Remarkable Events in the Life of the River Nile

Abstract

The present Nile represents the final stage of a series of rivers that have started millions of years ago. The Nile and its valley originated in Late Miocene times, and since then it has passed through several stages. Some of these stages are significant in determining major changes in its life. Such changes were due to remarkable regional geologic events and can be described as “dramatic events.” These events are: the drying up of the Mediterranean Sea, known as the Messinian Crisis in late Miocene; the submergence of the Nile Canyon due to sea level rise during the Pliocene, resulting in an estuary that extended southward to Aswan; and the arrival of African waters in the Middle Pleistocene. The floodplain of the Nile Valley is as recent as the present river, developing only when African waters loaded with silt had arrived in Egypt during late Pleistocene/Early Holocene.