Nile dramatic change 4000 years ago

[guy]

Previous posts have discussed how catastrophic changes in the Nile flow impacted history (see posts below). Here is an article describing the major shifts in the Nile 4000 years ago, which would influence the region's future development. The more technical article is below.
 

Quote

Although the Nile is one of the largest rivers in the world and played a central role in ancient Egyptian life, little is known about its response to climatic change during the Holocene. Here we present a framework for the evolution of the Egyptian Nile, demonstrating how climatic and environmental changes have shaped the landscape of the Egyptian Nile Valley over the past 11,500 years, including the civilization of ancient Egypt (~5,000 to 2,000 years ago). Using data from over 80 sediment cores drilled in a transect spanning the Nile Valley near Luxor, pinned in time by 48 optically stimulated luminescence ages, we reconstruct the dynamics of the Nile River during the Holocene in the vicinity of UNESCO World Heritage sites such as Karnak and Luxor temples. According to our reconstruction, valley incision occurred from the start of the record until approximately 4,000 years ago and then rapidly shifted to massive floodplain aggradation. We argue that this relatively abrupt change in the riverine landscape near Luxor from the Middle to Late Holocene was linked to a shift towards a drier regional hydroclimate around this time. Such a dramatic change in river sediment dynamics could have had local agro-economic consequences.

 

 

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1046715

 

 

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-024-01451-z

 

 

 

Edited June 5 by guy

[caesar novus]

I think the root cause of Nile fluctuations are based on the interactions of the Blue Nile and the White Nile upstream. I believe the Blue contributes most water, but only for 5 months of the year and can even dry up otherwise. Ethiopia plans to dam the Blue, which would then be steadier as the reservoir can drive turbines even in dry months. However, like the Egyptian dam it may evaporate away half it's water not counting irrigation. Egypt threatens to bomb the Ethiopian dam, but may have to blow up it's own due to silting up. The White is really long and may cross several mini climates.

Edited June 20 by caesar novus