http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200701/seas.beneath.the.sands.htm
Aquifers from a different time period. Interesting read!
Aquifers from a different time period. Interesting read!
Desert Water
- Thread starter Mamala Bay
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It would be so much cheaper to de-sal the Med.
"What lies beneath the ground is called fossil water, and it will likely never be replaced—or, in the parlance of hydrologists, the aquifer will never be recharged."
So the Sahara has undergone repeated arid and wet cycles during the past million years (which have kept this aquifer full), but those cycles are now over, and the Sahara will remain a desert until the sun burns out?
So the Sahara has undergone repeated arid and wet cycles during the past million years (which have kept this aquifer full), but those cycles are now over, and the Sahara will remain a desert until the sun burns out?
If anything in Beijing is any indicator, excessive pumping of these ancient water would cause a lot of sinkholes. It may not be as easy to use desalination to get water but that may be safer (although energy use would be massive).
most desert are there because of mountains blocking ocean wind carrying moisture. Desert get rained on periodically, and some of them will find there way in to the underground. If we start pumping, more water may find their way into the underground but it is hard to tell if it will get refilled fast enough.
most desert are there because of mountains blocking ocean wind carrying moisture. Desert get rained on periodically, and some of them will find there way in to the underground. If we start pumping, more water may find their way into the underground but it is hard to tell if it will get refilled fast enough.
Solid evidence has shown that ..this arid region has gone through many wet and dry cycles ...we're in the beginning of a dry cycle .Planetary evolution has shown this evidence.
Originally Posted By: Samilcar
So the Sahara has undergone repeated arid and wet cycles during the past million years (which have kept this aquifer full), but those cycles are now over, and the Sahara will remain a desert until the sun burns out?
If you are pulling more out of it than naturally enters, of course it will never recharge.
Oz' Great Artesian Basin (biggest in the world) went from being pressurised to need hundred foot bores...clearly outstripping nature.
So the Sahara has undergone repeated arid and wet cycles during the past million years (which have kept this aquifer full), but those cycles are now over, and the Sahara will remain a desert until the sun burns out?
If you are pulling more out of it than naturally enters, of course it will never recharge.
Oz' Great Artesian Basin (biggest in the world) went from being pressurised to need hundred foot bores...clearly outstripping nature.
Originally Posted By: Shannow
If you are pulling more out of it than naturally enters, of course it will never recharge.
Depends on how you define "never". On a short term timeframe, essentially zero water is naturally entering this aquifer. Which would equate to zero water being allowed to be pumped out of it by those wishing to protect this "fossil water".
On a 50,000 year time frame (impossibly long by human standards, but a climactic and geological blink of the eye), this aquifer will have no problem being replenished.
If you are pulling more out of it than naturally enters, of course it will never recharge.
Depends on how you define "never". On a short term timeframe, essentially zero water is naturally entering this aquifer. Which would equate to zero water being allowed to be pumped out of it by those wishing to protect this "fossil water".
On a 50,000 year time frame (impossibly long by human standards, but a climactic and geological blink of the eye), this aquifer will have no problem being replenished.
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