The topography and geology of the Fayum province of Egypt

An ambitious early‑20th‑century field study, this volume documents the first systematic mapping of Egypt’s Fayum depression, a vast basin only a stone’s throw from Cairo that had remained virtually unknown to science. The author’s narrative follows the seasonal traverses that began in 1898, tracing routes across cultivated plains, desert ridges and hidden wadis, while sketching a broad picture of the region’s topography and underlying rock layers.

Supported by more than sixty detailed photographs, plates and section drawings, the work brings the landscape to life: the shimmering surface of Birket el Qurûn, the rugged escarpments of Jebel el Qatrani, siliceous fossil trees and even isolated sand dunes are rendered with striking clarity. In addition to geological observations, the survey includes early soil‑and‑water samples from the cultivated zones, laying a solid foundation for the later flood of paleontological discoveries that would make Fayum a focal point of zoological research.