Earth:Oasis

From HandWiki

In ecology, an oasis (/ˈsɪs/; pl.: oases /ˈsz/) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment[1] that sustains plant life and provides habitat for animals. Surface water may be present, or water may only be accessible from wells or underground channels created by humans. In geography, an oasis may be a current or past rest stop on a transportation route, or less-than-verdant location that nonetheless provides access to underground water through deep wells created and maintained by humans. Although they depend on a natural condition, such as the presence of water that may be stored in reservoirs and used for irrigation, most oases, as we know them, are artificial.[2]

The word oasis came into English from Latin: oasis, from Ancient Greek: ὄασις, óasis, which in turn is a direct borrowing from Demotic Egyptian. The word for oasis in the latter-attested Coptic language (the descendant of Demotic Egyptian) is wahe or ouahe which means a "dwelling place".[3] Oasis in Arabic is wāḥa (Arabic: واحة).

Description

Oases develop in "hydrologically favored" locations that have attributes such as a high water table, seasonal lakes, or blockaded wadis.[4] Oases are made when sources of freshwater, such as springs, underground rivers, or aquifers irrigate the surface naturally or via man-made wells.[5] The presence of water on the surface or underground is necessary and the local or regional management of this essential resource is strategic, but not sufficient to create such areas: continuous human work and know-how (a technical and social culture) are essential to maintain such ecosystems.[6][7] Some of the possible human contributions to maintaining an oasis include digging and maintaining wells, digging and maintaining canals, and continuously removing opportunistic plants that threaten to gorge themselves on water and fertility needed to maintain human and animal food supplies.[8] Stereotypically, an oasis has a "central pool of open water surrounded by a ring of water-dependent shrubs and trees…which are in turn encircled by an outlying transition zone to desert plants."[9]

Rain showers provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat. Substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to the surface. Any incidence of water is then used by migrating birds, which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the water's edge forming an oasis. It can also be used to plant crops.

Geography

Oases in the Middle East and North Africa cover about 1,000,000 hectares (10,000 km2), however, they support the livelihood of about 10 million inhabitants.[10] The stark ratio of oasis to desert land in the world means that the oasis ecosystem is "relatively minute, rare and precious."[9]

There are 90 "major oases" within the Sahara Desert.[5] Some of their fertility may derive from irrigation systems called foggaras, khettaras, lkhttarts, or a variety of other regional names.[11][12]

In some oases systems, there is "a geometrical system of raised channels that release controlled amounts of the water into individual plots, soaking the soil."[12]

Irrigation canal within the Figuig Oasis in eastern Morocco

History

Oases often have human histories that are measured in millennia. Archeological digs at Ein Gedi in the Dead Sea Valley have found evidence of settlement dating to 6,000 BC.[13] Al-Ahsa on the Arabian Peninsula shows evidence of human residence dating to the Neolithic.[14]

Anthropologically, the oasis is "an area of sedentary life, which associates the city [medina] or village [ksar] with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system."[15]

The location of oases has been of critical importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas; caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water and food can be replenished. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames and Kufra, situated in modern-day Libya, have at various times been vital to both north–south and east–west trade in the Sahara Desert. The location of oases also informed the Darb El Arba'īn trade route from Sudan to Egypt, as well as the caravan route from the Niger River to Tangier, Morocco.[9] The Silk Road "traced its course from water hole to water hole, relying on oasis communities such as Turpan in China and Samarkand in Uzbekistan."[9]

According to the United Nations, "Oases are at the very heart of the overall development of peri-Saharan countries due to their geographical location and the fact they are preferred migration routes in times of famine or insecurity in the region."[11]

Oases in Oman, on the Arabian Peninsula near the Persian Gulf, vary somewhat from the Saharan form. While still located in an arid or semi-arid zone with a date palm overstory, these oases are usually located below plateaus and "watered either by springs or by aflaj, tunnel systems dug into the ground or carved into the rock to tap underground aquifers." This rainwater harvesting system "never developed a serious salinity problem."[10]

