What are the differences between desertification and weathering, and also what are the benefits and

the dangers from these two processes? The world's great deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. Paleodeserts, large sand seas now inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, extend well beyond the present margins of core deserts, such as the ahara. !n some regions, deserts are separated sharply from surrounding, less arid areas by mountains and other contrasting landforms that reflect basic structural differences in the regional geology. !n other areas, desert fringes form a gradual transition from a dry to a more humid environment, making it more difficult to define the desert border. These transition zones have very fragile, delicately balanced ecosystems. Desert fringes often are a mosaic of microclimates. mall hollows support vegetation that picks up heat from the hot winds and protects the land from the prevailing winds. "fter rainfall the vegetated areas are distinctly cooler than the surroundings. !n these marginal areas, human activity may stress the ecosystem beyond its tolerance limit, resulting in degradation of the land. #y pounding the soil with their hooves, livestock compact the substrate, increase the proportion of fine material, and reduce the percolation rate of the soil, thus encouraging erosion by wind and water. $razing and the collection of firewood reduces or eliminates plants that help to bind the soil. This degradation of formerly productive land%% desertification%%is a complex process. !t involves multiple causes, and it proceeds at varying rates in different climates. Desertification may intensify a general climatic trend toward greater aridity, or it may initiate a change in local climate. Desertification does not occur in linear, easily mappable patterns. Deserts advance erratically, forming patches on their borders. "reas far from natural deserts can degrade &uickly to barren soil, rock, or sand through poor land management. The presence of a nearby desert has no direct relationship to desertification. 'nfortunately, an area undergoing desertification is brought to public attention only after the process is well underway. (ften little or no data are available to indicate the previous state of the ecosystem or the rate of degradation. cientists still &uestion whether desertification, as a process of global change, is permanent or how and when it can be halted or reversed. Desertification became well known in the )*+,'s, when parts of the $reat Plains in the 'nited tates turned into the -Dust #owl- as a result of drought and poor practices in farming, although the term itself was not used until almost )*.,. During the dust bowl period, millions of people were forced to abandon their farms and livelihoods. $reatly improved methods of agriculture and land and water management in the $reat Plains have prevented that disaster from

recurring, but desertification presently affects millions of people in almost every continent. !ncreased population and livestock pressure on marginal lands has accelerated desertification. !n some areas, nomads moving to less arid areas disrupt the local ecosystem and increase the rate of erosion of the land. /omads are trying to escape the desert, but because of their land%use practices, they are bringing the desert with them. 7inear dunes of the ahara Desert encroach on /ouakchott, the capital of :auritania. The dunes border a mos&ue at left ;photograph by $eorg $erster<. !t is a misconception that droughts cause desertification. Droughts are common in arid and semiarid lands. 0ell%managed lands can recover from drought when the rains return. 1ontinued land abuse during droughts, however, increases land degradation. #y )*2+, the drought that began in )*34 in the ahel of 0est "frica and the land%use practices there had caused the deaths of more than ),,,,,, people and )5 million cattle, as well as the disruption of social organizations from villages to the national level. 0hile desertification has received tremendous publicity by the political and news media, there are still many things that we don't know about the degradation of productive lands and the expansion of deserts. !n )*44 6idley /elson pointed out in an important scientific paper that the desertification problem and processes are not clearly defined. There is no consensus among researchers as to the specific causes, extent, or degree of desertification. 1ontrary to many popular reports, desertification is actually a subtle and complex process of deterioration that may often be reversible. !n the last 5. years, satellites have begun to provide the global monitoring necessary for improving our understanding of desertification. 7andsat images of the same area, taken several years apart but during the same point in the growing season, may indicate changes in the susceptibility of land to desertification. tudies using 7andsat data help demonstrate the impact of people and animals on the 8arth. 9owever, other types of remote%sensing systems, land%monitoring networks, and global data bases of field observations are needed before the process and problems of desertification will be completely understood.

