3 ms·
What’s the proposed mechanism for that? It doesn’t seem plausible to me on the surface.
by slashdev 3y ago
What’s the proposed mechanism for that? It doesn’t seem plausible to me on the surface.
- hedora 3y agoI don’t know about Arizona, but apparently, parts of the great plains were dense forest that Europeans clear cut, and they simply never recovered. Also, California used to be green in the summer, but then people introduced non-native grass that grows rapidly in spring, choking out the native plants, but dies by July. It is the reason the hills are so yellow and dusty and dry. There is some stuff along route 66 that suggests the desert was there longer than humans though. One example is the crater they used for moon landing training. It’s basically undisturbed, and is extremely old.
- hyperbovine 3y agoThe Great Plains have been grassland since the LGM, that’s one thing you can’t pin on European settlers. East of the Mississippi though, a squirrel in the 17th century could have walked from Maine to Georgia and back without ever touching land.