ABSTRACT
The extreme north-east of the African continent shows topographical and structural transition from the relatively accidented and disturbed conditions of the Levant to a simpler and more uniform condition of the interior plateaux of Africa. The great tear-faults of the Red Sea system are, however, a reminder of the disturbed geological history. North-east Africa comprises the rifted edge of the main Gondwana Kraton, with crystalline basement rocks underlying most of the area, and occasionally outcropping. Within Egypt, which forms a convenient territorial delimitation, four major sub-regions can be distinguished:
the Sinai peninsula,
the eastern highlands of Egypt,
the Nile valley,
the western desert of Egypt,
