The Tagant Plateau is located in eastern
Mauritania
Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...
, forming a stony part of the
Sahara Desert
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. The
Tagant Region, a national administrative division, is named after the plateau.
Geography
Some towns are located at the foot of the Tagant Plateau's slopes, which form
cliff
In geography and geology, a cliff is an area of rock which has a general angle defined by the vertical, or nearly vertical. Cliffs are formed by the processes of weathering and erosion, with the effect of gravity. Cliffs are common on co ...
s in some places. Among these areas are
Tichit,
Moudjéria
Moudjeria is a town and commune in the Tagant Region of southern-central Mauritania, founded in 1934 as an administrative post by the French.Moustapha Sidatt, « Introduction à l’Histoire du plateau du Tagant », In ''Conservación y desarro ...
and
Rachid.
Tidjikdja
Tidjikja () is the capital of the Tagant region of central Mauritania, lying on the Tagant plateau. Founded in 1680, it has a population of around 11,000 people.
The town is known for its palm trees and its vernacular architecture. The town ...
lies on the Tagant itself. The
Assaba Massif, where
Late Ordovician glacial formation
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
s have been identified, is a southward prolongation of the Tagant plateau. The
Aoukar
Aoukar or Erg Aoukar () is a geological depression area of south eastern Mauritania. It is located between Kiffa and Néma, south of the Tagant Plateau.
The Aoukar basin is a dry natural region of sand dunes and salt pans fringed by escarpmen ...
, the dry basin of a former lake lies beyond of the southern escarpments of the Tagant Plateau.
History
Beginning in mid-17th century, migrants from the
Adrar Plateau region moved in and displaced the native population of the Tagant Plateau.
The Tartega Gueltas
oasis
In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.”
The location of oases has been of critical imp ...
is one of the few
wetlands
A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The p ...
in the region where there were still
desert crocodile
The West African crocodile, desert crocodile, or sacred crocodile (''Crocodylus suchus'') is a species of crocodile related to – and often confused with – the larger and more aggressive Nile crocodile (''C. niloticus'').
Taxonomy
Compared ...
s in 1976, but the population seems to have been last seen in 1996.
See also
*
Dhar Tichitt
Dhar Tichitt is a Neolithic archaeological site located in the southwestern region of the Sahara Desert, in Mauritania. It is one of several settlement locations along the sandstone cliffs in the area. Dhar Tichitt, Dhar Walata, Dhar Néma, and ...
*
Geography of Mauritania
Mauritania, a country in the western region of the continent of Africa, is generally flat, its 1,030,700 square kilometres forming vast, arid plains broken by occasional ridges and clifflike outcroppings. Mauritania is the world’s largest cou ...
References
External links
1.3 Mauritania - Ramsar Sites Information Service
Landforms of Mauritania
Plateaus of Africa
Natural regions of Africa
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