When The Sahara Was Green
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| Author | : Martin Williams |
| Publisher | : Princeton University Press |
| Total Pages | : 256 |
| Release | : 2021-10-05 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0691228892 |
The little-known history of how the Sahara was transformed from a green and fertile land into the largest hot desert in the world The Sahara is the largest hot desert in the world, equal in size to China or the United States. Yet, this arid expanse was once a verdant, pleasant land, fed by rivers and lakes. The Sahara sustained abundant plant and animal life, such as Nile perch, turtles, crocodiles, and hippos, and attracted prehistoric hunters and herders. What transformed this land of lakes into a sea of sands? When the Sahara Was Green describes the remarkable history of Earth’s greatest desert—including why its climate changed, the impact this had on human populations, and how scientists uncovered the evidence for these extraordinary events. From the Sahara’s origins as savanna woodland and grassland to its current arid incarnation, Martin Williams takes us on a vivid journey through time. He describes how the desert’s ancient rocks were first fashioned, how dinosaurs roamed freely across the land, and how it was later covered in tall trees. Along the way, Williams addresses many questions: Why was the Sahara previously much wetter, and will it be so again? Did humans contribute to its desertification? What was the impact of extreme climatic episodes—such as prolonged droughts—upon the Sahara’s geology, ecology, and inhabitants? Williams also shows how plants, animals, and humans have adapted to the Sahara and what lessons we might learn for living in harmony with the harshest, driest conditions in an ever-changing global environment. A valuable look at how an iconic region has changed over millions of years, When the Sahara Was Green reveals the desert’s surprising past to reflect on its present, as well as its possible future.
| Author | : Hong-Quan Zhang |
| Publisher | : Bookbaby |
| Total Pages | : 234 |
| Release | : 2021-06-03 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : 9781098375362 |
Atlantis is not hiding at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean but in plain view on top of the Sahara Desert. The prosperity of the Atlas Empire and the inundation of Atlantis corresponded to a lush Green Sahara started around 12,000 years ago. About 5700 years ago, the Green Sahara suddenly began to wither from the Atlas Basin, the heartland of the Atlas Empire. This is the rain shadow area of the Atlas Mountain range in today's Northeast Algeria and South Tunisia. When the water cycle stability in this standalone catchment was broken, the Chotts Megalakes (the Atlantic Sea) dried rapidly and the strong rain shadow effect of the Atlas Mountain became fully active. Deserts formed immediately in this area and gradually expanded east and south, like a spreading wildfire powered by the prevailing winds. This led to desertification and aridification in North Africa, West Asia, and the Mediterranean synchronously until this day. This timeline spans most of human history as we know it, including the thriving and dispersion of Atlas Empire, the rise and fall of Egypt, the prosperity and desolation of Mesopotamia, and the civilization shifts first from west to east and then from east to west across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. The Atlantic Sea had a surface area over 26,000 sq km, which generated a great amount of water vapor, sufficient to eliminate the strong rain shadow effect of the Atlas Mountain, so that the Green Sahara was stabilized for about six thousand years. The Earth's precession (wobbling) has been blamed as the main control for the flipping between desert and green in the Sahara. This view has misled the academic society away from seeking the true primary cause for so long. The water cycle stability of the Sahara is governed by the non-linear relationship between precipitation and evaporation, which depends on surface conditions and atmospheric circulation. The Earth's precession only moved the water cycle closer to its unstable point so that a perturbation could trigger the transition from wet to dry state. This book explains the start and step-by-step spread of the Sahara Desert and its impact on West Asia and the Mediterranean regions. Archaeological records and paleoclimate data corroborate this new insight of the Sahara expansion process and the consequential desertification in these areas. The desertification process in Northwest China is an independent validation for the same control mechanism. Based on the new understanding, approaches are suggested to revive the Northwest China ecosystem, to turn the Sahara back to green and to ameliorate Australia to a water abundant country.
| Author | : Kelly Cunnane |
| Publisher | : Schwartz & Wade |
| Total Pages | : 41 |
| Release | : 2013-10-08 |
| Genre | : Juvenile Fiction |
| ISBN | : 0375988939 |
"Poetic language, attractive illustrations and a positive message about Islam, without any didacticism: a wonderful combination," declares Kirkus Reviews in a starred review. Lalla lives in the Muslim country of Mauritania, and more than anything, she wants to wear a malafa, the colorful cloth Mauritanian women, like her mama and big sister, wear to cover their heads and clothes in public. But it is not until Lalla realizes that a malafa is not just worn to show a woman's beauty and mystery or to honor tradition—a malafa for faith—that Lalla's mother agrees to slip a long cloth as blue as the ink in the Koran over Lalla's head, under her arm, and round and round her body. Then together, they pray. An author's note and glossary are included in the back of the book.
| Author | : OECD |
| Publisher | : OECD Publishing |
| Total Pages | : 254 |
| Release | : 2014-12-19 |
| Genre | : |
| ISBN | : 9264222359 |
This book explains the structure and geographical and organisational mobility of criminal and migratory movements in the Sahara and the Sahel with a view to helping establish better development strategies for the region.
| Author | : Jules Verne |
| Publisher | : Wildside Press LLC |
| Total Pages | : 194 |
| Release | : 2009-03-01 |
| Genre | : Fiction |
| ISBN | : 1434451666 |
Translation of L'Etonnante Adventure de la Mission Barsac.
