October 12, 2022 - Tassili n'Ajjer
Tassili n
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In south-eastern Algeria, sitting at the borders of Libya, Niger, and
Mali, a vast and ancient plateau rises from the Sahara Desert. On
October 9, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
(MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image of
this rugged region of rock and orange sand dunes, which is known as
Tassili n’Ajjer.
The name Tassili n’Ajjer translates to “plateau of chasms,” which
clearly describes the deep fissures and canyons long ago cut into the
rock by flowing water. The dune field, seen in this image as orange
roughly parallel lines, took shape after an ancient lake dried up. The
dark area is predominately formed of sandstone.
Tassili n’Ajjer is a UNESCO World Heritage Site with more than 15,000
prehistoric etchings and illustrations on the cave walls; these record
a human presence as far back as 6000 BCE.
Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/9/2022
Resolutions: 1km (199.5 KB), 500m (597 KB), 250m (1.7 MB)
Bands Used:
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-10-12
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