630 
is distinguished between the pediment and the 
mountain front (Foot of the high plateau), wh 
ile no break with the coastal plain. 
The pediment plain is highly deformed. It 
is affected by faulting and folding trends 
in the gulf region. 
3.3. The basement high plateau 
It occupies the area of the Precambrian shei- 
ld in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. It posses 
ses highly steep elevated land with an eleva 
tion reaches the maximum of about 1751m above 
the mean sea level. It is built of series of 
high mountains of basement rocks. Among these 
are, from north to south; Gebel Abu-Khashaba 
(+1461 m), G. Gharib (+1751 m), G. Riseis 
(+949 m), and G. Ghuweirb (+1359 m). 
It represents the topest part where the wa 
ter divide is delineated and th upstreams of 
all drainage basins are occured. It merges to 
east with the pediment plateau but with a bre 
ak in slope. 
It is highly affected by the regional trends 
of faulting and folding in the gulf of Suez 
region. The fault planes and fractures which 
represent weak planes, especially of NE-SW 
direction, have been turned into wide and de 
ep, vallies (maximum width reaches .2 Km). 
It receives an occassionaly heavy rainfalls 
during winter period (Korany, 1980) and shed 
ding them either to the coastal plain or to 
the Nile Valley. 
CONCLUSION 
The results obtained and discussed give rise 
to the following conclusion about the hydro 
geologic bearing of the landforms in the area 
of study : 
1. The basement high plateau maintains the 
upstream part, while the coastal plain occup 
ies the downstream part. 
2. The area is built,hydrographically, of 
nine drainage sub-basins, where all are issu 
ed from the high plateau to the west and she 
dding water almostly to the east. 
3. The fault planes and fractures along the 
high plateau represent the wide and deep val 
lies and tributaries. They control also the 
trend and dimensions of the drainage patterns 
along the pediment and coastal plains. 
4. The surface of both the coastal and ped 
iment plains is built principley of Middle 
Miocene facies and younger surficial deposit- 
s of high infiltration capacities. 
5. The Rudeis Formation represents the ava 
ilable groundwater resource in the area. It 
is encountered at shallow depths and has gre- - 
at thickness and wider extention beneath the 
whole area west of the gulf of Suez. 
6. The occassional heavy showers during wi 
nter period along the high plateau and slopes 
maintain the possible contribution to the gr 
oundwater in the Rudeis aquifer.lt causes pe 
ak floods through the dissected vallies and 
tributaries in the direction of both pediment 
and coastal plains. Part of the water infilt 
rates downward through the surficial deposits 
in the main channels and tributaries to cont 
ribute the groundwater in the Rudeis aquifer. 
7. The structural deformation of the area 
west of the gulf of Suez plays the paramount 
role in the development of landforms and the 
ir hydrogeologic bearing. Certain units of 
landforms and drainage patterns are develope- 
d in the area which lead to certain hydrogeo 
logic characteristics. 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
Symposi 
The authors wish to express their gratitudes 
to the director of the Egyptian Geologic Sur 
vey and Mining Authority for the sincere help 
in providing the aerial photos and mosaics. 
Thanks are extended to head and staff of 
the Geology Department of AinShams University 
Cairo,Egypt for the kindly help and providing 
laboratory facilities. 
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