DETECTING HYDROLOGIC FEATURES IN EGYPT’S NILE RIVER VALLEY USING SPACEBORNE SATELLITE IMAGERY: QENA, EGYPT

The Nile River has been instrumental to Egypt's historical and cultural development, shaping its ancient civilizations. However, the Nile's course has dynamically shifted over millennia, leaving buried paleochannels and geomorphological features that are crucial for reconstructing past hydrological landscapes. This study leverages the extensive capabilities of Google Earth Engine for remote sensing analysis, integrating historical satellite data from Landsat 5 and Sentinel-2 to delineate defunct courses within the Nile Valley. Through spectral decomposition techniques and vegetation indices, such as the Seasonal Multi-Temporal Vegetation Index and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Seasonal Index, this research identifies spectral anomalies associated with subsurface hydrological features. Additionally, the study generates synthetic wet and dry season imagery to simulate seasonal variations in Egypt’s hyper-arid environment, which has been impacted by the Aswan High Dam. Two key study sites within the Nile Valley—Dandera and Al-Taramsa were selected. Vegetation anomalies, geomorphological markers, and spectral responses were analyzed to reveal point bars, former river channels, islands, and channel belts that indicate past river courses. Results suggest a late anastomosing phase of the Nile, characterized by a gradual shift to a straighter course as sediment deposition and hydrological conditions evolved. The detected fluvial features were found to match those visible in radar topographic data thus validating the used approach. In addition, in situ fieldwork of deep soil coring samples taken during March and December of 2024, also confirm results of the method. By mapping these features, the study provides insights into ancient Egyptian settlement patterns, agricultural practices, and infrastructure planning, which were linked to the river’s dynamic course. More specifically, these paleochannels potentially served the construction of the Dendera Temple of Hathor during the Greco-Roman Period.This research highlights the utility of remote sensing for large-scale geoarchaeological studies and proposes a scalable methodology for identifying ancient hydrological networks, with potential applications for cultural heritage conservation across similar arid regions.