When someone talks about the Sahara Desert you would think of a hot place full of sand and rocks with low rainfall but what if I tell you that about thousands of years ago this place was full of greenery and water. Shocked? Yes, this is true about 10000 years ago the picture of Sahara is very different from what we see today. This largest arid desert was not recognizable thousands of years ago.
It automatically changes its form; others say that due to the change in tectonic plates this happens. Sahara desert is in Africa. Imagine that now the arid northern piece of Africa was once a green land full of life, rivers, lakes and woods. But where all the water of the Sahara goes?
Paleologist David Wight has a thought according to him it is possible that many people and animals have caused this situation. A study which is conducted in the Wildernesses in Earth Science argues that humans are the reason behind this situation.
Position that Sahara desert is in
In Sahara, there is a frequent change in humidity and aridity. Some say it is because of the position that Sahara desert is in with respect to the Sun. Some say these frequent changes are not because of the position of the Sahara is in but rather these variations brought about by slight wobbles in the tilt of the Earth’s orbital hub, which thus changes the edge at which sunlight-based rays enter into the atmosphere. If we see that history of the earth than you could easily find that more vitality pouring in from the sun during the West African storm season, and during those occasions—known as African Humid Periods—considerably more downpour in North African Side.
Result of Frequent Downpour
Because of frequent downpour, the locale gets more greenery and streams and lakes. This process has continued for centuries but something strange has happened in 8,500 and 4,500 years ago. The transformation from Greenland to hot arid desert occurred unmistakably more quickly in certain regions than could be clarified by the orbital precession alone, bringing about the Sahara Desert as we probably aware it today. David Wright says that the transitions are very quick and we may miss some data or missing some essential information about the Sahara history. Anyways all researchers believe that they may have missed some essential data. Something may go wrong.
David Wright says that as he goes deep and studies the data of that period, he found that there is a relationship between humans and the devastation of Greenland. He saw that there is a pattern, any place the archeological record demonstrated the nearness of Sheep farms and people with their tamed creatures there was a comparing change in the sorts and assortment of plants. It is like whenever the humans with their animals traveled across these Greenland, they turned it everything into scabs and sand in no time.
Overgrazing
David thinks this exactly would have been happened because when goats would have eaten the grasses and plants, it caused a low measure of environmental dampness. As we all know plants give moisture to air which makes the clouds and he recommends this may have set off the finish of the sticky period more suddenly than can be clarified by the orbital changes.
But It’s imperative to take note of that to note that according to geologist Jessica Tierney, a partner educator of geoscience at the University of Arizona says that green Sahara would have been turned into desert even without the interference of humans or animals. So, according to her humans and animals should not have to be blamed for this situation. Instead, the main culprits are the standard vegetation criticisms and changes in the measure of residue. She says that every 1000 years earth changes its orbit a bit and due to this monsoon in western African parts goes weaker.
Now, who is right David or Jessica? What is the reason which things came first? It is very hard to answer that. Jessica says the answer about this is very difficult, how could we test a hypothesis. It is just like a hen and egg problem. Jessica says that David only sees the core data but to answer this we have to see the broad picture. Tierney recommends specialists could utilize scientific models that look at the effect tracker gatherers would have on nature versus that of pastoralists grouping creatures. For that kind of model, it is very important that you have to gather the data on the number of people who lived there at that time. Jessica also agrees with David that there were more individuals lived in that as compared to today except for beachfront urban zones.
Orbital Changes and Humans are not to blame
Well If I have to conclude this then I would say it is very hard to say that what has happened. We do not have the sufficient data of the people which were lived there so how could he assume that they are the reason for the dryness of Sahara. The theory of Jessica is near to correct because it can happen that the change of Sahara from green land to hot arid desert is caused by the climate change. History says that earth changes its orbits which caused numerous changes in the world like temperature, rainfall, snowfall etc. It is very much possible that rising Carbon dioxide and other gasses caused this situation but we do not have sufficient evidence to prove that. David says that may be Jessica is right but despite of lack of data it is evident that we are cornerstone species and for that we make huge impacts on the entire ecological complexion of the Earth. Some of these may be good for us and some are really bad for us in the long term. Just see how we are damaging the environment by incorporating the Industries. Anyways, weather they both are right or wrong one thing is very evident that approximately 10000 years ago the Sahara we see today is quite different.
Well, If I have to conclude this then I would say it is very hard to say that what has happened. We do not have sufficient data of the people who were lived there so how could he assume that they are the reason for the dryness of Sahara. The theory of Jessica is near to correct because the change of Sahara from green land to the hot arid desert can be caused by climate change. History says that earth changes its orbits which caused numerous changes in the world like temperature, rainfall, snowfall, etc. It is very much possible that rising Carbon dioxide and other gasses caused this situation but we do not have sufficient evidence to prove that. David says that maybe Jessica is right but despite lack of data it is evident that we are cornerstone species and for that, we make huge impacts on the whole biological composition of the Earth. A portion of these may be good for us and some are bad for us in the long haul. Just see how we are damaging the environment by incorporating the Industries. Anyways, whether they both are right or wrong one thing is very evident that approximately 10000 years ago the Sahara we see today is quite different.
Extinction of Life
That being said many plants and animals’ species are going to extinct due to the rise in the temperature of the Sahara Desert. Scientist says it is very evident that due to global warming the temperature would rise and Last Year we see that the temperature of Sahara goes up to 50 Degree Celsius highest recorded in the last 200 years. There is also a theory that Sahara would turn itself into Green again in the next 15000 years.
The Sahara Desert is infamous for tourism and often considered as a mecca of photographers but to increase in Temperature the average footfall in Sahara is decreasing constantly. Many countries in Western Sahara are suffering from it. The best part of Sahara for tourists is in Morocco. The Sahara in morocco has orange sand dunes that can be found there. Many people come to Morocco solely to Visit the Sahara Desert. 3 days desert tour from Marrakech is the most popular package for the people who want to visit Sahara. I highly recommend to visit this beautiful place and you would be astonished to see how come this dry and rocky place was full of water and greenery a long time ago.
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