Editing Libya (section)

=== Libyan Desert ===
[[File:Libyan Dessert.jpg|thumb|Libya is a predominantly desert country. Over 95% of the land area is covered in desert.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-26 |title=Libya |url=https://reports.unocha.org/en/country/libya/card/2r82XSjHkw/ |access-date=2023-07-19 |website=reports.unocha.org |language=en |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405202255/http://reports.unocha.org/en/country/libya/card/2r82XSjHkw/ |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:Water Stress, Top Countries (2020).svg|thumb|Libya is the fourth-most water-stressed country in the world.]]
The [[Libyan Desert]], which covers most of Libya, is one of the most arid and sun-baked places on earth.<ref name="SalakLibya" /> In places, decades may pass without seeing any rainfall at all, and even in the [[highland (geography)|highlands]] rainfall seldom happens, once every 5–10 years. At [[Jebel Uweinat|Uweinat]], {{As of|2006|lc=y}} the last recorded rainfall was in September 1998.<ref name="Libdesert">{{cite web |url=http://www.fjexpeditions.com/frameset/florafauna.htm |author=András Zboray |title=Flora and Fauna of the Libyan Desert |publisher=Fliegel Jezerniczky Expeditions |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121208062321/http://www.fjexpeditions.com/frameset/florafauna.htm |archive-date=8 December 2012  }}</ref>

Likewise, the temperature in the Libyan Desert can be extreme; on 13 September 1922, the town of [['Aziziya]], which is located southwest of [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], recorded an air temperature of {{convert|58|°C|°F|1}}, considered to be a world record.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.extremescience.com/hottest.htm |title=How Hot is Hot? |publisher=Extreme Science |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202020747/http://www.extremescience.com/hottest.htm |archive-date=2 February 2013 }}</ref><ref name="Death_Valley">{{cite web|url=http://wmo.asu.edu/world-highest-temperature |title=World: Highest Temperature |access-date=15 January 2013 |year=2012 |work=World Weather / Climate Extremes Archive |publisher=Arizona State University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104143844/http://wmo.asu.edu/world-highest-temperature |archive-date= 4 January 2013 }}</ref><ref name=El_Azizia>{{cite journal|last=El Fadli|first=KI|title=World Meteorological Organization Assessment of the Purported World Record 58&nbsp;°C Temperature Extreme at El Azizia, Libya (13 September 1922)|journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society|date=September 2012|doi=10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00093.1|volume=94|issue=2|page=199|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2013BAMS...94..199E|doi-access=free|issn=0003-0007 }}</ref> In September 2012, however, the world record figure of 58&nbsp;°C was determined to be invalid by the [[World Meteorological Organization]].<ref name="Death_Valley"/><ref name=El_Azizia/><ref>{{cite news |last=Westcott |first=Tom |title=Libya loses 'world's hottest place' record |url=http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/09/15/libya-loses-worlds-hottest-place-record/ |work=Libya Herald |date=15 September 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130820231702/http://www.libyaherald.com/2012/09/15/libya-loses-worlds-hottest-place-record/ |archive-date=20 August 2013  }}</ref>

There are a few scattered uninhabited small oases, usually linked to the major depressions, where water can be found by digging to a few feet in depth. In the west there is a widely dispersed group of oases in unconnected shallow depressions, the Kufra group, consisting of Tazerbo, Rebianae and [[Kufra]].<ref name="Libdesert" /> Aside from the scarps, the general flatness is only interrupted by a series of [[plateau]]s and massifs near the centre of the Libyan Desert, around the convergence of the Egyptian-Sudanese-Libyan borders.

Slightly further to the south are the [[massif]]s of Arkenu, Uweinat, and Kissu. These [[granite]] mountains are ancient, having formed long before the sandstones surrounding them. Arkenu and Western Uweinat are ring complexes very similar to those in the [[Aïr Mountains]]. Eastern Uweinat (the highest point in the Libyan Desert) is a raised sandstone plateau adjacent to the granite part further west.<ref name="Libdesert" />

The plain to the north of Uweinat is dotted with eroded volcanic features. With the discovery of oil in the 1950s also came the discovery of a massive [[aquifer]] underneath much of Libya. The water in the [[Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System]] pre-dates the last [[Ice age]]s and the Sahara Desert itself.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_562.html |title=Fossil Water in Libya |publisher=NASA |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130218110002/http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_562.html |archive-date=18 February 2013  }}</ref> This area also contains the [[Arkenu structures]], which were once thought to be two impact craters.<ref name="CigoliniOthers2012a">Cigolini, C, C Laiolo, and M Rossetti (2012) ''Endogenous and nonimpact origin of the Arkenu circular structures (al-Kufrah basin-SE Libya)'' Meteoritics & Planetary Science. 47(11):1772–1788.</ref>