 View of the Wādī el-Baṭṭīch | ||
| Wādī el-Baṭṭīch · وادي البطيخ | ||
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The egyptian landscape Wadi el-Battich (also Wadi el-Battikh, Melon field, English: Melon Valley, Arabic:وادي البطيخ, Wādī al-Baṭṭīch, „Watermelon Valley“) Crosses the trunk road from Asyūṭ to el-Chārga and is 110 kilometers south of Asyūṭ, 125 kilometers north of the city el-Chārga and 60 kilometers north of the Chārga or Ramlīya passes. Thousands of geodes can be found here over a length of about twelve kilometers and a width of one kilometer.
background
In several places in the western desert there are so-called melon fields. They are littered with thousands Geodes (Generic term Concretions), which are sometimes called pumpkin stones.
The prerequisite for their formation is the presence of water, such as pore water or flowing water, such as these in the Pleistoceneabout a million years ago. Over time, a mixture of sand and lime continuously accumulated around what was originally a small, constantly rotating, irregular lime or chalk sediment core.
Such melon fields have been known for about 140 years. On the map of the Rohlfs expedition of 1873, five such fields are shown,[1] namely two between Asyūṭ and el-Chārga, two along the Darb eṭ-Ṭawīl between Banī ʿAdī and ed-Dāchla and one along the Route el-Chārga–Esna. You can find them under the indication of pumpkin stones or Batich / Betich.
getting there
Getting here is very easy. By car or taxi you can drive from Asyūt or el-Chārga on highway 25, which connects the two cities. You stop about halfway there 1 26 ° 27 '12 "N.30 ° 47 ′ 20 ″ E at the roadside and runs in a south-easterly direction. The melon field is already visible from the street.
Tourist Attractions
The only sights are of course the limestone and sandstone grounds, which lie on the ground here over a length of twelve and a width of one kilometer. The area runs roughly in a south-southeast direction. The terrain is flat and only crisscrossed by a few small hills. The limestone floor is mostly covered with sand and small stones. The ellipsoidal geodes, weathered on the surface, reach a size of around 30 to 50 centimeters and can therefore be seen even on satellite images.
Some of the geodes have broken, most almost exactly along the shorter axis. If the fracture surface is not so badly weathered, the formation of these rocks can be clearly identified. The individual layers are crystallized concentrically around a sedimentation nucleus.
The local area should be identical to the entry "Pumpkin stones (Batich formation)" on the map of the Rohlfs expedition of 1873.
kitchen
There are restaurants in Asyūṭ or in the city el-Chārga. Between the Wādī el-Baṭṭīch and the Chārga or Ramlīya Pass, about 15 kilometers south of the Wādī el-Baṭṭīch, there is a cafeteria and a mosque on the west side of the trunk road (1 26 ° 19 '24 "N.30 ° 43 '11 "E).
accommodation
Accommodation can be found in Asyūṭ or in the city Chārga.
trips
It is advisable to combine the Wādī el-Baṭṭīch with the 1 Chārga or Ramlīya pass(25 ° 56 ′ 54 ″ N.30 ° 42 ′ 15 ″ E) to visit and enjoy the impressive view here.
Individual evidence
- ↑: Three months in the Libyan desert. Cassel: Fisherman, 1875. Reprint Cologne: Heinrich Barth Institute, 1996, ISBN 978-3-927688-10-0 .
