Less Info

Ripples of volcanic sand line the inside of a crater known as Wau al Namus, (Wau means hole, so Wau al Namus is hole of mosquitos). This massive (and apparently dormant) volcano can be easily be seen in satellite views of Southern Libya as a large black smear in the wind-scoured sands of the Sahara. The inner crater is bordered by a chain of small salt lakes which are sumps for the fround water. The ground water here was somewhat potable, at least it tasted okay before I spat out a handful of brackish liquid from a depression adjacent to a palm tree. These spring waters feed the crater's vegetation. Outside the outer rim of the crater are more small black dunes of winblown volcanic ejecta. The winds here were very strong, at sunrise they were averaging over 60 kph at 300m above the rim of the outer crater, and about 20 kph at ground level.

Filename
STNMTZ_20081116_0881.tif
Copyright
©2008 George Steinmetz
Image Size
5616x3744 / 60.2MB
Contained in galleries
Libya's Sahara
Ripples of volcanic sand line the inside of a crater known as Wau al Namus, (Wau means hole, so Wau al Namus is hole of mosquitos). This massive (and apparently dormant) volcano can be easily be seen in satellite views of Southern Libya as a large black smear in the wind-scoured sands of the Sahara. The inner crater is bordered by a chain of small salt lakes which are sumps for the fround water. The ground water here was somewhat potable, at least it tasted okay before I spat out a handful of brackish liquid from a depression adjacent to a palm tree. These spring waters feed the crater's vegetation. Outside the outer rim of the crater are more small black dunes of winblown volcanic ejecta. The winds here were very strong, at sunrise they were averaging over 60 kph at 300m above the rim of the outer crater, and about 20 kph at ground level.

All images ©George Steinmetz. Please contact us for usage.