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Salman,A.B., 2016. Role of Geology in Solving some Political Problems, Case Study: Tiran

and Sanafir islands, North Red Sea, http://kenanaonline.com/absalman, 12 p

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Role of Geology in Solving some Political Problems

Case Study: Tiran and Sanafir islands, North Red Sea

Abdel Aty Badr Salman*

Abstract

This paper through some light on the role of geology in solving

some political debate using Tiran and Sanafir Islands, northern Red Sea

as a case study. The author used the tectonic history of the opening of the

Red Sea and East Africa Rift, features on space images, topographic and

bathymetric maps of the Red Sea region to clarify dependency of Tiran

and Sanafir islands to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or the Arab Republic

of Egypt. Also, the author inspected some official documents between the

two countries which related to the same subject.

Evidences from the analyzed space images and topographic and

bathymetric maps indicated that Tiran and Sanafir Islands are a part of

the Arabian continental shelf and these islands are really Saudi Arabia

land.

Key words: Tiran & Sanafir Islands, Red Sea, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

Former Chairman, Nuclear Materials Authority, POB: 530, El aadi, Cairo, Egypt, * e-mail:[email protected]

Introduction Floated on the surface of events during the month of April 2016

the problem of dependency of Tiran and Sana fir Islands to the Kingdom

of Saudi Arabia or the Arab Republic of Egypt when both governments of

Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed on the subordination of the two islands to

Saudi Arabia, issued a presidential decree and a royal decree to this

concept. As a result of this agreement between the two governments at



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April 9, 2016, gossip and rumors began and says that Egypt sells its

islands to Saudi Arabia for its need for financial aid and loans due to the

deteriorating economic situation in Egypt as a result of the revolution of

June 30, 2013 against the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood who take the

advantage of the demarcation of the maritime border between Egypt and

Saudi Arabia, a process which took place in April 2016, some individuals

exploited it bad. They either Gunn or lack of knowledge or enemies of the

Arab nation or opportunists in Egypt and haters stability, they began to

broadcast rumors that Egypt sells its land (islands) to Saudi Arabia.

This paper aims to show the role of geology and satellite images

applications to solve some political problems and I focus here on the

status of Tiran and Sanafir the islands which are located in the northern

part of the Red Sea to the south of Gulf of Aqaba (Figure 1), and whether

the two islands are Egyptian or Saudi lands.

Apart from the political circumstances and events associated In

the Middle East region in general, I have found that it is essential to be

aware of Geology and applications of satellite imagery opinion on this

issue, and clarify matters based on non-biased scientific study. The idea

has been focus on the analysis of geological history from the beginning of

Mother Earth Continent (Pangea) and the first opening of the Red Sea and

the Gulf of Aqaba. Also analysis of the space images, topographic and

bathymetric maps, as well as the analysis of its relationship with both

Egyptian territory and Saudi Arabia and the circumstances of the

structural geology and its role on the form in which these two islands

appears.

The author collected various types of space images, topographic

and bathymetric maps and Pangea Content maps. All these maps are

analyzed and interpreted to define the tectonic history of the Red Sea and

the nature of distribution and appearance of Tiran and Sanafir Islands.

Also, some official documents which have relations to Tiran and Sanafir

Islands are collected and reviewed to elucidate the final conclusion about

these two islands (1 to 8)

.



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Red Sea

Tiran Sanafir

Gulf of Aqaba

Fig. 1: Topographic map showing Tiran and Sanafir Islands

Location Tiran Island is located at the entrance of the Strait of Tiran,

which represent the continuation of Red Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba. It has

an area of 80 square kilometers, and Sanafir Island lies about 2.5

kilometers east of Tiran Island with an area of 33 square kilometers

(Figure 1). Characterized Tiran Island, the existence of coral floating

reefs is also a popular destination for lovers of sports diving in its clear

water and the beauty of coral formations her, going through shipping

lanes of the west front of the Sharm el-Sheikh through the Strait of Tiran,

which is the only waterway that connects the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red

Sea, hence the importance of Tiran Island, where the strategy of which

can be controlled at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba

Geological history of the Red Sea

About 245 million years from now, since the Earth was a single

continent nominated Pangea, derived from the integration of two Greek

words mean "all of Mother Earth ". At 2013 geology scientists prepared a

new map for Pangea which is sharper and clearer than the previous maps.

