The floor of the Depression consists of salt marshes and dry lake beds that flood occasionally and there are also large areas of windblown sand.
[1] Moghra Oasis consists of a 4 km2 (1.5 sq mi) lake containing brackish water some 38 metres (125 ft) below sea level.
[3] Just to the north of the oasis is a cliff which gives its name to the Moghra Formation, a thick layer of clastic sedimentary rocks with some minor carbonate interbeds.
There are three main species in this plant community, each dominating its own concentric zone; Zygophyllum album, Nitraria retusa and Tamarix nilotica.
The T. nilotica dominated area forms a scrub community on the outer fringes of the dune zone surrounding the salt flats, where it is associated with A. maurorum, Cressa cretica, N. retusa and Z album.