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Article: Hidden depths of Sahara; ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.
- Article from:
- Daily Mail (London)
- Article date:
- August 31, 2004
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: JAMES BLACK
QUESTION
How deep is the deepest sand in the Sahara desert?
NORTH Africa's Sahara, the world's largest desert, covers a constantly fluctuating area of around 3,580,000 square miles from the Atlantic to the Red Sea, equivalent to the whole of the U.S. or 38 UKs.
The name Sahara stems from the Arabic word for desert. Most of the desert's area consists of bare rock, plateaux, mountains (the highest point in the Sahara is Emi Koussi in Chad, which reaches 11,204ft), gravel and a gravel/sand mix. Only a fifth of the Sahara is covered by sand alone.
The western Sahara has prominent sand deserts at El Djouf, Erg ...