The Saharan Atlas includes a series of subranges: the
Ksour Range in the west, the
Amour Range in its central and the
Ouled-Naïl Range at its eastern end. It also includes the
Aurès (
Belezma), the
Hodna Mountains, the Nememcha Range and the Zab Mountains. The Tell Atlas and the Saharan Atlas merge in the east to join together into the Tébessa Range and the Medjerda Mountains. Bordered in the north by the
Hautes Plaines, the Saharan Atlas is one of the vast plateaux of
Africa, formed of ancient base rock covered by the sediment of shallow seas and
alluvial deposits. Among the rivers of the Atlas, the Saharan Atlas feeds
wadis. Among these are the
Chelif and
Touil wadis, riverbeds that contains water only during wet periods, respectively draining the
Amour and
Ouled-Naïl ranges of the Saharan Atlas. The Saharan Atlas Mountains mark the northern edge of the
Sahara Desert. The mountains see some rainfall and are better suited to agriculture than the
plateau region to the north. Today most of the population of the region are
Chaoui Berbers. The
mountains have also long been home to exiles expelled from the fertile coastal regions. ==See also==