Riverscape In The Desert, Southern Mali
29 October 2013

Note: The area of coverage in this XSAT image is 45.00 km x 45.00 km.
The reduced resolution image on display has undergone compression and so does not represent the true resolution of the original satellite image.

In the upper part of the image, the eastbound Niger River flows through the desert landscape of southern Mali, south of Timbuktu. Sand dunes run east-west across the image with streams partly draining depressions between lines of dunes. These streams drain into a major tributary of the Niger, flowing northeast, eroding across sand dunes. The upper parts of the smaller tributaries are desiccated, as are lakes in small basins and depressions. Vegetation is in red on this XSat image, highlighting the surviving plants in places where water is present along the dried-up watercourses and within small depressions. Two small tributaries drain from large internal basins to the north of the Niger. The rivers (with or without water), the sand dunes, the scattered dry depressions, and the line of surviving vegetation have given rise to an abstract landscape.