Saudi Arabia was in Pangea stuck in Egypt and Sudan, Iran, Qatar, and

Canada, an hour away by plane from Algeria. While Australia and India

neighbors for the southern pole, and Afghanistan had marine coast, Brazil

was not existed (9, 10, 11 and 12)

.



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During the Tertiary eras, which began 66 million years ago, and

tell 6.2 million years from now, the Great East Africa Rift started to be

open? At the beginning of the Eocene (about 56 million years from now)

the Red Sea great fault started opening, the Gulf of Aqaba which

represents the northern extension of the Red Sea started opening

gradually, according to the theory of Plate Tectonics until they reached

their present form.

Fig.2: Pangea continent since 245 my showing its main

components and the Red Sea rift earlier stage9.

Figure 3a shows the path of the East African Rift and its

extensions in the Red Sea until the Gulf of Aqaba, as shown in it shows

also the tectonic structure of the Red Sea and its relationship Great East

Africa structure. The arrows in the eastern side of the Red Sea show the

direction of the Arabian plate movement away from the African Plate (the

Nubian Shield).



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Fig.3a: Tectonic features of the greater Red Sea rift system including the East Africa

Rift, Red Sea and Gulf of Aqaba development according to the Plate Tectonic Theory

)William Bosworth, ,2015)

Figure 3b represents a tectonic map of the area of the Red Sea and the

tectonic plates around the Red Sea to the Zagros tectonic belt, which

stretches from eastern Iran to eastern Anatolia. And it appears in this

figure also that the Red Sea is expanding at a rate of 16 millimeters per

year, according to the theory of plate tectonics. However, Spreading is

asymmetric (Enrico Bonatti et al., 2015) faster in the northern (Arabia)

side (11–13 mm/a) than in the southern (Somalia) side (8 mm/a).



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Fig.3b: Main tectonic features of the Arabian Peninsula and surrounding areas,

showing the rate of spreading of Red Sea and Arabian Plate according to the Plate

Tectonic Theory ) Nageeb, et al., 2015) Main tectonic features of the Arabian

Peninsula and surrounding areas (modified after Stern and Johnson 2010)

Figure 4 is representing the current shape of the Red Sea and

the location of the Arabian plate and the African plate (Nubian Shield)

and the location of both Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

The Red sea is a part of the Great East Africa Rift; the Red Sea

covers an area of approximately 438,000 km2. Its length is about 2,250

km, and the widest point is 355 km., the maximum depth is 2,211 meters,

with an average depth of 490 meters13

The Gulf of Aqaba is located to the east of the Sinai Peninsula, and

to the west of the Arabian Peninsula, the length of the Gulf of Aqaba

from the south at Strait of Tiran to Wadi Araba at the north is 160

km.with a 24 km. width. The deepest point in the Gulf of Aqaba is 1,850

meters below sea level. The Gulf of Suez from the far south to the

entrance of the Suez Canal to the north is 175 miles and with a maximum

depth of 60 meters or 18 feet. A comparison of the depth of the Gulf of

Aqaba (maximum depth of 1850 meters)14

with the depth of the Gulf of

Suez (60 meters), the Gulf of Suez is very shallow relative the Gulf of



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Aqaba which is more closely related in its tectonic origin to the tectonic

evolution of the Red Sea.

Arabian PLate

Africa Plate

Saudia ArabiaEgypt

Sudan

Yeman

Fig.4: Space map for the Red Sea region at its current state showing Egypt, Saudi

Arabia, and other countries

Analysis of Satellite Images

I have found that it is important to use space images to help in

solving this debate as the satellite images are covering a large area, the

careful analysis of these images can help in through light on the facts

which helps in delineating the boundaries, nature of distribution,

characteristics and the relation of Tiran and Sanafir Islands to the

surrounding land.



_______________________________________________________________________

Saudi ArabiaEgyptSinai

Red SEa

Abdel Aty Salman,2016

Fig.5: Space image for the northern part of the Red Sea which includes Tiran and

Sanafir Islands, Also it is clear in the image the direct connection with the Saudi

Arabia Land

Figure 5 and Figure 6 represent almost one satellite image for the

northern area of the Red Sea and south of the Gulf of Aqaba, which

includes Tiran and Sanafir Islands and other islands. When I review

carefully the first image (Figure 5), I found that Tiran Island tied

geographically with the contenetal shelf of Saudi Arabia. The direct

contact with Arabia land appears has been split and changed during

tectonics and geological changes that have affected the region through the

evolutions of the Red Sea and the Gulf Aqaba associated geology with

the great East Africa Rift tectonic, which occurred millions of years ago.