"t the local level, individuals and governments can help to reclaim and protect their lands. !n areas of sand dunes, covering the dunes with large boulders or petroleum will interrupt the wind regime near the face of the dunes and prevent the sand from moving. and fences are used throughout the :iddle 8ast and the 'nited tates, in the same way snow fences are used in the north. Placement of straw grids, each up to a s&uare meter in area, will also decrease the surface wind velocity. hrubs and trees planted within the grids are protected by the straw until they take root. !n areas where some water is available for irrigation, shrubs planted on the lower one%third of a dune's windward side will stabilize the dune. This vegetation decreases the wind velocity near the base of the dune and prevents much of the sand from moving. 9igher velocity winds at the top of the dune level it off and trees can be planted atop these flattened surfaces. (ases and farmlands in windy regions can be protected by planting tree fences or grass belts. and that manages to pass through the grass belts can be caught in strips of trees planted as wind breaks ., to ),, meters apart ad=acent to the belts. mall plots of trees may also be scattered inside oases to stabilize the area. (n a much larger scale, a -$reen 0all,- which will eventually stretch more than .,2,, kilometers in length, much longer than the famous $reat 0all, is being planted in northeastern 1hina to protect -sandy lands-%%deserts believed to have been created by human activity. :ore efficient use of existing water resources and control of salinization are other effective tools for improving arid lands. /ew ways are being sought to use surface%water resources such as rain water harvesting or irrigating with seasonal runoff from ad=acent highlands. /ew ways also being sought to find and tap groundwater resources and to develop more effective ways of irrigating arid and semiarid lands. 6esearch on the reclamation of deserts also is focusing on discovering proper crop rotation to protect the fragile soil, on understanding how sand%fixing plants can be adapted to local environments, and on how grazing lands and water resources can be developed effectively without being overused. !f we are to stop and reverse the degradation of arid and semiarid lands, we must understand how and why the rates of climate change, population growth, and food production adversely affect these environments. The most effective intervention can come only from the wise use of the best earth%science information available. The rocks, soil and other materials that make up the 8arth>s surface are always changing due to the forces of weathering, erosion and deposition. 0eathering is a natural process that breaks rocks into smaller and smaller pieces. 8rosion is a process that takes place when those pieces are carried away from their original locations, and deposition occurs when the small rocks and soil end up in another area, helping to create new land. ometimes, as in rockslides, erosion and deposition happen &uickly. :ore often than not, weathering and

erosion happens so slowly that you can>t even see it. ?orces like wind, snow and rain are responsible for the physical weathering of rocks, causing them to be worn down, cracked or broken into smaller pieces. 0ind picks up sand and other particles, blowing them against rocks, buildings, statues and other surfaces. 0aves crashing against rocks at the shoreline wear away those rocks, turning rock particles into sand. !n fast flowing streams, rocks tumble against each other, smoothing and rounding out rough surfaces. These are all examples of abrasion. Temperature changes, especially from day to night, also cause physical weathering. The cold of night causes rocks to shrink or contract. !n daylight, the sun heats and expands the outer layers of rock while the insides are still cold. This temperature difference causes outer layers of rock to flake off. #ecause water expands when frozen, water that seeps into cracks on rocks> surfaces can freeze and cause rocks to split open. "nimals and plants can also cause physical weathering. "nimals that burrow into the ground, digging their homes under and between rocks, are unknowingly responsible for exposing those rock surfaces to wind, water and temperature changes. 7ike the splitting of rocks by freezing water, the pressure of growing plant roots that have moved into cracks and holes in rocks cause them to split open as well. 6ocks are also changed through the process of chemical weathering. 1hemical weathering can occur when certain chemicals called acids dissolve rocks and change them into new substances. :any of the minerals that make up rocks will slowly dissolve as the weak acids found in water react with the rocks. This type of weathering can be seen in the many interesting rock formations often found in limestone caves. The water that slowly soaks and drips into the cave changes the rocks over many years. ome plants also give off weak acids that can dissolve or change rock surfaces. (nce weathering breaks down land, the process of erosion carries rocks and soil away, while the process of deposition helps create new land somewhere else. :any of the same forces that cause weathering, such as wind, running water, waves and ice, can also carry away rocks and deposit them elsewhere. 0ind picks up and carries dust, sand and other things. 0hen the wind stops, these fragments fall to the ground in new locations. During heavy rains, when the soil can hold no more water, the excess water called runoff carries away topsoil that is not protected by plants. 9eavy runoff can create streams that wear away the land. "s streams flow into rivers, the soil, sand and rocks carried by the water are deposited along the sides and at the mouth of rivers. "lthough weathering, erosion and deposition cause some problems for people, these natural processes also have benefits. ?or example, while topsoil is washed or blown away by wind and rain, rich new land that is good for growing crops is deposited along shores and at river deltas. (cean waves weather and erode rocks, but the sand that is deposited on shorelines often protects homes along the shore from damage by storms. $laciers gouge out huge mountain valleys, and they are also responsible for creating thousands of lakes from melting blocks of ice. "s these large sheets of ice move over the 8arth, they carry soil and rocks and deposit them in new places, creating new land

formations. 'nderstanding the ongoing natural cycle of weathering, erosion and deposition helps us understand our changing 8arth.