Oasis in Oman
Diagram of khattara system

Palm Oasis

In the drylands of southwestern North America, there is a habitat form called Palm Oasis (alternately Palm Series or Oasis Scrub Woodland) that has the native California fan palm as the overstory species.[16] These Palm Oases can be found in California, Arizona, Baja California, and Sonora.[16]

Agroforestry

Djerid Oasis, Tunisia

People who live in an oasis must manage land and water use carefully. The most important plant in an oasis is the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), which forms the upper layer. These palm trees provide shade for smaller understory trees like apricots, figs, olives, and peach trees, which form the middle layer. Market-garden vegetables, some cereals (such as sorghum, barley, millet, and wheat), and/or mixed animal fodder, are grown in the bottom layer where there is more moisture.[17] The oasis is integrated into its desert environment through an often close association with nomadic transhumant livestock farming (very often pastoral and sedentary populations are clearly distinguished). The fertility of the oasis soil is restored by "cyclic organic inputs of animal origin."[15] In summary, an oasis palm grove is a highly anthropized and irrigated area that supports a traditionally intensive and polyculture-based agriculture.[1]

Responding to environmental constraints, the three strata create what is called the "oasis effect".[1] The three layers and all their interaction points create a variety of combinations of "horizontal wind speed, relative air temperature and relative air humidity."[10] The plantings—through a virtuous cycle of wind reduction, increased shade and evapotranspiration—create a microclimate favorable to crops; "measurements taken in different oases have showed that the potential evapotranspiration of the areas was reduced by 30 to 50 percent within the oasis."[15]

The keystone date palm trees are "a main income source and staple food for local populations in many countries in which they are cultivated, and have played significant roles in the economy, society, and environment of those countries."[18] Challenges for date palm oasis polycultures include "low rainfall, high temperatures, water resources often high in salt content, and high incidence of pests."[19]

The oases consist of almost unbroken forests of date palms, divided up into many gardens that are separated by mud walls and intersected by innumerable irrigation and drainage ditches… In the shade of the palms are grown many other kinds of fruit trees—oranges, olives, figs, apricots, peaches, pomegranates, and jujubes—interlaced with large grape vines that often hang in festoons from the palm trunks. Beneath the trees are small plots of garden vegetables, barley, and alfalfa. Neither date palms nor other trees are planted with any regularity, and the growth is often so dense that the garden resembles a tropical jungle. Very beautiful are these gardens in the spring, when the apricot and peach trees are in blossom here and there among the palms and the figs and vines are putting forth their leaves. In autumn, when the dates are ripening, the color effects, especially when the tops of the palms are lit up by the last rays of the setting sun, are something that once seen can never be forgotten. The great clusters of fruit, displaying every tint from bright yellow, through orange, vermilion, and maroon, to plum purple and chestnut brown, with their brilliant yellow or rich orange ivory-like stalks, contrast superbly with the dull bluish or gray green of the feathery crowns of foliage. It is small wonder that a whole folklore of poetic legends and proverbs has grown up around the date palm in the regions where it flourishes.

— Kearney, Thomas H. (1906-09-06). Bulletin: Date Varieties and Date Culture in Tunis.

Distressed systems

Many historic oases have struggled with drought and inadequate maintenance.

According to a United Nations report on the future of oases in the Sahara and Sahel, "Increasingly ... oases are subject to various pressures, heavily influenced by the effects of climate change, decreasing groundwater levels and a gradual loss of cultural heritage due to a fading historical memory concerning traditional water management techniques. These natural pressures are compounded by demographic pressures and the introduction of modern water pumping techniques that can disrupt traditional resource management schemes, particularly in the North Saharan oases."[11]

For example, five historic oases in the Western Desert of Egypt (Kharga, Dakhla, Farafra, Baharyia, and Siwa) once had "flowing spring and wells" but due to the decline of groundwater heads because of overuse for land reclamation projects those water sources are no more and the oases suffer as a result.[20]

Morocco has lost two-thirds of its oasis habitat over the last 100 years due to heat, drought, and water scarcity.[12] The Ferkla Oases in Morocco once drew on water from the Ferkla, Sat and Tangarfa Rivers but they are now dry but for a few days a year.[12]

