Control of Late Holocene Geo-processes on the sustainable development plans of the Tineh Plain, NW Sinai coast, Egypt

Journal Article

مستخلص المنشور

The Tineh Plain NW Sinai coast has been the subjected of several studies related to its stratigraphy, geoarchaeology, and sustainable development. Recently, the name of the Tineh Plain has emerged following the government of Egypt’s decision to establish a new economic project to develop the Suez Canal Sector (Suez Canal Corridor Mega Project). Landsat and SPOTsatellite images acquired for years 1984, 2000, 2006, 2008 and 2010 to detect temporal changes
coupled with field relations, verification, sampling, analyzing and photographing were conducted. Change detection of LU/
LC show six classes; the beach, the wetland (El-Mallaha lagoon), Sabkhas or salt marshes, urban, agriculture, and fish
breeding farms. In 1984, the beach (4.2 km2), El-Mallaha lagoon (26.4 km2), sabkhas or salt marches (236.7 km2) were
reduced due to expansion of agriculture (120.3 km2), fish breeding farms (35.7 km2) and controlled by sediment characteristic (salinity and grain size). Accordingly, fish farms grow northward of the Tineh Plain while reclamation and
cultivation extends southward. Such activities may threaten the archaeological sits at Tell El-Farama (The City of
Pelusium). Three geomorphic units detected, these are the beach, the strand plain, and the deltaic plain. The beach is
flat with concavo (accreted) - convex (eroded) shoreline. The strand plain made of accreted beach ridges of very
low bundles, set at slight mutual angles, which sometimes truncate one another. The deltaic plain surface composed of
intercalations of sand and mud of shoreface, mouth bar, and distributary channel fill. The accreted ridges representing
four paleoshorelines related to Late Holocene and dated back to 400–500BP, 1100–1200BP, 1400–1500BP, and
1700–1900BP, those record the Late Holocene history (sea level, floods, and tectonics) of the Tineh Plain. The
study area is waiting a plan of sustainable development, it represents phase BA^ East Port Said of the Suez Canal
Corridor Mega Project. This study raise the alarm of constructing heavy industries and other logistics related to
shipping on the fragile environments of the Tineh Plain. This is in fact due to active tectonism, and sediment characteristics. The activities related to agriculture, fish breeding, and salts and food industries are recommended in the
framework of sustainable development. It is important to include the Suez Canal Corridor Project a plan to save the
ruins of fortifications of Tineh Plain. These are not only Egyptian heritage but also a world one record the history
from the Persian invasions of Egypt about 6th or 7th Century B.C., through the Byzantines in 859–860, the Greeks in
954–955, the Arabic Conquest, and the Crusaders in the 12th Century. A cooperation and support from the international
organization such as UNESCO should be conducted.