Posted on 02/09/2003 11:25:34 PM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Monday February 10, 12:10 AM
Large Underground Lake Said Found in China
Scientists have discovered a massive underground lake in China's arid northwest, giving hope for the reduction of poverty in one of the country's most remote and sparsely populated regions, state media reported Sunday.
The lake beneath the Taklamakan desert has a capacity about the same as the 244-square-mile reservoir being filled behind China's massive Three Gorges Dam, newspapers and the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The find resulted from a comprehensive survey of water resources in the Xinjiang region, Xinhua said. That study found about 35 billion cubic feet of underground water could be exploited annually, Xinhua said.
Newly found supplies coming from about 50 different underground sources could alleviate the need to construct 10 major reservoirs, Xinhua said.
"Our findings can provide a hydrological and geological foundation for the solution of civilian, industrial and agricultural water consumption," the report quoted a top geologist, Wang Min, as saying.
Northwestern China, including Xinjiang, accounts for one third of the country's territory but only about 90 million of its 1.3 billion people.
China launched a major drive to develop the area two years ago, hoping to close a deep income gap with the better developed east and more tightly bind its often restive population of ethnic minorities to the rest of China.
While the region boasts deposits of gas, oil and other minerals, its native populations remain heavily dependent on agriculture, especially the growing of grapes and melons for sale to other parts of China. About 10 million people in the region still lack access to clean drinking water, Xinhua said.
Well drilling could help improve access to potable water, but scientists are stressing the need for sustainable development to ensure that limited water resources last, Xinhua said.
The report didn't say how water would be drawn from the lake beneath the Taklamakan, a wasteland the size of Poland where temperatures can hit 117 degrees Fahrenheit in summer.
Water resources have been stretched to the limit by China's growing population and economy. China last year began work on a $59 billion project to divert water from the verdant south to the increasingly dry north.
Nah. But expect 10 cent per gallon "Great Value" spring water at your Wal-Mart.
I read an article about a Russian scientist who claimed that a catastophic flood occurred in Siberia when the last Ice Age ended. He found scar marks on the rocks which were the result of huge body of dammed-up water gushing out at unimaginably high speed.
I also know that the similar thing happened in America where dammed-up inland water (in Idaho or Wyoming ?) gushed out toward Washington state, making some distinct marks on the landscape it passed.
I agree that a huge flood could have occurred in Xinjiang, which is next to Siberia although we are not sure if that is the one recorded in the bible.
Note: this topic was posted 2/10/2003. Thanks TigerLikesRooster. Taklamakan desert!
Taklimakan Desert in western China. The large region in the center of the image is the Tarim Basin, one of the largest internal drainage basins in the world. The basin is surrounded by the Tian mountains to the north, the Kunlun mountains to the southwest and the Altun mountains in the south.
Close enough.
Glacial Lake Missoula and Glacial Lake Columbia had drained out over eastern Washington and into Oregon when an ice dam failed back during the last Ice Age (according to scientists).(source: Wikipedia)
This topic was posted , thanks TigerLikesRooster.
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