Aoukar

Aoukar
عوكر
Natural region
Landscape in the Ayoun el Atrous area
Landscape in the Ayoun el Atrous area
Location of the Aoukar basin in Mauritania
Location of the Aoukar basin in Mauritania
CountryMauritania
Elevation
240 m (790 ft)

Aoukar or Erg Aoukar[1] (Arabic: عوكر) is a geological depression area of south eastern Mauritania. It is located between Kiffa and Néma, south of the Tagant Plateau. The region is also referred to as Hodh or El Hodh[5] (Arabic: الحوض, lit. 'the Basin').[3]

The Aoukar basin is a dry natural region of sand dunes and salt pans fringed by escarpments on its northern and eastern sides.

  1. ^ Marco Stoppato, Alfredo Bini (2003), Deserts, p. 156
  2. ^ Fāsī, Muḥammad & al. General History of Africa, Vol. III: Africa from the Seventh to the Eleventh Century, p. 130. UNESCO (Paris), 1988. Accessed 18 Apr 2014.
  3. ^ a b Barth, Henry. Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa, being a Journal of an Expedition undertaken under the Auspices of H.B.M.'s Government, in the Years 1849–1855, Vol. 3, pp. 712 ff. Harper & Bros. (New York), 1859. Accessed 18 Apr 2014.
  4. ^ Ould-Mey, Mohameden. Global Restructuring and Peripheral States: The Carrot and the Stick in Mauritania, p. 66. Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham), 1996. Accessed 18 Apr 2014.
  5. ^ Also encountered as Hōdh, Ḥawḍ,[2] Hódh,[3] and al-Hodh.[4]