| Author | : Michael Welland |
| Publisher | : Reaktion Books |
| Total Pages | : 400 |
| Release | : 2014-09-15 |
| Genre | : Nature |
| ISBN | : 1780233892 |
From endless sand dunes and prickly cacti to shimmering mirages and green oases, deserts evoke contradictory images in us. They are lands of desolation, but also of romance, of blistering Mojave heat and biting Gobi cold. Covering a quarter of the earth’s land mass and providing a home to half a billion people, they are both a physical reality and landscapes of the mind. The idea of the desert has long captured Western imagination, put on display in films and literature, but these portrayals often fail to capture the true scope and diversity of the people living there. Bridging the scientific and cultural gaps between perception and reality, The Desert celebrates our fascination with these arid lands and their inhabitants, as well as their importance both throughout history and in the world today. Covering an immense geographical range, Michael Welland wanders from the Sahara to the Atacama, depicting the often bizarre adaptations of plants and animals to these hostile environments. He also looks at these seemingly infertile landscapes in the context of their place in history—as the birthplaces not only of critical evolutionary adaptations, civilizations, and social progress, but also of ideologies. Telling the stories of the diverse peoples who call the desert home, he describes how people have survived there, their contributions to agricultural development, and their emphasis on water and its scarcity. He also delves into the allure of deserts and how they have been used in literature and film and their influence on fashion, art, and architecture. As Welland reveals, deserts may be difficult to define, but they play an active role in the evolution of our global climate and society at large, and their future is of the utmost importance. Entertaining, informative, and surprising, The Desert is an intriguing new look at these seemingly harsh and inhospitable landscapes.
| Author | : Tristan Gooley |
| Publisher | : The Experiment |
| Total Pages | : 320 |
| Release | : 2012-06-05 |
| Genre | : Sports & Recreation |
| ISBN | : 1615191550 |
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Secret World of Weather and The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, learn to tap into nature and notice the hidden clues all around you Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. Now this singular guide helps us rediscover what our ancestors long understood—that a windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong can help us find our way, if we know what to look and listen for. Adventurer and navigation expert Tristan Gooley unlocks the directional clues hidden in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, plant growth, and the habits of wildlife. Rich with navigational anecdotes collected across ages, continents, and cultures, The Natural Navigator will help keep you on course and open your eyes to the wonders, large and small, of the natural world.
| Author | : Gary Gilligan |
| Publisher | : Troubador Publishing Ltd |
| Total Pages | : 288 |
| Release | : 2018-04-17 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 1785895338 |
Quartz sand is anywhere and everywhere imaginable on the surface of the Earth. It forms the vast sandy Sahara and Arabian deserts where dunes can reach a staggering 180 meters in height. It makes up the world’s immense sandstone deposits, forms our beaches and is present in most soils around the globe. But where did all the sand come from?
| Author | : Anouar Boukhars |
| Publisher | : Rowman & Littlefield |
| Total Pages | : 355 |
| Release | : 2013-12-18 |
| Genre | : Political Science |
| ISBN | : 1442226862 |
The ongoing conflict in Western Sahara is one of the more intractable legacies of European colonization in North Africa. Following the withdrawal of Spain, this territorial dispute escalated in 1975 into a war of independence between the Sahrawi people of the Polisario Front, who were backed by Algeria, and the states of Mauritania and Morocco. In 1976, the Polisario Front established the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, which was not admitted in the UN but won recognition by a few states. After multiple peace efforts, the conflict reemerged in 2005 as the “independence Intifada.” Today, the Polisario Front controls about 20% of Western Sahara. At the heart of the conflict lie geopolitical interests and incompatible claims aggravated by the use of military force and decades of mostly unproductive diplomatic maneuvers by international bodies and regional or foreign powers. This thorough, impartial survey brings together some of the best experts on the Sahara question to provide a broad-based analysis of the problem, from a range of perspectives. Featuring new research, the chapters examine the roots of the conflict, its dynamics, and potential solutions. This groundbreaking text also addresses questions of law, human rights, natural resources from an analytical point of view. Contributed by scholars from North Africa, Europe, and the U.S., it is an essential contribution to the literature of Middle East and African studies.
| Author | : David Turner |
| Publisher | : Columbia University Press |
| Total Pages | : 311 |
| Release | : 2018-05-15 |
| Genre | : Science |
| ISBN | : 0231542844 |
Humans have difficulty thinking at the global scale. Yet as we come to understand our planet as a single, interconnected, complex system and encounter compelling evidence of human impact on Earth’s climate and biosphere, the need for a truly global effort is increasingly urgent. In this concise and accessible text, David P. Turner presents an overview of global environmental change and a synthesis of research and ideas from the rapidly evolving fields of earth system science and sustainability science that is suitable for anyone interested in humanity’s current predicaments and what we can do about them. The Green Marble examines Earth’s past, contemporary human disruption, and the prospects for global environmental governance. Turner emphasizes the functioning of the biosphere—the totality of life on Earth—including its influence on geologic history, its sensitivity to human impacts, and its possible role in ameliorating climate change. Relying on models of the earth system that synthesize vast amounts of monitoring information and recent research on biophysical processes, The Green Marble describes a range of scenarios for our planetary home, exploring the effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and factors such as economic globalization. Turner juxtaposes cutting-edge ideas from both the geosciences and the social sciences to illustrate how humanity has arrived upon its current dangerous trajectory, and how we might pull back from the brink of civilization-challenging environmental change. Growing out of the author’s popular course on global environmental change, The Green Marble is accessible to non-science majors and provides a framework for understanding the complex relationship of humanity to the global environment.
