Hazards mitigation and natural resources evaluation around Sohag – Safaga highway, Eastern Desert, Egypt

The Egyptian government is showing a great interest on the lateral population extension in the deserts. Accordingly, a number of roads were constructed. Sohag – Safaga new highway in the Eastern Desert that connects the Nile Valley with the Red Sea is an example of such roads. A number of developmental extensions have been proposed aligning roads including agricultural, urban, industrial, touristic, and commercial projects. These extensions need different studies concerning their sustainability to protect them from any hazard that may act on them and to make use of the available natural resources that are required for development. These natural resources include engineering construction materials, soil for agriculture, surface and subsurface water resources, and mineral wealth. The study area is characterized by different geomorphological units: mountains belts, sandstone and limestone plateaux, wadi terraces, wadi bottoms, alluvial fans, out wash plains, sand sheets, sand dunes, and hilly areas. The water resources in the study area include groundwater obtained from a number of existing water wells and surface water that can be utilized by retaining water from flashflooding. This research mainly depends on using recent satellite images of Misrsat-1, Landsat TM5, and ASTER with the aid of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Different soil types that were delineated are mostly suitable for agricultural landuse. The suitability of this agriculture depends on the availability and quality of the irrigation water