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1. How come so much water collects in the desert, rather than closer to the coastline? 2. Is there some decent English text, in a book or online, which describ

1. How come so much water collects in the desert, rather than closer to the coastline? 2. Is there some decent English text, in a book or online, which describes how Libyan society worked up until 2012? With focus on social and political structures and their interaction?

adolph 6y ago
For question one, Wikipedia refers to the source as a “fossil” aquifer, meaning the water has been in place for many thousands of years. It also claims the source is rainwater and doesn’t make an estimate about balance of inputs to pumping effort outputs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_Syste...
- einpoklum 6y ago
  If that's really the case, pumping it out sounds like a fool's errand, because it'll just run out. Either that or it's so vast that consumption by millions of people doesn't make a dent in the overall water level.
  - azernik 6y ago
    Even with zero influx, at current estimated usage it should last about 100K years
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
  - thendrill 6y ago
    Yeh but you have to remember that Libya was and is still floating on oil. Also this was the 70s ... Good time for oil. So basically Libya has this free black money comming from the desert. Yet people struggle with basic infrastructure. Also keep in mind that Libya was around 6 mill people. Not a lot for such a vast desert. So basically two birds with one stone... You build up your infrastructure connecting the coast and the desert and in the process you get much needed water delivered to the coast. Yes the water might not be there. But you still have a super highway build in the desert. If you look at UAE and KSA that is exactly what they did too. Invest as much as possible in infrastructure, NOW... roads, pipes, cables etc. "Long term" does not play well in Arabic culture....
  - Tuna-Fish 6y ago
    Cyclical changes in Earth's rotation pushes the North African Monsoon up to the Sahara for a few thousand years every 20k years or so. During this period, the area is much wetter, and over millions of years, very large amounts of water have been deposited in all the areas from where groundwater doesn't drain away. The source of water for the GMMR is the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, which has an estimated 150,000 km³ of water in it, of which 2.4 km³ is pumped out every year.

adolph 6y ago

For question one, Wikipedia refers to the source as a “fossil” aquifer, meaning the water has been in place for many thousands of years. It also claims the source is rainwater and doesn’t make an estimate about balance of inputs to pumping effort outputs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nubian_Sandstone_Aquifer_Syste...

einpoklum 6y ago
If that's really the case, pumping it out sounds like a fool's errand, because it'll just run out. Either that or it's so vast that consumption by millions of people doesn't make a dent in the overall water level.
- azernik 6y ago
  Even with zero influx, at current estimated usage it should last about 100K years
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- thendrill 6y ago
  Yeh but you have to remember that Libya was and is still floating on oil. Also this was the 70s ... Good time for oil. So basically Libya has this free black money comming from the desert. Yet people struggle with basic infrastructure. Also keep in mind that Libya was around 6 mill people. Not a lot for such a vast desert. So basically two birds with one stone... You build up your infrastructure connecting the coast and the desert and in the process you get much needed water delivered to the coast. Yes the water might not be there. But you still have a super highway build in the desert. If you look at UAE and KSA that is exactly what they did too. Invest as much as possible in infrastructure, NOW... roads, pipes, cables etc. "Long term" does not play well in Arabic culture....
- Tuna-Fish 6y ago
  Cyclical changes in Earth's rotation pushes the North African Monsoon up to the Sahara for a few thousand years every 20k years or so. During this period, the area is much wetter, and over millions of years, very large amounts of water have been deposited in all the areas from where groundwater doesn't drain away. The source of water for the GMMR is the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System, which has an estimated 150,000 km³ of water in it, of which 2.4 km³ is pumped out every year.