Which desert contains the Qattara Depression?

The Qattara Depression lies in Egypt’s Western Desert. This vast, arid basin occupies northwestern Egypt’s Matruh Governorate and is one of the most distinctive landforms in the country’s desert interior.

Much of the depression is below sea level, with its lowest point reaching about 133 metres below sea level. Its floor contains salt pans, salt marshes, sand dunes and dry lake beds. The basin formed through a combination of salt weathering and wind erosion: groundwater and salts weaken the surface, and strong winds remove the loosened material.

The depression covers roughly 19,600 square kilometres, an area comparable to Lake Ontario. Its harsh terrain and steep escarpments also gave it military importance during World War II. Vehicles found parts of the depression difficult or impossible to cross, helping shape the geography of the First and Second Battles of El Alamein.

Readers may encounter the name “Libyan Desert” in older references. That term describes the broader desert region west of the Nile, while “Western Desert” is the standard Egyptian geographic term for the area containing the Qattara Depression. The quiz’s answer therefore identifies the accepted regional desert.