wheelus: before the europeans
Mellaha Salt Flats, Permission granted by Judy Moore.
THE MELLAHA SALT FLATS
The region of Tripolitania where Mellahah Airbase, and later Wheelus, was built, is home to the Mellaha Salt Basin (Mellaha being the Arabic word for Salt), situated just to the east of Tripoli. At the center of the Mellah Salt Basin is a shallow briny marsh dubbed the ‘Mellaha Salt Lake’, covering an area of approximately 30 acres just inland from the Mediterranean coast 1.
The Mellaha Salt Lake occurs in a depression just under sea level and was utilized as a salt works in the pre-Wheelus period, and still is today, yielding approximately 30,000 tonnes per year2. Sea water fed into the depression via a canal from the Mediterranean is left to dry in evaporation troughs, allowing the brine to evaporate and the salt to be harvested and taken to market3.
Although the land surrounding the marshes are composed mainly of sandy desert with little vegetation, save date palms and others needing little precipitation, the marshes of Mellaha provide a unique ecological home for the birdlife of Libya, particularly wintering birds from across the Mediterraneans which pass the hibernian months in the warmer region of Libya.
Prior to the development of the airfields in the region, the inhabitants of Mellaha were primarily of various Amazigh tribes which made their homes in the area, tending goats and sheep, and participating in some arable farming where possible4.
Aerial View of the Mellaha Salt Flats
Mellaha Salt Flats. Permission granted by Judy Moore.
Footnotes
Goudarzi, Gus. ‘Geology and Minerals of Libya - A Reconnaissance’, https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0660/report.pdf
Geography of Libya. Fanack.com. (2022, April 23). Retrieved June 24, 2022, from https://fanack.com/libya/geography-of-libya/
Goudarzi, Gus. ‘Geology and Minerals of Libya - A Reconnaissance’, https://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/0660/report.pdf
ibid.