List of places called oasis

New World dryland systems with oasis-like attributes

  • Huacachina, Peru[22]
  • Quitobaquito, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Arizona[36]
  • Kitowok, Sonora, Mexico[36]
  • Fish Springs National Wildlife Refuge in Utah, United States
  • Havasu Falls, Grand Canyon, Arizona[37]
  • Zzyzx in Mojave National Preserve, California[38]
  • Cuatro Ciénegas, Chihuahuan Desert, Mexico[39]
  • Oasis Spring Ecological Reserve, Salton Sea, California[40]

Practical matters

A 1920 USGS publication about watering holes in the deserts of California and Arizona gave this advice for travelers seeking oases:[41]

The usual watering places are springs or wells. Springs are frequently clogged with gravel or rubbish or sometimes even with the bodies of dead animals, and it may be necessary to clean them out. For this work a shovel is needed. Wells may or may not be equipped with pumps. Frequently the pumps are broken and useless, and a rope and bucket are then necessary to obtain water. Most of the wells in this region are less than 100 feet deep, but some are deeper, and 100 feet of rope is not too much to provide. As a rule the rope and bucket at a well, if they were ever provided, soon disappear, and one should never trust the chance of finding them there. Open wells are sometimes contaminated in the same way as springs and need to be cleaned out, particularly in little-frequented places where they are unused for months at a time.

