See more from this Division: General Discipline Sessions
See more from this Session: Quaternary Geology
Abstract:
The White Nile, with a flood gradient of only one cm per km, has an unusually well preserved depositional record. During the last 15 ka times of high flow in the Blue Nile and main Nile were synchronous with those in the White Nile. Not all the White Nile flood deposits have been preserved but calibrated radiocarbon dates obtained on fossil freshwater shells and fish bones indicate that high White Nile flood levels at 15-13, 10-9, 8-7.5, 6.5 and 3.2-2.8 ka. Strontium isotopic analysis of these shells shows that the present hydrological regime of the Nile dates back to 15 ka, when overflow resumed from the Ugandan lakes with the abrupt return of the summer monsoon. A severe drought at 4.2 ka caused widespread famine in Egypt. The Meroitic empire flourished during the 3-2 ka wet phase, when cattle-rustling was rife in the Red Sea Hills, and Nero's centurions were foiled in their attempt to find the source of the White Nile by swamps that have since dried out.
See more from this Division: General Discipline Sessions
See more from this Session: Quaternary Geology