The Great Sebkha D'Oran EarthCache
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Difficulty:
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The Great Sebkha is a Salt Lake that is located in Algéria , “wilaya of Oran”, “Daira of Boutlelis”, and it is distant 12 km from the Mediterranean Sea and 15 km from the city of Oran. It has approximately 44km by 12km ( 52800 Ha)
The “Sebkha of Oran” is a depression, that starts at 110 meters altitude and finishes at
-80 meter sea level it is closed and restricted to the north by the massif of Murdjadjo which maximum altitude is 589 meters and to the south by the massif of Tessala which maximum altitude is 1061 meters.
The bottom of the depression at 80 meters above sea level has a slight asymmetry in the eastern part.
The Sebkha is fed by the runoff of the watershed, the water of this wetland is salty.
Geology:
The Great Sebkha is a large depression with a flow endoréique. It should be
of tectonic origin and appeared in the late Pliocene (Villafranchian) and early
Quaternary, when the dominant “Tell Oranais” topography was closed pond (the
two anticlines Murdadjo in the north and Tessala in the south ).
The waters that flow from these two montains gathered into the synclinal that today form the great Sebkha.
The continental deposits of Pliocene and Quaternary have helped to fill and level the
Most of the “planicie of M'leta”.After these deposits were taken and drained into the depression of Sebkha whose current level is 80 m above the sea level.
Geomorphology
The Great Sebkha of Oran occupies the center of a Miocene pond, is a
large area of wind erosion.
The products of this erosion stay accumulated around the ribs of the Sebkah and are likely clay
Hydrology:
This wetland is fed by water runoff from a large catchment area of about 161 000 ha.
The flow of rainwater comes for the most part of massive Tessala and Murdjadjo.
The latter poured into the area by many wadis like: Misserghine, El Dalia, Tamselmat, Moguenne, Sidi Mediouni. The more important network of wadis that comes from the Mountains Tessala is Tfraoui, Tamrzoura, haimeur El, El and El ghassoul Besbes.
Pedology
The soil type is alluvial clay-sand textured .
Water quality
The water that is salty, it forms a film of 10 to 30 cm, which varies depending on rainfall. This film completely dry during the summer following a very high evaporation and a drought that has lasted a decade
Climate:
The climate is Mediterranean semi-arid hot variant. The annual rainfall varies between 378 and 473 mm of rain.
Catchment area:
The large catchment of Sebkha are represented by:
- Tessala The mountains are located north of the Sebkha, and constitute a massive East-West and West South East North East. The highest point is 1061 m. This watershed covers an area 59 960 hectares.
- The southern slopes of Murdjadjo, located north of the great Sebkha, is carved from limestone series of valleys with the allure of guns. The deep gorges of 100 m are covered by temporary Wadis, that come get lost in the Quaternary alluvial land along the north shore of the Sebkha.
The Cache
In Order to log your found you have to go to the coordinates N 35° 42.561 W 000° 39.816 and
-What is the predominant colour of the Great Sebkha, Why ?
-From this point how much km are visible (aproximately)
- Take a Picture of you with your gpsr and with visible part of the Sebkha ,
- The name of the church that exist in that place .
Send me the answers via my geocaching profile before logging the cache.
This coordinates rest 12 km from the Great Sebkha it is in the highest accessible point of Murdjadjo, like this you can see almost of all the Great Sebkha the Oran. It is advised to choose a sunny day for well seeing the Sebkha .
Please make same C.i.t.o if possible
Take some pictures of Cache Views
Thank you for your visit We hope that you like it .
All the Information comes from “Direction Generale Des Forets de la
Republique Algerienne Democratique et Populaire”
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)