Saqqar is situated on a rocky plateau, just west of the Nile River. Today, the area is covered with dry sand, but when the site functioned as the royal necropolis of the rulers in Memphis, it was crossed with seasonal streams and a lake in the northern part of the region (Myśliwiec 2020: 24). The rock is primarily "Upper Eocene limestones, marls and claystones...constitute[ing]...the Saqqara Member" (Akarish and Shoeib 2011: 1145). Underneath this layer is the "Basal Shales Unit," comprised of shales and marls laced with gypsum (ibid.)

Local geological map of Saqqara (Akarish and Shoeib 2011: Fig. 1)