Badlands of River Atbara basin, Sudan: sedimentation, engineering and environmental aspects

This paper examines the badlands evolution and environmental degradation in river Atbara basin. The badlands are developed in response to extreme erosion caused by base-level change in the river system triggered by late Tertiary climatic change towards dryer conditions. This testifies to a progressive change in the river fluvial style from aggregational to degradational regime. In response to both autocyclic and allocyclic processes. The badlands facies indicate that deposition occurred by low-sinuosity stream under higher discharges, larger load of sediments and more humid climatic conditions than those ocurring today. The environmental deterioration aspects include desertification, accelerated erosion and high sedimentation rate which causes decline in reservoir storage capacity and hydropower generation. The critical situation has adversely affected the socio-economic aspects in the river basin.