Abstract
A REPORT by Mr. A. Lucas on “Natural Soda Deposits in Egypt” has been issued by the Ministry of Finance as “Survey Department Paper, No. 22.” Natural soda occurs'in Egypt principally in the Wadi Natrun in the Libyan desert, but it is also found some fifty kilometres due north of this, at El Barnugi, in Lower Egypt, and at Mahamid, in Upper Egypt. The principal soda-lakes are in a valley the bottom of which is about 27 metres below sea-level; the lakes extend over a range of 30 kilometres, the nearest being about 38 kilometres from the Nile. In ancient times there were two lakes, which became united when water was most abundant, but at the present time they are divided into about a dozen separate areas, the smaller of which dry up almost entirely in summer, leaving only a few pools of water. The soda is found in solution in the water of the lakes, in a solid form at the bottom of some of the lakes and as an incrustation on the adjoining ground.
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L., T. Egyptian Soda . Nature 90, 527–528 (1913). https://doi.org/10.1038/090527a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/090527a0