الفهرس 
APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM IN GEOLOGY, GEOMORPHOLOGY AND HYDROLOGY OF THE RAS BANAS - SHALATIN AREA.
General characteristics and uses of Landsat dataOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
The Red Sea Governorate is one of the largest Governorates in Egypt. It occupies most of the Eastern Desert and has very promising potentialities. In spite of this huge area and its good potentialities, it still has very low population. from this point of view, we chose the study area to be a part of the Red Sea Governorate to develop it to absorb some population from very populated areas of the Nile Valley. The study area is in the south eastern part of the Eastern Desert, between Ras Banas and Shalatin. It ocuupies about 17000 Km2. A geological map with scale 1:25000 of the area is compilied using different scaled topographic, geologic maps and landsat images. The geological units ranges from Precambrian to Recent. The investigated area is mainly a part of the Pan-African Proterozoic basement complex in the South Eastern Desert of Egypt. It is a segment of the Arabian Nubian Shield including tectonized and metamorphosed ultramafics, volcanics and plutonic rocks. Structures throughout the whole of the studied area are dominated by a heterogeneous brittle to ductile deformation.
A geomorphological map with scale 1:250000 is compiled
using topographical, geological maps with scale 1:250000 and landsat
images. The geomorphical units of the studied area are Raised beaches
(Beach terraces), Sabkha deposits, Alluvial Fans and Bagada, Flood
plain, Terraces, Wadis, Residual hills, Tertiary volcanic ridge, The Red
Sea mountainous area, The sandstone plateau (Eastern horn of Al
Ababda plateau). The raised beaches are coral reefs commonly
occurred in the Red Sea coast and extend from the intertidal zone to
about 10 m above the level of the high tide. Their thickness generally
increase southward. Sabkha deposits are found restricted to the shore
and may be covered by flood during rainy times forming swamps.
During dry seasons, these areas become covered by thin layer of salts.
The alluvial fans and Bagada in the studied area are represented mainly
by three kinds of terraces, with slopes ranging from gently to relatively
steep; the upper terraces, the middle terraces and the lower terraces.
The middle and the lower terraces occupy a large area with gentle slope
(up to 8 ◌ْ ). The flood plain in the studied area is widely distributed
along the Red Sea coastal plain. Also, it is found in different places
inside the mountaineous regions. Terraces are commonly found at sides
of large wadis in open areas and in some parts they are found
segmented with different sizes, and separated by water channels. Recent wadi deposits are fluvial sediments that accumulated as a thin Terretial sequence covering the bottom of the wadis. Residual hills in the study area, are well represented in Ras Banas and its northern part, between Wadi Khoda and Wadi Makhit, north the entrance of Wadi Hudayn and East Wadi Kriega. Tertiary volcanic ridges are quite perceptible in the eastern southern part of the studied area in the form of isolated conical hills. The Red Sea mountainous shield occupies most of the studied area. It represents about 80 % of the surface area in the form of igneous and metamorphic rocks. Wadi Hudayn mega basin encloses the eastern part of Al Ababda plateau. The later extends eastwards from the Nile valley towards the Red Sea basement shield, which represents the backbone of the Eastern Desert. This plateau occupies about 30 % of the Eastern Desert (70000 Km2). The study area is characterized by a huge drainage system which was studied in detail. The studied area includes 28 wadis. They are divided into two regions, the Ras Banas area and the Bernice-Shalatin area. The first area includes 10 Wadis, Rb1, Hotway (Rb2), Rb3 , Malik El Aoud (Rb4), Steah (Rb5), (Rb6), (Rb7), (Rb8) , (Rb9), (Rb10). The second area includes18 wadies, Makhit, Mendit, Kalalat, Kansisrob, Kansisrob1, Khoda, Khoda1, Abu Raqiq, Umm Atli, Umm Markh, Kardom, Deglay, Abu Had, Maarefay, Klip Tap, Klip Tap1, Rahaba, Hudayn. Wadi Hudayn is the largest Wadi in the study area. Its area is 11512 Km2. The morphometric anaylsis of different watershed of the main basins and subbasins are carried out showing the main characteristics of each basin. The hydrographs of different wadis are drawn. The volume of runoff and peak discharges are estimated through SCS method using HEC-1 module and WMS program. The area is classified into three risk zones according to the morphometric and hydrologic characteristics. The very high risk zone which comprises Wadi Hudayn,Wadi Rahaba, Wadi Khoda, Wadi Makhit. The high risk zone comprises the rest of the Wadis in Bernice-Shalatin area. The low risk zone comprises the Ras Banas area. The Siesmicity of the area is studied and the magnitude of the