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Located 400 meters below sea level, at the tectonically active irregular boundary between the Mediterranean and Arabic plates, the Dead Sea is the site of many interesting phenomena. It provides a modern analog for ancient pull-apart basins and allows researchers to examine the process of evaporite deposition from deep water. It also offers insight into the adaptive ability of the life form living in the hypersaline brine. This book, based on a conference held in Tel Aviv in December 1993, focuses on the geophysics, geochemistry, hydrology, and climatology of the Dead Sea region.
In the nineteenth century The Dead Sea and the Tigris-Euphrates river system had great political significance: the one as a possible gateway for a Russian invasion of Egypt, the other as a potentially faster route to India. This is the traditional explanation for the presence of the international powers in the region. This important new book questions this view. Through a study of two important projects of the time - international efforts to determine the exact level of the Dead Sea, and Chesney's Euphrates Expedition to find a quicker route to India - Professor Goren shows how other forces than the interests of empire, were involved. He reveals the important role played by private individuals and establishes a wealth of new connections between the key players; and he reveals for the first time an important Irish nexus. The resulting work adds an important new dimension to our existing understanding of this period.
There are incentive indications that the growth of human population, the increasing use and abuse of natural resources combined with climate changes (probably due to anthropic pollution, to some extent) exert a considerable stress on closed (or semi-enclosed) seas and lakes. In many regions of the world, marine and lacustrine hydrosystems are (or have been) the object of severe or fatal alterations, from changes in regional hydrological regimes and/or modifications of the quantity or the quality of water resources associated with (natural or man-made) land reclamation, deterioration of geochemical balances (increased salinity, oxygen's depletion .. . ), mutations of ecosystems (eutrophication, dramatic decrease in biological diversity ... ) to geological disturbances and to the socio-economic perturbations which have been - or may be in the near future - the consequences of them. Seas and lakes are dying all over the world and some may be regarded as already dead and there is an urgent need to try to understand how this is happening and identify the causes of the observed mutations, weighing the relative effects of climatic evolution and anthropic interferences. This book is the outcome of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, held in Liege in May 2003. The Workshop was organized at th the University of Liege as a follow on meeting to the 35 International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics, dedicated in 2003 to Dying and Dead Seas. The book contains the synthesis of the lectures given by 16 main speakers during the ARW.
Drought is an insidious hazard of nature. It originates from a deficiency of precipitation that results in a water shortage for some activity or some group. Africa has suffered the most dramatic impacts from drought during the past several decades the recent droughts in the southern and eastern portions of the continent are testimony to that fact. However, the vulnerability of all nations to extended periods of water shortage has been underscored again and again during this same time period. In the past decade alone, droughts have occurred with considerable frequency and severity in most of the developed and developing world. Significant parts of North and South America, Australia, Europe, and Asia have been plagued recently by extended periods of severe drought, often resulting in far-reaching economic, social, and environmental consequences. In the western United States, for example, vast areas are facing the prospects of a sixth or seventh consecutive year of drought in 1993. Concern by members ofthe scientific and policy communities about the inability of governments to respond in an effective and timely manner to drought and its associated impacts exists worldwide. Numerous "calls for action" for improved drought planning and management have been issued by national governments, professional organizations, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and others. The United Nations' International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (lDNDR) is yet another example of an international call for action to reduce the impacts that result from drought and other natural hazards.
In The Destruction of Sodom, the Biblical account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is examined under the spotlight of modern science against a cultural backdrop of history and archaeology. In this scientific reconstruction, the account of events described in the book of Genesis is verified and it is established that the destruction occurred at about 2350 BC as a result of an earthquake-induced landslide transporting Sodom to the depths of the Dead Sea. Strands of geography, geology, andengineering science are drawn together to provide comprehensive treatment of all relevant scientific aspects pertinent to a rational understanding of the mechanics of the disaster. The detailed scientific argument follows a discussion of the Genesisaccount and considerations of Canaanite culture and commerce, with specific attention to the trade in bitumen. On this point, Graham Harris provides evidence that the mainstay of Canaanite commerce was the exploitation of the bitumen resources of the Dead Sea, that the Sodomites were among the world's first chemical engineers, and from the resources of the region a large number of processed materials also would have been exported to Egypt. The Destruction of Sodom is an example of the application of science to a fuller understanding of one of the most intriguing events of the Old Testament, and will be of direct interest to scholars as well as to the wider public.
Describing the natural state of eight important lakes in Asia and the human impact on these lake ecosystems, this book offers a valuable reference guide. Over the past several decades the Aral Sea, Dead Sea, Lake Balkhash and other major lakes in Asia have undergone significant changes with regard to their size, water level, chemical composition, and flora and fauna. Most of these changes resulted from the loss of water from tributaries (now used for irrigation farming) or increasing consumption in local industries and households. However, significant human impacts may have begun as early as 2000 years ago. In addition to the three lakes mentioned above, Lake Sevan (Armenia), the Caspian Sea (Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan), Lake Issyk-Kul (Kyrgyzstan), and Lake Lop Nur (China) are discussed as the most prominent examples of changing lake ecosystems. In contrast, an example of an almost pristine lake ecosystem is included with the report on Lake Uvs Nuur (Mongolia). For each lake, the book summarizes its origin and early geological history, and reconstructs its natural state and variability on the basis of proxy records from drilled or exposed lake sediments that have accumulated since the last ice age. The frequently observed reductions in lake level and size during most recent decades led often to significant environmental impacts in the respective lake catchments including vegetation deterioration, soil erosion and badland formation, soil salinization or the formation of sinkholes.
This 1978 book responds to a rapid growth of scientific and popular interest in questions of climatic change, variability and stability. The many distinguished contributors to this volume present a broad and authoritative interdisciplinary approach to the study of climatic change and its impact on mankind.
The story of the destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho--three cities situated along a major fault line extending 1,100 kilometers from the Red Sea to Turkey--is the oldest such description in human history. In this book, noted geologists K.O. Emery and David Neev have revisited that story to shed light on what happened there some 4,350 years ago. With all the benefits of modern geological and forensic science techniques at their disposal, the authors explore an area where earthquakes, volcanic activity, variations in the Dead Sea's level, and oscillations between arid and wet climates have affected life there for over 10,000 years. In reviewing the geology, biblical paleogeography, and limnology of the region, the authors have produced fascinating insights into the tectonic and climatic changes that have occurred in the region over the last 6,000 years and how those changes have affected cultural life in the Middle East. The Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, and Jericho is the first book to combine modern science and biblical archaeology to produce an authoritative account of the of these three great cities. It will fascinate students and researchers in geology, geophysics, and archaeology alike.