Posted on 04/16/2006 2:29:22 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Lake Chad, which once straddled the borders of Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon, has shrunk by an estimated 95% since the mid 1960s, due to the growth of agriculture and declining rainfall. Image: Unep
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Out Of Africa
Science News Magazine | 9-29-2001 | Sid Perkins
Posted on 10/08/2001 7:51:53 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/543092/posts
"One of the most prolific spawning grounds for dust today is the Bodele depression, a low-lying area that was once part of Lake Chad. Although this lake on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert was about the size of Lake Erie in the mid-1960s, the recent lack of rain and the increased demand for water for irrigation has caused Lake Chad to shrink to 5 percent of that area."
Ice Dissapearing from Kilimanjaro?
Let me guess. It's the all the pollution. NOT
MSNBC ASSOCIATED PRESS | Oct. 17th, 2002 | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted on 10/18/2002 5:29:24 PM EDT by Yzerman
"An extremely wet period evidenced in the ice corings matches independent studies that showed about 11,000 years ago the lakes in Africa spilled across vast areas of the continent. Lake Chad, for instance, said Thompson, grew until it covered 135,000 square miles, about the size of the present day Caspian Sea. The African lake now is only about 6,500 square miles... That wet period ended and the ice corings show that Africa slid into a deep drought about 4,000 years ago."
And that would be Bush's fault of course.
First in! ;')
There has been pressure on aquifers (even the desert has those) due to decreasing rainfall (it has been decreasing for at least 4000 years); also the lake is pretty shallow, and exposed to a cloudless sky and the unforgiving rays of the Sun. Other things didn't help much, such as water diversion projects, and attempts to use the water for irrigated agriculture.
Chad has good relations with Israel -- perhaps they can learn all about the trickle irrigation techniques the Israelis have developed. But first, Chad will need to get rid of the Islamofascist threat.
Ancient lakes of the Sahara
Innovations Report | Jan 19, 2006 | University of Reading
Posted on 01/21/2006 4:14:03 AM PST by Tyche
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1562135/posts
That, too, is something they can learn from Israel!
> And that would be Bush's fault of course.
Why do people delight in saying that? It's not funny and it never was. Not even with obvious sarcasm. When the entire continent is desertified, are you guys going to slap your knees and say, Ho ho ho, Bush's fault.
I won't...but there are plenty of idiot Libs who will say it and somehow mean it.
FWIW, the Sahara has been shrinking for the last 20 years, with the vegetation line moving north in the Sahel. When it moved south in the 80s it was world news. Movement in the other direction isn't even reported.
Good, Rios. Let's all of us stop it then.
Owens River water flows into the Los Angeles aqueduct.
With reference to Lake Chad: it seems to be undergToing the same demise as the Aral Sea. Too shallow for the amount of irrigation drawn from it.
Darn, this bugs me, because I've always been used to seeing Lake Chad (and the Aral Sea, for that matter) on maps. I hate to see it turn into merely a depression.
It's depressing.
Yeah, pumping water out to use for irrigation wasn't the greatest idea anyone ever had.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
