Sub Disciplines (cont.)Geological ResourcesLocating and
characterizing amounts and quality Extracting and Understanding
environmental effects of extraction and use (misuse, overuse) of
resourcesHistorical GeologyDeciphering Earth History and Evolution
of life
Known as the cradle of civilization, Mesopotamia served as the
site for some of the worlds earliest settlements. Named after the
Greek word meaning between the rivers, Mesopotamia occupied the
area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that now constitutes
the greater part of Iraq. The Sumerian civilization, which began in
the region in about 3500 bc, built a canal system and the worlds
first cities. Availability: waterConflicts: water, mineral, Oil
FERTILE CRESCENT (at http://leb.net/fchp/)What is the Fertile
Crescent? The Fertile Crescent is a region in the Near East of
great world-historical significance. The Fertile Crescent gave
birth to and sustained many great civilizations including those of
the Assyrians, Sumerians, Canaanites, Philistines,
Phoenicians/Carthaginians, Hyksos, Akkadians, Hittites, Hurrians,
Mitanni, Kassites, Arameans, Amorites, Seleucids, Nabateans,
Lakhmids, Ghassanids, Ummayyads, Abbasids, etc.... The Fertile
Crescent is the place where agriculture and civilization first
arose, the birthplace of our alphabet, the place where great
religions first uplifted the souls of mankind, the home of
philosophers, saints, poets, explorers and conquerors. Some of our
ancestors are among the most famous names of ancient and classical
history including Sargon, Hammurabi, AshurBanipal, Semiramis, Zeno
the Stoic, Mani of Babylon, Berossus, Dido, Hanno, Hannibal, Julia
Domna, Jonas, Europa, Pygmalian, Zenobia, Lucian, Libanius, Tatian,
Nestorius, John Chrysostom, Ephraim the Syrian, Byzantine Empress
Theodora, Byzantine Emperor Leo the Isaurian, at least six Emperors
of the Roman Empire (Septimius Severus, Geta, Caracalla,
Elagabulus, Severus Alexander and Philip the Arab) and at least
five Popes (St. Anicetus, John V, St. Sergius, Sisinnius, and St.
Gregory III). In later years our ancestors created the great
Ummayad and Abbasid civilizations which made Damascus and Baghdad
centers of world culture and learning. Our culture, our heritage
and people are still alive. In recent centuries we have become
divided, disorganized and weak. But we are still capable of
revival. We are eminently capable of once more creating great and
powerful civilizations like those of our Abbasid and Assyrian and
Phoenician and Ummayad forefathers. The key is unity and
cooperation. What unites us makes us strong, what divides us makes
us weak. If only we all work together as one people then our
greatest days lay ahead. Where is the Fertile Crescent? The Fertile
Crescent is that part of the Near East which stretches from the
Taurus Mountains in the North to the arch of the Arabian Desert in
the South and from the Eastern Mediterranean (known as the "Syrian
Sea" in antiquity) in the West to the Zagros Mountains and the Gulf
of Fao in the East. So, if you are interested in Syria, Lebanon,
Cyprus, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait, Cilicia, Ahwaz, Sinai,
etc... Then... this page is for you!
FERTILE CRESCENT (at
http://killeenroos.com/1/mesodata.htm)Fertile Crescent
Civilizations Mesopotamia, "the land between the rivers," was the
ancient Greek name for the triangular area between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers that stretched northward from a point a little
above modern Baghdad to the mountains of Armenia. In modern usage,
however, in reference to antiquity, the term Mesopotamia refers to
most of what is now Iraq. This broader definition--the one used
here--adds to the original territory the land east of the Tigris
(ancient ASSYRIA) and the lower Tigris-Euphrates Valley from
Baghdad to the Persian Gulf (ancient BABYLONIA). Some parts of
Mesopotamia were sparsely inhabited--and others not at all--until
after about 8000 BC, when the domestication of plants and animals
brought about an agricultural revolution. This key step in the
development of human civilization made possible an increased food
supply and an accompanying growth of population and allowed nomads
and cave dwellers to become farmers and herders. People began to
move down from the mountains to the grassy uplands and well-watered
plains of northern Mesopotamia. By 6000 BC primitive villages
stretched from Assyria along a fertile strip just below the
Armenian hills to the Euphrates River and beyond. Later, about 5000
BC, the occupation of the lower valley (Babylonia) was begun by
people who started at the Persian Gulf and gradually moved upriver.
