Few countries in the world are as dependent on water from a single source as Egypt. The natural Nile cycle of flow and sediment discharge has been disrupted by human intervention, including closure of the High Aswan Dam; this intervention has resulted in a series of responses that now threaten the northern Nile delta. Erosion, salinization, and pollution are inducing a marked decline in agricultural productivity and loss of land and coastal lagoons at a time when the population is expanding exponentially. Geological analyses of radiocarbon-dated cores across the northern delta are used to interpret the interaction of sea-level changes, climatic oscillations, subsidence, and transport processes during the past 35,000 years. Recognition of long-term trends of these natural factors provides a basis to evaluate the profound impact of human activity and to assess future changes in the Nile delta ecosystem.