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Dahlak Archipelago

(Encyclopedia)Dahlak Archipelago däläkˈ ärkĭpĕlˈəgō [key], island group, Eritrea, in the Red Sea off Massawa. There are two large, inhabited islands and more than 200 small, largely uninhabited islands. Th...

Arabian Desert

(Encyclopedia)Arabian Desert or Eastern Desert, c.86,000 sq mi (222,740 sq km), E Egypt, bordered by the Nile valley in the west and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Suez in the east. It extends along most of Egypt's ea...

buoy

(Encyclopedia)buoy boi, bo͞oˈē [key], float anchored in navigable waters to mark channels and indicate dangers to navigation (isolated rocks, mine fields, cables, and the like). The shape, color, number, and mar...

Perim

(Encyclopedia)Perim pārēmˈ, pērˈĭm [key], Arab. Barim, island, c.5 sq mi (13 sq km), off the SW Arabian peninsula in the Bab el Mandeb strait; it is part of Yemen. A rocky and barren island rising to c.215 ft...

Permian period

(Encyclopedia)Permian period pûrˈmēən [key] [from Perm, Russia], sixth and last period of the Paleozoic era (see Geologic Timescale, tablegeologic timescale, table) from 250 to 290 million years ago. Many ma...

kagu

(Encyclopedia)kagu käˈgo͞o [key], common name for a long-legged, heronlike bird, Rhynochetos jubatus. It has a loose, gray plumage with darker bandings; broad, rounded wings marked with white, black, and red; an...

oarfish

(Encyclopedia)oarfish, large, elongated fish, genus Regalecus, found in the oceans worldwide except for the polar regions. Oarfish species are solitary and rarely seen by humans. The giant oarfish, R. glesne, is th...

olivine

(Encyclopedia)olivine ŏlĭvˈēn [key], an iron-magnesium silicate mineral, (Mg,Fe)2SiO4, crystallizing in the orthorhombic system. It is a common constituent of magnesium-rich, silica-poor igneous rocks; metamorp...

Heyerdahl, Thor

(Encyclopedia)Heyerdahl, Thor hāˈərdälˌ, hīˈ– [key], 1914–2002, Norwegian explorer and anthropologist, b. Larvik. He carried out research in the Marquesas Islands in 1937–38 and studied the indigenous ...

Helgoland

(Encyclopedia)Helgoland hĕlˈĭgōlăndˌ [key], island, c.150 acres (60 hectares), Schleswig-Holstein, NW Germany, ...