Al-Dababiya Nature Reserve (Arabic: محمية الدبابية) was declared a nature reserve in 2007, as it is considered one of the rarest areas locally and globally. It is located south of Luxor and near the city of Esna. Its area is about 1 square km due to its completeness in geological succession between the Paleocene and Eocene eras, dating back to 50 and 55 million years. Although the two periods exist in many places, the sequence between them is not connected, while the series here is complete.
The history of life in it continues and has not been interrupted like the rest of the world. There was no interruption in the history of life because the region is a complete story and represents a scientific value. It is essential to all those interested in science, especially geologists. Its importance is due to a region that puts in front of scientists the possibility of helping them discover the secrets of life on the Earth’s surface 55 million years ago. This period witnessed the death of most of the wandering organisms due to the high temperature on the planet, and Al-Dabbabiya is a history that scholars talk about.
Al Dababiya Protectorate represents a specific geological sector at the international level, and it is considered a time scale representing the complete stratified sectors in the world that witnessed the actual beginning of modern life on the globe. It also identifies the typical areas for such sequences. It determines the conditions of their deposition and the distinctive neighbourhoods and ages to measure each age.
Al Dababiya Protectorate is on the list of candidates for registration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Location of Al Dababiya Protectorate
Al Dababiya Protectorate lies in the western desert, opposite Nagaa Al Dababiya, Esna.
International efforts
In 2009, an international delegation headed by Dr Mary Oberoi, Professor of Paleontology and Layers at Dodgers University in the United States, conducted research studies at the Dababiya geological site in Esna as the best site, which the International Stratigraphy Committee unanimously approved among 29 locations around the world to discover the secret of the extinction of most of the life on Earth since Approximately 55.5 million years ago.
Dr Khaled Abdel-Qader Odeh, a professor at the Faculty of Science, Assiut University, the deputy head of the team, and the son of the former prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader Abdel-Qader Odeh, explained that the site was chosen after geological studies on more than 29 sites around the world, including areas in Austria, Cuba, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan and northwestern Europe. As a result of America, Spain, Tunisia and Egypt, the site of Al-Dabbabiya was chosen as the best in terms of clarity of sequence within the geological layers.
In 2011, the scientific team of the International Union of Geological Sciences returned to Egypt to complete its final research in the Dababiya Reserve on global warming and the beginnings of modern life on Earth. The team consists of 16 geologists. The scientific team is scheduled to research in the village of Naga Al-Qada, 4 kilometres south of Al-Dababiya.
Dr Khaled Odeh had discovered, through his research, a time gap estimated at 2.4 million years, so more than two years ago, the international team for geology began its research on the land of the Dababiya Reserve, south of Luxor. The scientific team had sent geological samples to several scientific bodies, and the reserve’s land was the standard global international for this period.
The international team of researchers aims to search for a typical sedimentary sequence covering the transitional period between the Paleocene and Eocene periods and to study this sequence by specialized international research bodies.
The events of this period began 55.5 million years ago, with a sharp rise in the temperature of the seabed and ocean floor due to thousands of lava emerging from the bottom of the northern seas. Dr Khaled explains that this extreme rise in temperatures “was accompanied by the release of a tremendous amount of carbon dioxide, which led to an increase in the temperature of the seas and oceans, which in turn led to the death and decomposition of marine life, and as a result the emission of greenhouse gases into the water, which gradually reduced water efficiency, in absorbing oxygen from the air.
Odeh added, “All of this led to a disruption of the oxygen cycle in the air, which resulted in the extinction of much terrestrial life, and scientists called this event extreme heat or global warming.”
The professor of geosciences continues: “Gradually, the temperature began to decrease, and the oxygen returned to its normal levels in the atmosphere, little by little, and then in the waters of the seas and oceans.”
Odeh analyzed the types of life that re-emerged after the extreme heat crisis to discover that many of the previous neighbourhoods had disappeared entirely. The spread of mammals, hoofed animals and whales began, and fish spread and took a similar image to the current fish, while terrestrial plants acquired their modern characteristics. And the first appearance of the grass began.
It is believed among scientists that the period of extreme heat between the Paleocene and Eocene epochs represents the true beginning of the emergence of the origins of modern life that we are living in now. Studies are still underway to discover the secrets of that period, which characterizes the most crucial stage of development in the geological record, despite its relatively short duration.
Dr Khaled said, “This era sheds light on the results and repercussions of the ongoing rise in Earth’s temperature today due to the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide and methane emissions as a result of the use of fossil fuels (oil and coal).”
The discovery of the typical sequence of this period in southern Egypt ended the controversy among scientists about the geographical and temporal extent of the climatic and life changes that the planet was exposed to.
The spread of volcanoes in the northern seas and the Atlantic Ocean had caused the loss of a large part of the “geological record” between the Paleocene and Eocene eras, which prompted scientists to search for this lost period in the layers of the continental shelves of the Mediterranean because it was far from the influence of volcanoes and the ground movements that afflicted The northern part of the land.
It is noteworthy that all the missing specifications, conditions and periods were found in the sedimentary sequence overlooking the village of Al-Dababiya after detailed studies carried out two years ago by the international geological team in partnership with Dr Khaled Odeh and some professors at the Geology Department of Assiut University.
Odeh explains: “The most important conditions set by the International Union of Geological Sciences were stratigraphic completeness and distance from the influence of land movements or subsequent changes of sedimentation, and that the site be easily accessible so that it is easily accessible to all students, and of reasonable thickness to facilitate the details of events, and it must be available in The site has a large number of traces of animal and plant life, which can be analyzed and dated using radioactive isotopes.” The International Federation also called for securing the site from tampering and bulldozing.
The author of the discovery adds: “Based on the terms of the International Union of Geological Sciences, the site was voted on in 2002, and the International Union of Geological Sciences chose it unanimously as the complete sedimentary sequence on Earth for the transitional period between the Paleocene and the Eocene, among 29 candidate sequences from different countries, where sites in Spain, Egypt and Israel competed. In the final qualifiers.
