Figure 1. Tamanrasset River. Hydrological context of Africa
Outline of the main course of the Tamanrasset along with the present-day active Nile, Senegal, Niger, Sanaga and Congo.[1]

The Tamanrasset River is an enormous palaeoriver believed to have flowed through West Africa as recently as 5000 years ago during the African humid period. The Tamanrasset River basin is thought to have been comparable with the present-day Ganges-Brahmaputra river basin in Asia.[2][3][4][5][6]

Tributaries

Western side:

Eastern side:

  • Oued Tamanrasset

Overview

The Tamanrasset is thought to have flowed across the Sahara in ancient times from sources in the southern Atlas mountains and Hoggar highlands in what is now Algeria.[3]

It is thought the river fed into the Cap Timiris Canyon, located off the coast of Mauritania; the canyon is located in waters three kilometres deep and is 2.5km wide in places.[7][3]

The presence of the river is thought to have had wide-ranging implications for human migration from Central Africa to the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. Previously, the inhospitable Sahara desert was believed to have made a western route for migrating to Europe unviable.[8][9][10][11]

Researchers believe that the ancient river became active during the African Humid Period, climate oscillations caused by the precession of the Earth’s rotation.[4]

The palaeoriver was discovered using a Japanese orbital satellite system called Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR). Using microwave sensing, PALSAR can see below Saharan sands and detect the fossil water still present.[5]

The Tamanrasset has been noted as a possible location for an ancient Saharan civilization based solely on comparisons with similar contemporary river systems and their associated civilizations. [12] The existence and location of the Tamanrasset River was only confirmed by scientists in 2015, although an expedition looking for oil found the Cap Timiris Canyon in 2003 which was likely formed by the flow of the sediment laden freshwater of this river system.[13][14] Currently no evidence exists of any former civilization or agricultural community which dates to the time in which the river was present.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Skonieczny, C.; Paillou, P.; Bory, A.; Bayon, G.; Biscara, L.; Crosta, X.; Eynaud, F.; Malaizé, B.; Revel, M.; Aleman, N.; Barusseau, J. -P.; Vernet, R.; Lopez, S.; Grousset, F. (2015). "African humid periods triggered the reactivation of a large river system in Western Sahara". Nature Communications. 6 (1): 8751. Bibcode:2015NatCo...6E8751S. doi:10.1038/ncomms9751. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 4659928. PMID 26556052.
  2. ↑ Klokočník, Jaroslav; Kostelecký, Jan; Cílek, Václav; Bezděk, Aleš; Pešek, Ivan (2017). "A support for the existence of paleolakes and paleorivers buried under Saharan sand by means of "gravitational signal" from EIGEN 6C4" (PDF). Arabian Journal of Geosciences. 10 (9). doi:10.1007/s12517-017-2962-8. ISSN 1866-7511. S2CID 132812529.
  3. 1 2 3 Sample, I. (10 Nov 2015). "Ancient river network discovered buried under Saharan sand". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015.
  4. 1 2 Stone, M. (11 Nov 2015). "A Vast River Network Once Crisscrossed the Sahara". gizmodo.com. Gizmodo. Archived from the original on 11 November 2015.
  5. 1 2 Ferreira, B. (10 Nov 2015). "There's a Long-Lost 'Paleo-River' Beneath the Sahara Desert Nobody Knew Existed". motherboard.vice.com. Vice Media. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018.
  6. ↑ Johnson, S. K. (10 Nov 2015). "Beneath the Saharan sands, a river valley". arstechnica.com. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 11 November 2015.
  7. ↑ Krastel, S.; Hanebuth, T. J. J.; Antobreh, A. A.; Henrich, R.; Holz, C.; Kölling, M.; Schulz, H. D.; Wien, K.; Wynn, R. B. (2004). "CapTimiris Canyon: A newly discovered channel system offshore of Mauritania". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 85 (42): 417. Bibcode:2004EOSTr..85..417K. doi:10.1029/2004EO420001. ISSN 0096-3941.
  8. ↑ Hart, John P.; Coulthard, Tom J.; Ramirez, Jorge A.; Barton, Nick; Rogerson, Mike; Brücher, Tim (2013). "Were Rivers Flowing across the Sahara During the Last Interglacial? Implications for Human Migration through Africa" (PDF). PLOS ONE. 8 (9): e74834. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...874834C. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074834. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3770569. PMID 24040347.
  9. ↑ Botkin-Kowacki, E. (12 Nov 2015). "Rivers may have once criss-crossed the Sahara, say scientists". csmonitor.com. Christian Science Monitor. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018.
  10. ↑ Lahr, M. M. (2010). "Saharan Corridors and Their Role in the Evolutionary Geography" (PDF). In Fleagle, J. G.; Shea, J. J.; Grine, F. E.; Baden, A. L.; Leakey, R. E. (eds.). Out of Africa: The First Hominin Colonization of Eurasia. Dordrecht: Springer. ISBN 978-90-481-9035-5. LCCN 2010932000. OCLC 939066131. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2016.
  11. ↑ Lahr, M. M. (2011). "Prehistory and Human Evolution in the Sahara". human-evol.cam.ac.uk. Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge. Archived from the original on 6 November 2018.
  12. ↑ Choudhury, Sajjad (Aug 15, 2021). "The Mysterious People That Lived in the Green Sahara". History of Yesterday. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  13. ↑ Antobreh, Andrew A. (January 2006). "Morphology, seismic characteristics and development of Cap Timiris Canyon, offshore Mauritania: A newly discovered canyon preserved-off a major arid climatic region". Science Direct. Retrieved August 8, 2022.
  14. ↑ Wynn, R. B.; Wien, K.; Schulz, H. D.; Kölling, M.; Holz, C.; Henrich, R.; Antobreh, A. A.; Hanebuth, T. J. J.; Krastel, S. (June 3, 2011). "CapTimiris Canyon: A newly discovered channel system offshore of Mauritania". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 85 (42): 417. doi:10.1029/2004EO420001.
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