At a global technology conference held in Oxford, the architect Magnus Larsson proposed a method for stabilizing dunes using bacteria that cause the dune to turn into concrete
Sand dunes move, shift and cover everything in their path.
For the first time I saw the power of the dunes in North Sinai, after a storm that lasted for several hours, roads were covered with dunes and disappeared.
Again and again I saw the phenomenon in the Eastern Sahara and Namibia. The movement of the dunes in the Eastern Sahara covers desert oases, in Namibia entire settlements were covered.
In the deserts of Asia, Africa, America and Australia, the dunes migrate and in some areas their migration causes the "occupation" of agricultural and grazing areas and the expansion of the desert.
In 2007, the United Nations announced that "a third of the world's population - about two billion people are victims of the desert phenomenon." About 140 countries are affected by the spread of the desert.
North African countries are trying to stop the spread of deserts and dunes by planting trees.
This is also done in China, under the slogan green belt millions of trees are planted which are supposed to create a physical barrier and later also cause climate change.
But the trees that they plant attract the inhabitants of the Sahel: for shepherds, the trees are a source of pasture for their cattle and flocks, after they have "trimmed" leaves and young branches, large branches are cut down as a source of fuel, and in fact the inhabitants of the Sahel continue the tradition of destruction for many years, a tradition that caused the desert in the first place .
Now maybe a solution to the conquest has been discovered:
At the TED Global conference in Oxford, the architect Magnus Larsson proposed a method for stabilizing the dunes.
Larsen proposes to stabilize the links in the Sahara along the width of North Africa, in a strip of about 6000 km between Mauritania and Djibouti. According to him, the answer to the danger of the desert due to the movement of the vertebrae is a "sandstone wall made of stabilized and solid sand", the wall will be created by "freezing" the vertebrae and turning them into sandstone.
Larsen who defines himself as a "dune architect" claims that the dunes can be stabilized by "flooding" with bacteria, according to him "the bacteria will make the dunes as stable as concrete within a few hours".
According to Larsen: The sandstone wall will be an additional barrier to the "green belt" and not a replacement.
The stabilized dunes will be a convenient base for growing trees, but even if the trees are removed, the sandstone barrier will remain.
The basis of the idea is to stop desertification by using desert: the grains of sand will be bound and stabilized by bacteria found in moist areas, Bacillus pasteurii.
The bacterium produces calcite - a kind of natural concrete, the idea came from a team from the University of Davis in California who did experiments to stabilize soil in areas prone to earthquakes.
Larsen contracts the "injection" of the dunes by landing huge tanks saturated with bacteria.
When the dunes cover the tanks - they will open and the bacteria will "go to the work of stabilization".
According to Larsen, after the dunes stabilize, the residents of the area will be able to use the sandstone walls as shelter from the sun as well as for water storage.
After all this there are still a number of practical problems: political, moral and above all the cost problem.
The idea, the project, involves many challenges, but it is a visionary start that, even if not fully realized, will whiten the discussion of the problem.
13 תגובות
Where can the bacteria be obtained and are they in water that can be splashed and layered?
Can this idea be used to solve the problem of tunnels on the Philadelphia axis?
To the number 1
A desert with dunes is called a sand lake,
And by the way, Dune is called -Holit in Hebrew.
To Yossi, thanks for the reference.
The subject of the migration of the peoples is my wild association with the "Wall", and not a reference to the stated purpose of
the inventor
9
There is a simple answer to the sand. network..m
Some clarifications
Strictly-
Kurkar is a catchment that is mostly calcareous, the problem of Israel's coasts is rowing under the rocks of Kurkar, therefore the "method" is not suitable,
Sandstone is solid and stabilized sand, such as: the Red Canyon and (our) Amram columns,
Unlike Petra in Jordan. The architect's proposal is to stabilize the sand dunes by
"Turning" them into sandstone with the help of the bacteria.
In the steppe, agriculture is grown in the sand-desert, sand is an accepted basis
For agricultural crops, all that is needed is water, for this the drip irrigation method was invented and developed through which fertilizers are also added.
I don't remember referring to the "migration of nations".
To Judah -
A distinction must be made between dust storms in which the dust is transported great distances
and sinks in vast spaces in thin layers and "rolling" a dune that advances
as a uniform body and therefore can be blocked.
How applicable is the proposed "method"...?
To Judah:
Migratory vertebrae are a kind of waves made of a very thick liquid...
The problem is not sand blowing in the wind that covers the fields in small quantities but huge dunes that literally bury everything.
Such a wall is similar to a breakwater: a breakwater is not a dam, it does not prevent the water from passing, it only absorbs the energy of the waves.
Strictly speaking:
It doesn't make sense to me that the sand in the Sahara is so unfriendly to plants... Our Negev (and not only the Negev, all of Israel) was also considered in the past to be useless soil. I'm not claiming that the sand is particularly fertile, but in the absence of a reasoned explanation, I find it hard to believe that nutrients are lacking Or it contains substances that are extremely harmful to plants.
I hope Dr. Rosenthal can shed some light on this point.
The sand of the dunes is collected to the dune from a distance of hundreds and even thousands of kilometers, therefore building a wall in the border area with the agricultural areas will not help because the sand will continue to arrive.
Unfortunately, I don't see this as a solution
Happy Holidays
Sabdarmish Yehuda
Can these bacteria be used to stabilize the kurkar cliffs along the coasts?
Attached is a link that includes the architect's photo and a visualization of the sandstone walls:
http://blog.ted.com/2009/07/twitter_snapsho_59.php
I once came across the term "moonlit desert", which means a desert which, even if a lot of water flows into it, nothing will grow,
(Compared to our Negev, which when water is poured into it - grows even grows.)
And regarding the article: 1. Does "sandstone" mean gravel?
2. Does anyone think from the bottom of his mind that the wall will stop the new migration of peoples
To the northern hemisphere - this is an illusion.
Peace,
I have a small question for translation needs that maybe someone here would know:
What do you call deserts with moving sand dunes in Hebrew? Do they even have a special name? It currently translates as desert of shifting sands but it's a little poetic, isn't it?
Thanks!