Wadi Natrun in Ancient Egypt

Wadi Natrun situated to the west of the Nile Delta, 75 kilometers (about  l7 miles) northwest of Cairo. Wadi Natrun was one of the most important of the remnant lakes. It fills a narrow depression, some 60 kilometers (about  l0 miles) long. with a varying number of small lakes that are Z3 meters (70 feet below sea level. The lakes are fed from the water table of the Nile. The area has been of considerable importance throughout Egyptian history as a major source of natron (a naturally occurring combination of sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate), used in mummification, and soda (sodium oxide), used for glass manufacture. The natron occurs in solution in the lakes, forms a crust around the edges of the lakes, and is deposited on the bottoms. Natron was important in ancient Egyptian medicine, ritual. and crafts.

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·  Lake Moeris (Lake Karun)

Lake Moeris (Lake Karun)

A lake is a large. natural, permanent body of water that has a source sufficient to maintain its water  level above the discharge rate. ln Egypt, during historical times, the climate was arid and there were only two such lakes of any significance: Lake Karun and Lake Mariotis. Earlier, in the Pleistocene epoch. when there were several humid episodes in northern Africa, there were lakes throughout the eastern Sahara, particularly where the western oases are today. The former lake areas had been important resources for hunter gatherers during the Pleistocene.

Lake Karun:

Today the lake Karun fills the northern side of the Faiyum Oasis, toward the western end (centered on 29“28'N, 30°36‘E.). It currently stands at 44 meters (l35 feet) below mean sea level. The water source is the Baht Yussuf, a channel that leaves the Nile River just north of Dairut, owing northward, parallel to the Nile, until passing westward through a gap in the limestone hills at Illahun. It is the central geographical feature of the Arsinoite or twentieth nome.

Lake Moeris (Lake Karun)