Grand Erg Occidental Grand Erg Occidental The Grand Erg Occidental (, al-ʿIrq al-Gharbī al-Kabīr), (also known as the Western Sand Sea) is the second largest erg in northern Algeria after the Grand Erg Oriental. It covers an area of approximately . The sand dunes in the erg are formed by the wind, and can be up to high. Certain crescent-shaped dunes, known as barchans, are actually mobile; the wind can push these dunes as much as 20 to 30 m (65-100 ft) in one year. It is a desert natural region that receives less than 50 mm (1,96 in) of rainfall per year.
Erg of Bilma Erg of Bilma The Erg of Bilma is a dune sea (Arabic: "erg") in the Ténéré desert region of the south central Sahara Desert. The Erg of Bilma stretches southwest from Fachi and the Tibesti Mountains. On the west it is bounded by the Aïr Mountains in north central Niger, and to the east it passes Bilma, continuing on to the Chadian border. It surrounds on three sides the oasis of Bilma, southernmost of a north–south string of oasies of the Kaouar rise. The Erg covers an area of approximately . At its southernmost edge, some of the dunes have