See also

  • Earth:Guelta – Pockets of water in the Sahara desert
  • Physics:Mirage – Naturally occurring optical phenomenon
  • Earth:Oasification – Antonym to desertification by soil erosion
  • Engineering:Qanat – Middle Eastern water supply system
  • Earth:Wadi – River valley, especially a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain
  • Biology:Grove (nature) – Small group of trees
  • Biology:Gallery forest – Type of riparian forest in dry regions
  • Lençóis Maranhenses National Park (Brazil)
  • Great Green Wall (disambiguation)
  • Aflaj Irrigation Systems of Oman
  • Palmeral of Elche
  • Fog oasis (South America)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 (in French) Battesti, Vincent (2005) Jardins au désert: Évolution des pratiques et savoirs oasiens: Jérid tunisien. Paris: IRD éditions. ISBN 978-2-7177-2584-1.
  2. "G176: 5.5 De la adaptación a la creación de ambientes artificiales: los efectos de la presencia humana en las zonas áridas". https://ocw.unican.es/mod/page/view.php?id=660&lang=en. 
  3. Douglas Harper. "Etymonline - Origin of 'Oasis'". Etymonline - Origin of 'Oasis'. http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=oasis&searchmode=none. Retrieved 2011-07-30. 
  4. Gebel, Hans Georg K. (2013). "Arabia's fifth-millennium BCE pastoral well cultures: hypotheses on the origins of oasis life". Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 43: 111–126. ISSN 0308-8421. 
  5. 5.0 5.1 "oasis" (in en). National Geographic Society. 2011-06-10. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/oasis/. 
  6. Vincent Battesti, The Power of a Disappearance: Water in the Jerid region of Tunisia in B. R. Johnston et al. (eds), Water, Cultural Diversity & Global Environmental Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures?, 2012, UNESCO/Springer, p. 77-96 . ISBN 978-9400717732.
  7. Battesti, Vincent (May 28, 2015). "Resources and Appropriations: Back to the Jerid Oases (Tunisia) after the Revolution". Études rurales 2 (192): 153–175. doi:10.4000/etudesrurales.9954. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01154717. 
  8. Cutler, B. Environmental History of the Maghreb, 1800–Present. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Retrieved 25 Jan. 2023, from https://oxfordre-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/africanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277734-e-983 .
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  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Jaradat, Abdullah A.. "Biodiversity of Date Palm". https://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c10/E1-05A-66.pdf. 
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  13. "Life in a Busy Oasis - Archaeology Magazine". https://www.archaeology.org/issues/340-1905/letter-from/7568-life-in-a-busy-oasis. 
  14. "Spring pool no.1 (Ain al Khudoud) and a water- lifting device, photographed by George Rendel, 1937". 2022-09-01. https://content.ebscohost.com/ContentServer.asp?T=P&P=AN&K=158872037&S=R&D=f6h&EbscoContent=dGJyMNHX8kSeqLI40dvuOLCmsEqep7JSs6y4S7WWxWXS&ContentCustomer=dGJyMOzpsE2xqbNRuePfgeyx43zx. 
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  16. 16.0 16.1 Laudenslayer, William F. Jr.. "Palm Oasis". https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=67356. 
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  18. Chao, Chih Cheng T.; Krueger, Robert R. (2007-08-01). "The Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.): Overview of Biology, Uses, and Cultivation". HortScience 42 (5): 1077–1082. doi:10.21273/HORTSCI.42.5.1077. ISSN 0018-5345. https://journals.ashs.org/view/journals/hortsci/42/5/article-p1077.xml. Retrieved 2022-09-22. 
  19. Cherif, Hanene; Marasco, Ramona; Rolli, Eleonora; Ferjani, Raoudha; Fusi, Marco; Soussi, Asma; Mapelli, Francesca; Blilou, Ikram et al. (2015-08-01). "Oasis desert farming selects environment-specific date palm root endophytic communities and cultivable bacteria that promote resistance to drought: Oasis palm endophytes promote drought resistance" (in en). Environmental Microbiology Reports 7 (4): 668–678. doi:10.1111/1758-2229.12304. PMID 26033617. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1758-2229.12304. Retrieved 2022-09-22. 
  20. Aziz, Ameer; Sabet, Hassan S.; Ghoubachi, Saad Y.; Abu Risha, Usama A. (2022-07-01). "The origin and recharge conditions of groundwater in Farafra Oasis, Western Desert, Egypt" (in en). Scientific African 16. doi:10.1016/j.sciaf.2022.e01179. Bibcode2022SciAf..1601179A. 
