Editing Cape Juby (section)

== Sahara sea ==
In 1877, the Scottish engineer [[Donald Mackenzie (engineer)|Donald Mackenzie]] was the first to propose the creation of a [[Sahara Sea]]. Mackenzie's idea was to cut a channel from one of the sand-barred lagoons north of Cape Juby south to a large plain which Arab traders had identified to him as [[El Djouf]].<ref name="Royal Society">{{cite journal |last1=Cust |first1=R. |year=1884 |title=The railway over the Sahára from Algeria to the Senegál and the destruction of Colonel Flatters |journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution |volume=28 |issue=77 |pages=839–856 |publisher=Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies |doi= 10.1080/03071848409424351|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aUsaAAAAMAAJ |access-date=18 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="The Flooding of the Sahara">{{cite book |last=Mackenzie |first=Donald |title=The flooding of the Sahara: an account of the proposed plan for opening Central Africa to commerce and civilization from the north-west coast, with a description of Soudan and western Sahara, and notes of ancient manuscripts, &c |url=https://archive.org/details/floodingsaharaa00mackgoog |access-date=18 December 2012 |year=1877 |publisher= Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington |location=London }}</ref> Mackenzie believed this vast region was up to {{convert|61|m|ft}} below sea level and that flooding it would create an inland sea of {{convert|155400|km2|sqmi}} suited to commercial navigation and even agriculture. He further believed that geological evidence suggested this basin had once been connected to the Atlantic via a channel near the [[Saguia el-Hamra]]. He proposed that this inland sea, if augmented with a canal, could provide access to the [[Niger River]] and the markets and rich resources of West Africa.<ref name="The Flooding of the Sahara" />
There are several small depressions in the vicinity of Cape Juby; at {{cvt|55|m}} below sea level, the [[Sebkha Tah]]<ref>[[:fr:Sebkha Tah]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=November 2017}} is the lowest and largest. But it covers less than {{cvt|250|km2}} and is {{cvt|500|km}} north of the geographical area identified as [[El Djouf]] (also known as the Majabat al-Koubra<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mr.geoview.info/el_djouf,2380024|title=El Djouf desert, Mauritania|website=mr.geoview.info}}</ref>) which has an average elevation of 320&nbsp;m.
Mackenzie never travelled in this area but had read of other sub-sea level desert basins in present-day [[Tunisia]], [[Algeria]] and [[Egypt]] similar to those found near Cape Juby.<ref name="The Flooding of the Sahara" /> These basins contain seasonally dry [[salt lake]]s, known as [[chott]]s or [[Sabkha|sebkhas]]. Egypt's [[Qattara Depression]] is perhaps the largest such basin in North Africa.