How Desert Sand Reached Egypt’s Farmland

As lifted sand settled, its heavier grains fell back down while lighter material remained suspended, or held aloft.

Because lighter sand stayed aloft, Gibb says wind could carry it onward above the desert’s sand waves.

West winds carried African desert sand through valleys and gorges in the Libyan Mountains toward the Nile plain.

Gibb reports that the sand reached cultivated land on the Nile’s western bank in Egypt.