Grand Erg Oriental small but ancient settlement of Ghadames at the Libyan frontier. Another and better road from Hassi Messaoud goes south, also crossing the grand erg where it passes a well called "Hassi Tartrat", before reaching the erg's far side. Further south lies the Ahaggar mountains. The cities of Wargla and Touggourt lie outside the western limits of the erg. Nearby, within the accepted boundaries of the "Grand Erg Oriental", the landscape is described as being "practically free from [sand] dunes" evidently due to strong, persistent winds. Petroleum and other hydrocarbons have been extracted in Algeria, from areas in and surrounding the
Erg they recommended using the prefix ""C.G.S. unit of ..."" and requested that the word "erg" or "ergon" be strictly limited to refer to the "C.G.S. unit of energy". In 1922, chemist William Draper Harkins proposed the name micri-erg as a convenient unit to measure the surface energy of molecules in surface chemistry. It would equate to 10 erg, the equivalent to 10 joule. The erg has not been a valid unit since 1 January 1978 when the EEC ratified a directive of 1971 which implemented the International System (SI) as agreed by the General Conference of Weights and Measures. It