Because of inadequate rainfall the inhabitants of the lower valley
had to resort to irrigation in order to farm the land. Irrigation
required a highly organized governmental structure to mobilize and
direct the efforts of the workers. At the same time, a lack of
stone, wood, metals, and other commodities led the people of the
southern valley to develop industry in order to produce goods that
could be traded for the materials needed and to develop an
extensive trade with the outside world. The southern valley's more
complex economy, coupled with its more productive agriculture,
induced a more sizable increase in population and brought the rise
of large villages, even cities. Thus by 3100 BC civilization may be
said to have begun in southern Mesopotamia, the area called SUMER.
During the Sumerian period, which lasted until about 2000 BC, the
Sumerians organized a system of flood control and a pattern of
irrigation and created an enduring writing system (cuneiform),
religious literature, architectural form, and economic
organization. In the centuries after 3100 BC, Sumerian civilization
was borrowed and adapted by the people of northern Mesopotamia as
well as by those in the region now called Iran and by countries
west of the Euphrates bordering on the Mediterranean Sea.
Mesopotamia, unlike Egypt, was a land open to invasion, and
therefore as time passed the country came under the political
domination of a succession of conquerors. These people often
enriched Mesopotamian culture as they introduced their traditional
beliefs, practices, and customs. However, because of environmental
conditions peculiar to Mesopotamia and the existence of an already
complex civilization there, these later peoples adopted Sumerian
culture as the basis for their cultural innovations. During the
Sumerian period Semitic-speaking tribes from the west occupied the
northern part of the lower valley (AKKAD) around Babylon and set up
the so-called Sargonid dynasty (c.2350-2100 BC) that briefly
controlled the Sumerians in the south. More important, however,
were the AMORITES, a larger Semitic group that came shortly after
2000 BC. These people, with their capital at BABYLON, established
the Old Babylonian Kingdom that unified the whole valley. The
Amorites were numerous enough to make their language the prevailing
speech in Babylonia and to merge their culture with that of the
Sumerians to create a new literature, a different political
organization, advances in sculpture, and a reorganization of
commercial procedures. In addition, they gave an impressive
maturity to the elementary mathematics and astronomy developed by
the Sumerians. About the same time that the Amorites came to
Babylonia, another, related Semitic group, the Assyrians, took over
the eastern part (Assyria) of northern Mesopotamia. Although they,
too, borrowed from the culture of the Sumerians, they proceeded
more slowly than the Amorites, and Assyrian civilization flowered
at a later time. Both the Babylonians and Assyrians were in
political eclipse between 1550 and 1100 BC as invaders from the
north dominated their respective territories: Mitannians (see
MITANNI) in Assyria and KASSITES in Babylonia. By about 1100, the
Mitannian and the Kassite regimes had crumbled and disappeared
without having materially affected Mesopotamian culture, and the
Babylonians and Assyrians rose to new political and cultural
heights. Between 745 and 612 BC the Assyrians built up and then
lost a great empire that encompassed Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine,
and Egypt, with tributary nations in western Iran as well. Assyrian
civilization, an elaboration of the basic Mesopotamian, was the
wonder of the age. After the fall of Assyria, Babylonia under the
Neo-Babylonian (or Chaldean) kings--Nabopolassar (r. c.630-605),
NEBUCHADNEZZAR II (r. 605-561), and others--flourished until the
Persian conquest of 539 BC. Henceforth Mesopotamia was incorporated
in foreign empires: the Persian, Seleucid, Parthian, Sassanian,
Arab, and Ottoman. In 1921, following World War I, Mesopotamia was
constituted as the new state of Iraq under British mandate. It
became independent in 1932. Ancient Mesopotamia bequeathed to the
Western world a great legacy. Today we still use Assyrian words for
many plants and minerals; the Babylonians were the founders of our
algebra and astronomy; the sexagesimal system of the Sumerians
appears in our astronomy and timekeeping (60 seconds, one minute;
60 minuts, one hour); and the Mesopotamian influence on the authors
of the Old Testament is well known.
Aral Sea
(http://www.grida.no/aral/aralsea/english/arsea/arsea.htm)
C entral Asia (territory is 1.7 mln. sq.km) is situated in the
mid-part of Euroasia at the crossroad of ancient caravan routes
between Europe and Asia, Middle and Far East and mainly coincides
with the geographical borders of the Aral Sea, completely including
territories of Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, a large part of
Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and the south of Kazakhstan. As one of the
most ancient centres of world civilization, this region has vast
territories of arid and semiarid zones(1 mln.sq.km) with only 5% of
densely populated oases. The basin is inner water body of the
dischargeless Aral Sea which was the fourth largest inland lake in
the world before 1960. The dependence of the Central Asian
civilization's development of water resources dates back to ancient
times. Water and irrigation have always been the basis of life, the
development of every living thing, and the main component of nature
in the region. Click to enlarge the picture By the beginning of the
20th century, 7-8 million people lived in the region. Irrigated
lands made up about 3.5 million hectares and had irrigation
networks of different levels. It was the foundation of society's
economic base. At present the population of the region has
increased 7 times, exceeding 50 million people (54.2 million people
in 1997). Irrigated lands had doubled (7.5-7.9 milllion hectares).
