Petroleum Geology of Libya / Нефтяная геология Ливии

Carthaginian, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Ottoman, Italian, and Allied military control after the Second World War. There was little organised scientific activity before the annexation of Libya by Italy in 1911, although a number of expeditions, some with scientific interests, passed through Libya in the 19th century. The main objective of these expeditions, mostly organised by the London-based African Association, was to explore the region southwards from Murzuq to Timbuktu, determine the course of the Niger River and assess the commercial potential of the area. The earliest of these expeditions was undertaken by Friedrich Hornemann who travelled with a camel caravan from Egypt into Libya passing through the oases of Siwa and Awjilah, and then across the Haruj al Aswad to Murzuq, and subsequently to Tripoli. He returned to Murzuq in Aug. 1799 and was never seen again. In 1817 a military expedition led by the Bey of Tripoli traversed the coastal route from Tripoli to Cyrenaica and was accompanied by an Italian doctor, Paolo Della Cella, who wrote an account of the expedition and noted the presence of fossils in Cyrenaica. This is the earliest known reference to geology in Libya. The African Association's second attempt, this time starting from Tripoli, was made by George Lyon and Joseph Ritchie in 1819 but only reached Murzuq where Ritchie died of fever. In 1822 a better equipped but poorly led expedition set out under the joint leadership of Dixon Denham, an army lieutenant and Hugh Clapperton a naval lieutenant, accompanied by a naval surgeon, Walter Oudney. The expedition reached Lake Chad, but Oudney died and Denham returned to England. Clapperton continued but was halted just 5 days march from the Niger by a local sheikh. Most tragic of all was the expedition of Gordon Laing in 1826. He became the first European to reach Timbuktu, but was murdered by his Tuareg guides as he returned through what is now Mali <...>