Nile River, Lake Nasser, Aswan Dam, Egypt

Egypt's High Aswan Dam on the Nile River at the first cataracts, Nile River, (24.0N, 33.0E) was completed in 1971 to provide cheap hydroelectric power and to regulate the historically uneven flow of the Nile River. The contrast between the largely base rock desert east of the Nile versus the sand covered desert west of the river and the ancient irrigated floodplain downstream from the damsite is clearly shown.