- Gulf of Suez
The northern end of the
Red Sea is bifurcated by theSinai Peninsula , creating the Gulf of Suez (Arabic: خليج السويس; transliterated: Khalyj as-Suways) in the west and theGulf of Aqaba to the east. The Gulf of Suez is formed within a relatively young, but now inactiverift basin , theGulf of Suez Rift , dating back about 28 million years. [http://geoinfo.amu.edu.pl/wpk/geos/GEO_2/GEO_PLATE_T-37.HTML Detailed geological information on the Gulf] It stretches some 300 km north by northwest, terminating at the Egyptian city ofSuez and the entrance to theSuez Canal . Along the mid-line of the Gulf lies the border between the continents ofAfrica andAsia . [ [http://www.earthkam.ucsd.edu/public/images/Egypt.shtml ISS EarthKAM:
] ] The entrance of the Gulf lies atop the matureGemsa oil andgas field . [ [http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/energy/WorldEnergy/OF99-50A/province.html USGS Open File Report OF99-50-A Red Sea Basin Province (Province Geology) ] ]The Gulf of Suez occupies the northwestern arm of the
Red Sea between Africa proper (west) and the Sinai Peninsula (east) of Egypt. It is the third arm of thetriple junction rift system. The second arm of the triple junction system is theGulf of Aqaba .The length of the gulf, from its mouth at the Strait of
Jubal to its head at the city ofSuez , is 195 miles (314 km), and it varies in width from 12 to 20 miles (19 to 32 km).References
External links
* [http://www.earthkam.ucsd.edu/public/images/Egypt.shtml A large-scale map of the Gulf]
* [http://egypt.africa-atlas.com/images.htm Satellite photographs of the Gulf, and of the Suez Canal]
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