HistoryOn the basis of geographical and archeological research it
was established that the Aral Sea has had periodical changes of its
water area, i.e. expansions are followed by withdrawals. This was
brought about by climate change and changes in the state of the
environment in the region. With the development of land use,
anthropogenic factors affected the natural periods of sea
fluctuations changing flows of the SyrDarya and AmuDarya. This is
especially explicit in the present.
The beginning of irrigated agriculture in the region dates back
to the 6th-7th centuries B.C. and coincides with flourishing the
most ancient civilization where irrigation was a major decisive
factor of historical and socio-economic development. Today the Aral
and surrounding territories are world-known for ecological
disasters attributed mainly to anthropogenous factors. The growth
in water consumption connected to cultivation of new irrigated
territories, where mainly cotton and rice are grown, together with
the increase in the population working in agriculture, the flow of
water to the sea from the two major river systems -the AmuDarya and
SyrDarya - completely stopped. In spite of intensive glacier
melting which should have led to increase of territory of the Aral
Sea, during last 25 years disastrous reduction of the largest
inland water body takes place. The Aral Sea degradationThe Aral Sea
is the largest inland body of salty reservoirs in the world.
Situated in the centre of the Central Asian deserts at an altitude
of 53 metres above the sea level, the Aral Sea functions as a
gigantic evaporator. About 60 km2 of water evaporates per year.The
sea contributed to hydrothermal regime improvement, influenced
water regimes of arid plants, pasture productivity, and provided
normal functioning of artesian wells etc. Ecological balance in the
basin was formed in the first half of the 20th century and was
stable up to the beginning of the 1960's, with a volume of 1,064
kmі, and a water territory of 66.4 thousand
kmІ. Because of irrevocable removal of river water on
irrigated territories, ecological balance began to decline. Only
half of the previous river runoff reached the Aral Sea. But even
this quantity of water was not sufficient to support sea level at
53 m.A strong earthquake occurred at 19:15:56 (UTC) on Monday,
December 22, 2003. The magnitude 6.5 event has been located in
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.
Two people killed and about 40 buildings collapsed or severely
damaged at Paso Robles.At least 40 people injured in the Paso
Robles-Templeton area. Buildings damaged and small firesoccurred at
Cambria and Morro Bay. The airport at Oceano was closed due to
cracks in the runway.More than 10,000 homes and businesses were
without power in the Paso Robles area. Felt (VII) atAtascadero,
Bradley, Cambria, Cayucos, Creston, Lockwood, Los Osos, Morro Bay,
Nipomo, Oceano, PasoRobles, San Miguel, San Simeon, Shandon and
Templeton; (VI) at Arroyo Grande, Beverly Hills, GroverBeach,
Guadalupe, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo, Santa Margarita and Santa
Maria; (V) at Avenal,Danville, Filmore, Inglewood, King City,
Lompoc, Santa Inez, Santa Monica, Solvang, Taft and Wasco;(IV)
throughout west-central California; (III) from San Francisco and
Santa Rosa to Los Angeles andOceanside. Felt in much of central
California and at Bullhead City, Arizona. A strong earthquake
occurred at 01:56:52 (UTC) on Friday, December 26, 2003. The
magnitude 6.6 event has been located in SOUTHEASTERN IRAN. At least
30,000 people killed, 30,000 injured, 85 percent of buildings
damaged or destroyed and infrastructure damaged in the Bam area.
Maximum intensities IX at Bam and VIII at Baravat. Felt (V) at
Kerman. Surface faulting observed on the Bam Fault between Bam and
Baravat. Maximum acceleration of 0.98g recorded at Bam. A detailed
report on this earthquake can be obtained from the International
Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology (IIEES), online
at http://www.iiees.ac.ir/English/Bam_report_english.html.
http://www.berann.comProf. H.C. Berann, the father of the modern
panorama map, is renowned throughout the world for his combining
old European painting tradition with modern cartography to produce
his unique panorama maps.
