The rocky escarpment of this area includes sabkhas, in which halophytic vegetation can temporarily thrive, though the buffeting of its escarpment by high winds leads to much dry powder called "fech fech," which along with rocky formations makes the area mostly impassable by vehicles, a fact exploited by the British in the first Battle of El Alamein, which took place about 36 miles north of the northern border of this location.
Usable petroleum has been extracted from the Alam el Buib and Kharita formations in this location since the 1960s. On its western end is the "mushroom rock" which guards the fortified town of (**) Qara, home to a few hundred Berbers. Just over a quarter of this location's area is covered by "playas," which are periodically filled with rain water, allowing nomadic bedouins to graze livestock in remote areas like the  (*) Moghra Oasis, located within this location.  The rocky escarpment of this area includes sabkhas, in which halophytic vegetation can temporarily thrive, though the buffeting of its escarpment by high winds leads to much dry powder called "fech fech," which along with rocky formations makes the area mostly impassable by vehicles, a fact exploited by the British in the first Battle of El Alamein, which took place about 36 miles north of the northern border of this location. For ten points, what is this vast, low-lying basin in the Western Desert of Egypt?
Usable petroleum has been extracted from the Alam el Buib and Kharita formations in this location since the 1960s.
Qattara Depression