  21. 21.000 21.001 21.002 21.003 21.004 21.005 21.006 21.007 21.008 21.009 21.010 21.011 21.012 21.013 21.014 21.015 21.016 21.017 21.018 21.019 21.020 21.021 21.022 21.023 21.024 21.025 21.026 21.027 21.028 21.029 21.030 21.031 21.032 21.033 21.034 21.035 21.036 21.037 21.038 21.039 21.040 21.041 21.042 21.043 21.044 21.045 21.046 21.047 21.048 21.049 21.050 21.051 21.052 21.053 21.054 21.055 21.056 21.057 21.058 21.059 21.060 21.061 21.062 21.063 21.064 21.065 21.066 21.067 21.068 21.069 21.070 21.071 21.072 21.073 21.074 21.075 21.076 21.077 21.078 21.079 21.080 21.081 21.082 21.083 21.084 21.085 21.086 21.087 21.088 21.089 21.090 21.091 21.092 21.093 21.094 21.095 21.096 21.097 21.098 21.099 21.100 21.101 21.102 21.103 21.104 21.105 21.106 21.107 21.108 21.109 21.110 21.111 21.112 21.113 21.114 21.115 21.116 21.117 21.118 21.119 21.120 21.121 21.122 21.123 21.124 21.125 21.126 21.127 21.128 21.129 21.130 21.131 21.132 21.133 21.134 21.135 21.136 21.137 21.138 21.139 21.140 21.141 21.142 21.143 21.144 21.145 21.146 21.147 21.148 21.149 21.150 21.151 21.152 21.153 21.154 21.155 21.156 21.157 21.158 21.159 21.160 21.161 21.162 21.163 21.164 21.165 21.166 21.167 21.168 21.169 21.170 21.171 21.172 21.173 21.174 21.175 21.176 21.177 21.178 21.179 "Algeria Traditional Oases". http://www.laboasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Algeria-Traditional-Oases_Localisation_Typology.pdf. 
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  24. 24.00 24.01 24.02 24.03 24.04 24.05 24.06 24.07 24.08 24.09 24.10 24.11 24.12 24.13 24.14 24.15 24.16 24.17 24.18 24.19 24.20 24.21 24.22 24.23 24.24 24.25 24.26 24.27 24.28 24.29 24.30 "Libya Traditional Oases". http://www.laboasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Libya-Traditional-Oases_Localisation_Typology.pdf. 
  25. 25.00 25.01 25.02 25.03 25.04 25.05 25.06 25.07 25.08 25.09 25.10 25.11 25.12 25.13 25.14 25.15 25.16 25.17 25.18 25.19 25.20 25.21 25.22 25.23 25.24 25.25 25.26 25.27 25.28 25.29 25.30 25.31 25.32 25.33 25.34 25.35 25.36 25.37 25.38 25.39 25.40 25.41 25.42 25.43 25.44 25.45 25.46 25.47 25.48 25.49 25.50 25.51 25.52 25.53 25.54 25.55 25.56 25.57 "Mauritania Traditional Oases". http://www.laboasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Mauritania-Traditional-Oases_Localisation_Typology.pdf. 
  26. 26.000 26.001 26.002 26.003 26.004 26.005 26.006 26.007 26.008 26.009 26.010 26.011 26.012 26.013 26.014 26.015 26.016 26.017 26.018 26.019 26.020 26.021 26.022 26.023 26.024 26.025 26.026 26.027 26.028 26.029 26.030 26.031 26.032 26.033 26.034 26.035 26.036 26.037 26.038 26.039 26.040 26.041 26.042 26.043 26.044 26.045 26.046 26.047 26.048 26.049 26.050 26.051 26.052 26.053 26.054 26.055 26.056 26.057 26.058 26.059 26.060 26.061 26.062 26.063 26.064 26.065 26.066 26.067 26.068 26.069 26.070 26.071 26.072 26.073 26.074 26.075 26.076 26.077 26.078 26.079 26.080 26.081 26.082 26.083 26.084 26.085 26.086 26.087 26.088 26.089 26.090 26.091 26.092 26.093 26.094 26.095 26.096 26.097 26.098 26.099 26.100 26.101 26.102 26.103 26.104 26.105 26.106 26.107 26.108 26.109 26.110 26.111 26.112 26.113 26.114 26.115 26.116 26.117 26.118 26.119 26.120 26.121 26.122 26.123 26.124 26.125 26.126 26.127 26.128 26.129 26.130 26.131 26.132 26.133 26.134 26.135 26.136 26.137 26.138 26.139 26.140 26.141 26.142 26.143 26.144 26.145 26.146 26.147 26.148 26.149 26.150 26.151 26.152 26.153 26.154 26.155 26.156 26.157 26.158 26.159 26.160 26.161 26.162 26.163 26.164 26.165 "Morocco Traditional Oases". http://www.laboasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Morocco-Traditional-Oases_Localisation_Typology.pdf. 
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  31. 31.00 31.01 31.02 31.03 31.04 31.05 31.06 31.07 31.08 31.09 31.10 31.11 31.12 31.13 31.14 31.15 31.16 31.17 31.18 31.19 31.20 31.21 31.22 31.23 31.24 31.25 31.26 31.27 31.28 31.29 31.30 31.31 31.32 31.33 31.34 31.35 31.36 "Tunisia Traditional Oases". http://www.laboasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Tunisia-Traditional-Oases_Localisation_Typology.pdf. 
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  35. 35.00 35.01 35.02 35.03 35.04 35.05 35.06 35.07 35.08 35.09 35.10 35.11 35.12 35.13 35.14 35.15 35.16 35.17 35.18 35.19 35.20 35.21 35.22 35.23 35.24 35.25 35.26 35.27 35.28 35.29 35.30 35.31 35.32 35.33 35.34 35.35 35.36 35.37 35.38 35.39 35.40 35.41 35.42 35.43 35.44 35.45 35.46 35.47 35.48 35.49 35.50 35.51 35.52 35.53 35.54 35.55 35.56 35.57 35.58 35.59 35.60 35.61 35.62 35.63 35.64 35.65 35.66 35.67 35.68 35.69 35.70 35.71 35.72 "Yemen Traditional Oases". http://www.laboasis.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Yemen-Traditional-Oases_Localisation_Typology.pdf. 
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