An Egyptian researcher at an American university has revealed new details about an underground waterway that links central Africa to the Mediterranean.
Iman Mohamed Ghoneim, head of space studies at the North Carolina Wilmington University's geology department, said the waterway passes underneath Libyan territories as well as Egypt's Western Desert.
According to the study, one of the most important parts of this waterway is the basin of the Kafra river along the Egyptian-Libyan border, the surface area of which is estimated at 236,000 square kilometers.
The Kafra river has a huge delta with a surface area of around 34,000km. Most of that delta is on the Libyan side of the border, and the study suggests it contains massive amounts of underground water, as well as petroleum and natural gas.
Ghoneim says the waterway was probably used by people more than 150,000 years ago to reach the Mediterranean and other places outside the African continent.
In a phone conversation with Al-Masry Al-Youm, Ghoneim said any river that dries up as a result of climatic changes forms an underground reservoir. She added that the findings of her study may prove very useful for agriculture in Egypt.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
