Abstract
The Lake Manzala of Egypt has a relatively short history and its future, however, is uncertain. The lake which was the biggest coastal wetland along the Mediterranean Coast is moving toward its disappearance by two opposite forces, one of them is the shrinking of the water body by siltation of sediments coming from agricultural lands and the abundance of weeds and swamp vegetation as well as the drying practices for agriculture, whereas the other force incorporates the removal of the coastal sand bar separating the lake from the Mediterranean Sea by erosion, which should eventually lead to the conversion of the lake into a coastal embayment instead of being a closed coastal lagoon. The study provided a spatiotemporal change analysis of the lake using remotely sensed data.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed MH, El Leithy BM, Thompson JR, Flower RJ, Ramdani M, Ayache F, Hassan S (2009) Applications of remote sensing to site characterization and environmental change analysis of North African coastal lagoons. Hydrobiol 622:147–171
Benninger LK, Suayah IB, Stanley DJ (1998) Manzala lagoon, Nile delta, Egypt: modern sediment accumulation base on radioactive tracers. Environ Geol 34(2/3):183–193
Bernhardt C, Stanley D, Horton B (2011) Wetland vegetation in Manzala lagoon, Nile delta coast, Egypt: rapid responses of pollen to altered Nile hydrology and land use. J Coastal Res 27:731–737
Dumont H, El-Shabrawy G (2007) Lake Burullus of the Nile Delta: a short history and an uncertain future. Ambio 36:677–682
El-Asmar H, Hereher M (2011) Change detection of the coastal zone east of the Nile Delta using remote sensing. Environ Earth Sci 62(4):769–777
ElKammar M, Eweida A, El Kashotti M (1999) Hydrogeochemistry and environmental assessment of Manzala Lake, Egypt. Egypt J Geol 43:237–252
Flower RJ (2001) Change, stress, sustainability and aquatic ecosystem resilience in North African wetland lakes during the 20th Century: an introduction to integrated biodiversity studies within the CASSARINA Project. Aquatic Ecol 35:261–280
Frihy O, Dewidar Kh, Nasr S, El Raey M (1998) Change detection of the northern Nile delta of Egypt: shoreline changes, Spit evolution, margin changes of Manzala lagoon and its islands. Int J Remote Sens 19:1901–1912
Gu J, Chen Z, Salem A (2011) Post-Aswan dam sedimentation rate of lagoons of the Nile Delta, Egypt. Environ Earth Sci 64:1807–1813
Hamza WP, Tamsalu ER, Zalensy V (2003) Physical and ecological 3D model of the Egyptian Mediterranean Sea. J Aquatic Ecol 37:307–324
Hereher M (2011) Mapping coastal erosion at the Nile Delta western promontory using Landsat imagery. Environ Earth Sci 64:1117–1125
Hereher M (2013a) The status of Egypt’s agricultural lands using MODIS Aqua data. Egypt J Rem Sens Space Sci 16:83–89
Hereher M (2013b) Coastal vulnerability assessment of Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. Geomatics Natural Hazards Risk. doi:10.1080/19475705.2013.845115
Huete A, Didan K, Miura T, Rodriguez EP, Gao X, Ferreira LG (2002) Overview of the radiometric and biophysical performance of the MODIS vegetation indices. Rem Sens Environ 83:195–213
Islam M, Thenkabail P, Kulawardhana R, Alankara R, Gunasinghe S, Edussriya C, Gunawardana A (2008) Semi-automated methods for mapping wetlands using Landsat ETM+ and SRTM data. Int J Rem Sens 29:7077–7106
Jensen RJ (1995) Introductory digital image processing. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs
Kushwaha S, Dwivedi S, Rao B (2000) Evaluation of various digital image processing techniques for detection of coastal wetlands using ERS-1 SAR data. Int J Rem Sens 21:565–579
MacAlister C, Mahaxay M (2009) Mapping wetlands in the Lower Mekong Basin for wetland resource and conservation management using Landsat ETM images and field survey data. J Environ Manag 90:2130–2137
Montasir A (1937) Ecology of Lake Manzala. Bull Faculty of Science, the Egyptian University, Cairo, pp 1–50
Ozesmi S, Bauer M (2002) Satellite remote sensing of wetlands. Wetlands Ecol Manag 10:381–402
Pan F, Liao J, Li X, Guo H (2013) Application of the inundation area lake level rating curves constructed from SRTM DEM to receiving lake levels from satellite measured inundation area. Comput Geosci 52:168–176
Peglar SM, Birks HH, Birks HJB, Appleby PG, Fathi AA, Flower RJ, Kraiem MM, Ramdani M (2001) Terrestrial pollen record of recent land-use changes around nine North African lakes in the CASSARINA Project. Aquat Ecol 35:431–448
Randazzo G, Stanley D, Geronimo S, Amore C (1998) Human-induced sedimentological changes in Manzala Lagoon, Nile Delta, Egypt. Environ Geol 36:235–258
Reinhardt EG, Stanley JD, Schwarz HP (2001) Human-induced desalinization of Manzala Lagoon, Nile Delta, Egypt: evidence from isotopic analysis of benthic invertebrates. J Coastal Res 17:431–442
Rutchey K, Vilchek L (1999) Air photointerpretation and satellite imagery analysis techniques for mapping cattail coverage in a northern Everglades impoundment. Photogram Engin Rem Sens 65:185–191
Shaheen AH, Yosef SF (1979) The effect of the cessation of Nile flood on the fishery of Lake Manzala, Egypt. Archiv fur Hydrobiol 85:166–191
Siegel FR, Slaboda ML, Stanley JD (1994) Metal pollution loading, Manzalah Lagoon, Nile Delta, Egypt: implications for aquaculture. Environ Geol 23:89–98
Stanley DJ (1988) Subsidence in the northern Nile Delta: rapid rates, possible causes and consequences. Science 240:497–500
Stanley DJ, Warne AG (1994) Worldwide initiation of Holocene marine deltas by deceleration of sea-level rise. Science 265:228–231
Tucker C (1979) Red and photographic infrared linear combination for monitoring green vegetation. Remote Sens Environ 8:127–150
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (1979) Map of the world distribution of arid regions: Map at scale 1:25,000,000 with explanatory note. MAB Technical Notes 7, UNESCO, Paris
Wardlow B, Egbert S (2010) A comparison of MODIS 250-m EVI and NDVI data for crop mapping: a case study for southwest Kansas. Int J Rem Sens 31:805–830
Wahby SD, Youssef SF, Bishara NF (1972) Further studies on the hydrography and chemistry of lake Manzala. Bull Inst Oceanogr Fish, ARE 2:401–418
Zahran MA, Abu Ziada ME, El-Demerdash MA, Khedr AA (1989) A note on the vegetation on islands in Lake Manzala, Egypt. Vegetatio 85:83–88
Zalat A, Vildary SS (2007) Environmental change in Northern Egyptian Delta lakes during the late Holocene, based on diatom analysis. J Paleolimn 37:273–299
Acknowledgments
The author would like to acknowledge and thank the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript for their deep review, suggestions and valuable comments.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hereher, M.E. The Lake Manzala of Egypt: an ambiguous future. Environ Earth Sci 72, 1801–1809 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3088-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3088-x