Features. Egypt naturally divides into the river valley, the delta, the Faiyum depression, the mountains running parallel to the river, and the deserts both east and west of the river. The valley is a broad floodplain of black clay alluvium that runs from the first cataract near Aswan to the tip of the delta just north of Cairo. The delta consists of land bordered and crossed in ancient times by seven branches of the Nile. The land is moist and becomes marshy as it nears the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Faiyum depression was a lake in ancient times that collected excess water from the Nile. It was connected to the river by a channel now called the Bahr Yousef. The mountain ranges on either side of the river are limestone cliffs in the north, sandstone south of Esna and granite in the Aswan area...