Inverted topography in the southeastern part of the Western Desert of Egypt

• In general, distribution of inverted wadis in SE Egypt has been discussed.
• About 3084 of inverted wadis in study area have been mapped here.
• We shed light on systematic measurements and geomorphic patterns of inverted wadis in study area.

We present here a series of surficial geologic maps of 22,000 km2 of the southeastern part of the Western Desert of Egypt showing 3084 bodies of wadi-floor sediment that have been inverted by erosion to form sinuous ridges capped by alluvial gravel, here described as “inverted wadis”. These features represent fragments of one or more ancient drainage systems that developed at times when rainfall, and hence overland flow, was greater than it is today in this hyperarid region. While some of the inverted wadis were tributaries to a through-flowing river that followed the course of the modern Nile, others converge on what appear to have been internal closed basins west of the Nile.Several components of this ancient drainage system have yielded artifacts assigned to an Acheulian lithic tradition, but there is not yet enough stratigraphic information available to enable us to relate this ancient drainage system to any of the proposed scenarios of Nile evolution.