Geology of Nubia and Surrounding Regions

Abstract

Nubia occupies a low, interior plain extending from southern Egypt to central Sudan. It is surrounded by high plateaus and mountains on all sides except the north. Across this plain flows the Nile River. The bedrock geology is dominated by metamorphic and igneous rocks of the mainly Precambrian to Paleozoic Basement Complex, and sedimentary rocks of the Cretaceous Nubian Sandstone Formation. Cataracts and rapids exist wherever the Nile River flows over Basement Complex rocks. The bedrock is blanketed in many areas by unconsolidated alluvial, lacustrine, and especially eolian sediments of mostly Quaternary age. The tectonically active Red Sea and East African rift zones are responsible for Cenozoic and still ongoing volcanism and seismicity in the Nubian region with additional tectonism resulting from uplift along the Nubian Swell in southern Egypt and northern Sudan.