earthquakes ranges between 2.17 and 3.85 Richter. The relation between the Siesmicity, surface, subsurface structures and tectonics of the study area and its surroundings are studied. some major geological surface structures of the area are inherited from older subsurface structures. The presence of earthquakes and the active faults up till now in the study area indicate that the study area is still active until now. The study area is classified into two risk zones . The very high risk zone and the high risk zone.The area is classified according to its agricultural productivity level into three classes : Land with fair productivity level, Land with poor productivity level and Land with very poor productivity level and non agriculture areas, the rest of the area is non agricultural areas because of its mountains or because the width of the land is small ranges between 5 to 10 kilometer wide. The area has a lot of mineral resources like, Glod, chromite, Talc, Feldspars, Quartz, White Sand, Halite, Building materials (Gypsum, Shales, Limestones, Sands, Gravels, Ornamental stones, Igneous, Metamorphic and Sedimentary rocks) distributed in the area with huge amounts and types like Granites, Diorites, Gabbro, Serpentinites and Nubia sandstone. Also Zabargad at Zabargad island. The area includes three natural protectorates. The largest one is Elba protectorate with 35600 Km2 area . It occupies the largest part of the study area . The Wadi Al Allaqi protectorate with 30000 Km2 area. It occupies the south western part of the area. The smallest one is Wadi El Gemal protectorate with 7450 Km2 area. It occupies the northern part of the area. These protectorates have a very vast biological diverisity. They contain different species of plants, like, Dom palms, Acacia tree and Mangroves, different species of birds, like Egyptian vultures, hawks, Ostriches, White eye Gull and Osprey, different Kinds of mamamals icluding Camels, Goats and Jackals and also some reptiles and vertebrates have been reported.
Geographical information system and remote sensing techniuqes are used to manipulate different data, giving Land capability and land suitability maps for the study area, helping us to explore a lot of potentialities that help in the sustainable development of the study area. These potentialities vary from Surface water resources which can be stored during flash flood periods.Forty ground water wells and two springs are recorded in the study area. Different types of tourism can be invested in the study area. Ecotourism is due to the abundance of natural protectorates in the study area (Elba, Wadi El Gemal and Al Allaqi protectorates) which has a lot of biological diversity and natural scenes make this type of tourism easy and abndant in the vincity of the area. Geotourism is due to the presence of majestic mountains which have a lot of natural scenes make this type of tourism easy and abundant in the vincity of the area through the large number of Wadis. Medical tourism is due to the presence of a very good climate , the sun, very clear and clean water. Nautical tourism due to the presence of a very long coastal plain, calm marine currents and warm turquoise water. Also, the suitable places for resorts and cities are determined taking into consideration the buffer zones to protect these investments from natural hazards (Siesmicity and flash flood hazards). One of the most important potentialities of the study area is the mineral resources. The area has a lot of metallic and non metallic ores which can enable us to estalish good centers for mineralogic industries; like, marble and gold factories and different building materials industies. The abundance of energy resources in the study area can enable us to use the solar power where the rate of sun shine in the study area ranges from 10 hour /day in Winter and 12.5 hour /day in Summer . This rate is good enough to use the solar cells, solar water heating and solar furnaces to serve development in the study area. Wind power is also very useful because the rate of wind speed in the study area ranges from 6.8 Knote in Winter and 9.8 Knot in Spring . This rate is good enough to build the Wind farms to generate electricity to serve development in the study area. The agriculture potentialities in the study area is low due to the mounmtaineous nature of the area and the scarcity of water resources. The presence of about 150Km along the Red Sea coast encourage us to build different harbours along the coast to imoprt the needs of development and export the products of the study area and its surroundings abroad. This long Coast help us also to establish different fishing industries. The tranportation is one of the most important tool in the success of development; the area has good transportation roads and the nature of the study area is suitable to establish different airports to facilitate transportation from-to the area from different places.