If the sand in the Sahara desert were dug up, what would be underneath? In addition to the lithosphere, there may be water
The formation of this desert did not happen overnight. Studies have shown that the formation of the Sahara was about 2.5 million years old . China's land area is 9.6 million square kilometers, ranking third in the world. The Sahara's area is about 9.32 million square kilometers, far exceeding the area of many countries in the world.
The Sahara starts from the Atlantic coast in the west, reaches the Red Sea in the east, and is 5,600 kilometers long from east to west. It traverses the northern part of the African continent; it is bounded by the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea in the north, and reaches the Niger River Valley in the south. one-third of the area.
When it comes to the Sahara Desert, people think of rolling yellow sand and harsh climate. Little do they know that the area covered by dunes only accounts for 15%.
The Sahara has rich topography, including plateaus, basins, mountains, sand dunes, etc., and various types of landforms, including rock deserts, gravel deserts and deserts.
The landforms outside the desert are not covered by sand. For example, rock deserts are mostly composed of sandstone, limestone, basalt, etc., or some rock debris; gravel deserts are between rock deserts and deserts. landform type.
The Sahara Desert consists of several parts, namely the Western Sahara, the central highlands and mountains, and a large desolate area in the east.
The highest point in the Sahara Desert is Mount Kuxi, with a height of 3,415 meters.
Thickness of the Sahara Desert
The thickness of the Sahara Desert varies, and the covering of its surface is affected by many factors.
The longer the desert is formed, the thickness will also increase, because the accumulation of sand becomes a tower, and the accumulated thickness of the accumulation will increase day by day; at the same time, the thickness will also be affected by the magnitude of the wind and the direction of the wind.
Under normal circumstances, the thickness of the desert edge is smaller than that in the middle of the desert, and the sand and dust in the middle are more concentrated and the sedimentation time is longer.
The results of geologists drilling in the Sahara Desert show that the thick part of the desert reaches more than 100 meters, and the shallow part is short and several meters long . After years of wind and sun, there are many sand dunes piled up in the desert, with a height of more than 150 meters. In the vast desert, the sand dunes will change accordingly due to the influence of the wind. After a few months, the same place may be a different person, and there is no original trace at all.
According to the research of geologists, the surface of the Sahara Desert is mostly the fine sand we see 25 meters below the surface ; from 25 meters underground to 120 meters underground is some dark fine sand, the density is relatively tight ; from 120 meters underground to the ground 280 meters are some pebbles that are the exact opposite of fine sand. Obviously, if the sand was dug out, what would be left would be a solid rock layer.
Groundwater found in the Sahara Desert!
What will appear 280 meters below the desert? Is it stone, oil or water?
We all know that due to the movement of the earth's crust and the evolution of organisms, after a long period of accumulation and decomposition, oil and natural gas finally came into being. There is oil underground in the Sahara Desert is a guess of many people , as they think, there is a large amount of oil resources underground in the northern part of the Sahara Desert.
As the "blood" of industrial civilization, oil is a gift from the earth to mankind, and rich oil resources have become the pillar industries of some surrounding countries.
Water is an indispensable and important resource for human production and life, and a vital resource for life on earth. But to many people's surprise, many areas under the Sahara Desert actually have abundant groundwater .
It sounds like a fantasy that there is water in the desert, but if you explore layer by layer, you will find that there is still a lot of water storage. The discovery of water resources comes from people's thirst for oil. Water resources are the unexpected joy of oil exploration, which opens the door to a new world.
It is conceivable that in the extremely water-scarce Sahara Desert in Africa, the importance of water resources is comparable to that of oil, but the values of the two are different.
Abundant groundwater reserves
With the continuous advancement of exploration work, people have unlocked more and more water resources. What is even more surprising is that these waters are fresh water that can be directly used, and the water quality has not been polluted.
According to the estimates of the explorers, the water volume under the desert can reach 375,000 cubic meters. It is not uncommon to have water underground, but in a desert that has been formed for millions of years, the amount of water is amazing.
The formation of groundwater comes from the accumulation of years and months. First, the Sahara was also a fertile soil a long time ago , and bits and pieces of water penetrated into the sandstone layer for storage. Second, although the climate of the Sahara is mainly arid, there is still a certain amount of natural precipitation. If the water penetrates downward, it will also converge; third, there are many rivers flowing through the Sahara , and the infiltration of water also turns into groundwater.
The area of the Sahara Desert is still expanding quietly, and the groundwater that has been discovered should not be exploited arbitrarily. The depletion of groundwater will bring greater harm to this barren desert.
The management of deserts should be taken seriously, rather than let it expand. Although the climatic conditions in North Africa are very bad, it is hoped that more people will be aware of the dangers of desert expansion and improve the maintenance of scarce groundwater resources.