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sand goes to soil fairly quickly once organic processes restart.

I've seen some very interesting youtubes about desert reclamations using quite small amounts of water but delivered consistently. the soil creation is very rapid, 3 - 6 years from bare sand.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Sun Sep 9th, 2018 at 07:56:03 PM EST
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I was unaware that sand (pulverized, eroded rock) goes to "soil". "Dust" (desiccated soil) may go to soil. But my understanding is, the mineral properties of sand and of soil differ, so therefore the arability of the media.

The Sahara desert, unlike the Gobi for example and purportedly the optimal site of Desertec equipment, is 80:20, sand:soil, unevenly distributed. The  maximum depths of its dunes and packed strata are, basically, unknown.

I found a youtube doc about Libyan (Gadaffi's) investment in reclamation that offers a succinct explanation of the financial and technical hurdles to agricultural success --without even the added expenses of solar and wind siting and maintenance.

Astro turf appears the least cost option.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Sep 10th, 2018 at 08:24:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
soil types (including sand), general reference
what ia organic and mineral properties
structure physical properties
::
Libyan Sahara Water from the Desert - The Secrets of Nature, 00:43:58
50 ha plot reclamation, 2014
"You had to add different kinds of minerals."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 12th, 2018 at 12:51:57 AM EST
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