If we look at the rest of the islands near the Saudi shore, it is noticed that

most of these islands show limited parts above the Red Sea water and the

rest of the islands are extended underwater and connected directly to

Saudi Arabia land (Figure 6).This confirms the subordination of these

islands including Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia land. This zone is

delineated (S) and well defined in figure 6.

The topographic map of both Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the Red

Sea Bathymetric map are analyzed (Fig. 7). If we look at the bathymetric

map of the Red Sea region, note that the light zone in the eastern part of

the Red Sea is closely linked to the Arabia Land. The head of the white

arrow points to the islands of Tiran and Sanafir site in the same domain as

the territory of Saudi Arabia (Figure 7). It is clear from this map that the

islands are tied to the Saudi Arabia land.



_______________________________________________________________________

Saudi ArabiaEgyptSinai

Red SEa

Abdel Aty Salman,2016

S

Fig.6: Space image for north Red Sea showing many islands including Tiran and

Sanafir and their genetic relation to Saudi Arabia Land (S)

Saudi Arabia

Egypt

Sinai

Fig7: Topography and bathymetric map. Bathymetric contours are at 500 m interval, (Axel

Ehrhardt and Christian Hübscher, 2015) for parts of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Red Sea,

the white arrow pointed to Tiran and Sanafir Islands, (Najeeb et.al,2015).



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Saudi ArabiaEgypt

Red Sea

Fig.8: Close up Bathymetric map (from satellite altimetry; Sandwell and Smith 1997)

for the northern part of the Red Sea, the arrow pointed to Tiran and Sanafir Islands

which are located at the continental shelf of Saudi Arabia land

Note in Figure 8, which represents the topographic map and

bathymetric portion of a part of Saudi Arabia land, the Red Sea, the Gulf

of Aqaba and the Gulf of Suez, is a strong support to the reached

conclusion up to uncertainty in the figures No. 7 and No. 8 to that the

Tiran and Sanafir Islands are connected to the continental shelf of Saudi

Arabia, and this proves that Tiran and Sanafir Islands are Saudi Arabia

land.

Conclusion

It is concluded from this study which based on the geological and

structural phenomena, the applications of space imagery in the regional

studies that Tiran and Sanafir islands are originally Saudi Arabia land.

This is shown clearly, especially in the satellite images, topographic and

bathymetric maps of the Red Sea region.

The management of Egypt for these islands was an Egyptian-

Saudi agreement to serve the political and strategic objectives of the two

countries, so the remit to Egypt and Saudi Arabia on 9 April 2016 of the



_______________________________________________________________________

agreement on the Saudi ownership of these islands is a sound and

supported by the scientific point of view shown in this paper.

Moreover, there are a lot of official documents (Presidential

Decree No. 27 of 1990 on the demarcation of maritime borders files, the

talks between the two brotherly countries in this regard are supporting the

scientific geologic opinion that confirms that Tiran and Sanafir islands

are Saudi Arabia land.

At the end I would like to insure what is clearly explained that no

difference between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, they have the same interests

and the two countries represent the heart of the Arab nation and represent

the backbone, and that all the attempts of the enemies of the homeland are

doomed to failure.

References Axel Ehrhardt and Christian Hübscher, 2015: The Northern Red Sea in Transition

from Rifting to Drifting-Lessons Learned from Ocean Deeps

Enrico Bonatti, Anna Cipriani, and Luca Lupi,2015: The Red Sea: Birth of an Ocean:

Springer Earth System Sciences, DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-45201-1_2, 17 p.

Najeeb M.A. Rasul, Ian C.F. Stewart, and Zohair A. Nawab, 2015: Introduction to

the Red Sea: Its Origin, Structure, and Environment, Springer Earth System

Sciences, 10-37pp. In The Red Sea: Formation, Morphology, Oceanography

and Environment of a Young Ocean Basin, 727 p.

Sandwell DT, Smith WHF (1997) Marine gravity anomaly from geosat and ERS-1

altimetry. J Geophys Res 102(B5):10039–10054

Stern RJ, Johnson PR (2010) Continental lithosphere of the Arabian Plate: a geologic,

petrologic, and geophysical synthesis. Earth Sci Rev 101:29–67

William Bosworth, 2015: Geological Evolution of the Red Sea: Historical

Background, Review, and Synthesis: In The Red Sea: The Formation,

Morphology, Oceanography and Environment of a Young Ocean Basin:

Springer Earth System Sciences, 2015, pp 54-87

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