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Algeria
The High Plateaus and the Saharan Atlas
Stretching more than 600 kilometers eastward from the Moroccan
border, the High Plateaus (often referred to by their French name
Hauts Plateaux) consist of undulating, steppe-like plains lying
between the Tell and Saharan Atlas ranges. The plateaus average
between 1,100 and 1,300 meters in elevation in the west, dropping
to 400 meters in the east. So dry that they are sometimes thought
of as part of the Sahara, the plateaus are covered by alluvial
debris formed when the mountains eroded. An occasional ridge projects
through the alluvial cover to interrupt the monotony of the landscape.
Higher and more continuous than the Tell Atlas, the Sahara Atlas
range is formed of three massifs: the Ksour near the Moroccan
border, the Amour, and the Oulad Nail south of Algiers. The mountains,
which receive more rainfall than those of the High Plateaus, include
some good grazing land. Watercourses on the southern slopes of
these massifs disappear into the desert but supply the wells of
numerous oases along the northern edge of the desert, of which
Biskra, Laghouat, and Béchar are the most prominent.
Data as of December 1993
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