DEFINITION OF SURFACE-WATER HYDROLOGY

The Sinai Peninsula is drained by an extensive network of

channels (wadis) that are generally dry. There are no significant

perennial streams flowing except for runoff from the

springs at Ain Gederiat and Yaraqa, which infiltrate into the

alluvium over a distance of a few hundred meters. No important

drainage channels are mappable in the northern sector

(except Wadi El Arish and Wadi Hareidan, where dune sands

have an infiltration capacity exceeding normal rainfall.

There are five basins to which the wadis empty, including

the Mediterranean Sea on the north, the Gulf of Suez to

the west, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southeast, the Red Sea at

the extreme southern tip, and the Araba (Dead Sea) Rift Valley

to the northeast.

The largest catchment basin on the peninsula is that of

Wadi El Arish, named for the outlet of the main trunk at the

city of El Arish. The area of the basin is 6,757 square miles

(17,500 km2) (approximately 28.6 percent of the peninsula).

South of El Daiqa Gorge, Wadi El Arish bifurcates into a

great number of tributaries, so that, by the time it reaches the

Mediterranean, it is a seventh-order stream. North of El

Daiqa Gorge, only one significant tributary (Wadi Hareidan)

enters Wadi El Arish.

In the Wadi El Arish basin, there are four main divisions

including the western, eastern and southern tributaries, and

the main trunk and delta. In the western tributaries the floodplain

of the principal channel, Wadi El Bruk, averages three

miles (5 km) in width. Wadi El Bruk occupies the southern

side of the syncline between the Gebel Yelleq anticline and

the Gebel Minshera anticline group. The southern tributaries

drain the El Egma plateau, forming steep-walled canyons in

the limestone. The eastern tributaries drain the northeastern

side of the El Egma plateau. The principal channel is Wadi

Geraia. The main trunk extends 37 miles (60 km) north of El

Daiqa Gorge to the Mediterranean Sea. The other drainage

basins of note are the basins of interior drainage (El Maghara

and El Hasana) and the Dead Sea drainage basin, which

drains a large area in the El Kuntilla depression.

Drainage basins of the Sinai may be divided into two

categories including basins of exterior drainage and basins of

interior drainage. These correspond to open and closed

drainage, where open (exterior) drainage discharges to a base

level outside the basin, and closed (interior) drainage has no

apparent discharge to a base level or another basin.

There are three major lakes on the peninsula: Lake Bardawil,

the Great Bitter Lake, and the Little Bitter Lake. Lake

Bardawil lies on the Mediterranean Coast, from which it is

separated by a narrow band of sand dunes (barrier islands).

Breaches in the barrier island chain provide outlets to the

Mediterranean. Lake Bardawil is approximately 19 miles (30

km) long and 14 miles (22 km) wide and is located 12.5 miles

(20 km) west of El Arish. An extensive system of lakes existed

during past humid climatic phases. Paleoshore terraces are

evident along the margins of the flood plains of the larger

wadis in central Sinai. Thick deposits of clay underlie the

areas behind the natural dams.

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