THE WESTERN EDGE OF GEBEL QARARA (MIDDLE EGYPT): ELEMENTS OF GEOLOGY FOR THE UNDERSTANDING THE RELIEF AND THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN OCCUPANCY

The western edge of Gebel Qarara (Nile Valley, Egypt) was the subject of a microregional geological study. After a re-reading of the lithologic stratigraphy, which corresponds to the eponymous Qarara sequence and is dated to the Middle Eocene, this sector was geologically mapped over an area of about 8 sq km. The main lines of structural geology demonstrate that the summit plateau of the gebel is a horst surrounded by faults. On its western edge, to the west of an intermediary plateau that corresponds to a less pronounced synclinal structure, the North-South lines correspond to a series of faults that contain tumbled blocks. The wadi system greatly contributes to these structures. The Holocene sedimentary dynamics, as well as anthropogenic sedimentation, are discussed in relation to archaeological occupation.