Can we stop desertification, then reverse it?

[Brett Nortje]

I find this very worrying. all the deserts are always getting bigger and consuming more land, and I heard that there are huge areas of burnt trees to act as a barrier to the desert.

 

I believe that we can reverse the desertification process. if we were to observe how desertification works, it dries all the plants out and then they simply wither and die. well that is how I think it works...

 

If we were to see though that the biomass is left there, and biomass leads to nutrients I think, then there if we plant a new tree there quickly, we could see it grow anyways, using the dead bio mass in the soil.

 

Now, if we were to look out into the desert, well, there must be biomass out there too? under the soil I mean. so, why not fly airplanes over the desert dropping seeds. what do we have to loose?

 

The best way to attract rain to the area is with long pole reaching up into the sky. these attract clouds the way mountains do, so will see them grow.

 

Of course, if that is too expensive, maybe we could throw bush out there first? this is tough stuff that will grow in the desert.

 

I hope this doesn't belong in speculation, as it is more like a question.

[EdEarl]

Perhaps this video will assuage your fears.

 

In addition, recently researchers discovered ancestral Amazonian Indians enriched soil by adding charcoal. Maybe coal can be conditioned to cause a similar effect, which would be a good use for coal compared to burning it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

[Brett Nortje]

Perhaps this video will assuage your fears.

 

In addition, recently researchers discovered ancestral Amazonian Indians enriched soil by adding charcoal. Maybe coal can be conditioned to cause a similar effect, which would be a good use for coal compared to burning it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta

 

Well, I was thinking faster and cheaper, but if you want to go around digging holes in the ground with coal, which you cannot fly because it is too heavy, then that would work...

 

But thanks for the video!

[CaptainPanic]

Water is your only problem. You do not need any seeds. Just Google around for Death Valley: apparently there are always a few flowers in spring. But on those rare occasions that there is a bit more rain in spring, it is a bed of flowers. All those seeds were just waiting.

 

A mountain does not attract rain because of its height, but because of the giant surface it has that can push a cloud up. So, a single pole, of even multiple poles, will not do at thing. Sorry.

[Brett Nortje]

Water is your only problem. You do not need any seeds. Just Google around for Death Valley: apparently there are always a few flowers in spring. But on those rare occasions that there is a bit more rain in spring, it is a bed of flowers. All those seeds were just waiting.

 

A mountain does not attract rain because of its height, but because of the giant surface it has that can push a cloud up. So, a single pole, of even multiple poles, will not do at thing. Sorry.

 

okay cool.

[arc]

Not all deserts are of the same cause, yet all are the same result, lack of rain or in some cases just moisture. The Atacama desert in South American Andes Mountains covers 105,000 km² (40,541 sq miles).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atacama_Desert

Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971. It is so arid that mountains that reach as high as 6,885 metres (22,589 ft) are completely free of glaciers and, in the southern part from 25°S to 27°S, may have been glacier-free throughout the Quarternary, though perma-frost extends down to an altitude of 4,400 metres (14,400 ft) and is continuous above 5,600 metres (18,400 ft). Studies by a group of British scientists have suggested that some river beds have been dry for 120,000 years.

 

This high and dry area is believed the result of the Humboldt Current running along the Pacific coast from Antarctica, it's unusually cold waters reduce the convective energy and water vapor available to produce rise and water vapor transport to the high desert. The Chilean Coast Range is believed to reduce the available moisture even more. The Atacama gets most of its water in the form of a moisture laden fog. It is the driest desert in the world. It's appearance has been compared to Mars.

 

Death Valley is the lowest elevation in North America at 86 m (282 feet) below sea level. During the last ice age that ended 10,000 to 20,000 years ago the area was wetter, the valley was once a glacier feed lake almost 160 kilometers long and 183 meters deep.

 

The Sahara in North Africa is to believed to have changed similarly with the end of the same glacial period. Loosing tropical forest plants and animals such as giraffe, hippo, crocodile and similar flora and fauna found currently 1,000 + kilometers to the south. The area was covered by a series of lakes that were populated by abundant fisheries able to support a substantial human population. The desertification began quickly and progressed rapidly possibly within one or two generations. The exodus of its population coincides with the beginning of the Nile Valley culture.

 

Deserts are closely tied to glacial period climate. Inter-glacial periods, like the one we are currently in, coincide with many deserts around the world. There is evidence of these changes in the air borne dust called loess that are now layers of geographically traceable sediments found around the world in caves and lake bottoms. arc