Erg Chebbi Erg Chebbi Erg Chebbi () is one of Morocco's several ergs – large seas of dunes formed by wind-blown sand. There are several other ergs such as Erg Chigaga near M'hamid. Technically all these ergs are within an area of semi-arid Pre-Saharan Steppes and not part of the Sahara desert which lies some distance to the south. In places, the dunes of Erg Chebbi rise up to 150 meters from the surrounding hamada (rocky desert) and altogether it spans an area of 28 kilometers from north to south and up to 5–7 kilometers from east to west lining the Algerian
Grand Erg Oriental the language of the nomads, who habitually reside in such places." For these and similar reasons concerning the desert ecology of water, the geographer and historian of the Sahara E.-F. Gautier once wrote referring to the Grand Erg Oriental as "the great Igharghar Erg". Accordingly, surface moisture, seasonal pastures, and wells may reflect unseen conditions beneath the sands. What appears as an entirely inhospitable erg can elsewhere, in stark contrast, offer the fruits of "some buried wadi". To the north of the erg, the Aurès mountains provide abundant runoff. These waters feed the artesian aquifer of the Jerid, despite its