"Used to be a desert."

[Crescent Pulsar S]

I was thinking about desertification recently, and I noticed that I know of quite a few places that used to be this or that before they had become deserts, but I've never heard of a place that had once been a desert. On top of that, I don't think I've ever heard of a desert retreating; it's always spreading and getting bigger in size unless it's contained in some way. So, I began to wonder: "surely deserts can't not go away, but what kind of natural processes would be required for that to happen?"

Well, I imagine that it might only take a significant increase in precipitation for deserts that used to be lakes to become lakes once again, but I otherwise have no idea if that would be enough for just any desert. I mean, I don't even know what the sands of a desert can offer a plant if water is no longer an issue.

[Knight of L-sama]

I think part of the issues is that the process of desertification involves the loss of the fertile topsoil. Building that back up once its gone is not a trivial issue and something that takes generations (or regular, massive influxes from external sources like the annual flooding of the Nile in Egypt).

The other issues are due to the current configuration of the Earth's weather patterns, oceans and the like. Most deserts are in areas where the atmosphere is low in moisture due to convection currents in the atmosphere or in the rain shadow of large mountains ranges. Changing these features is the sort of thing that only changes on geological time scales. Or the sort of changes that come with things like melting the polar ice caps.

[Spica75]

Well, I imagine that it might only take a significant increase in precipitation for deserts that used to be lakes to become lakes once again, but I otherwise have no idea if that would be enough for just any desert. I mean, I don't even know what the sands of a desert can offer a plant if water is no longer an issue.

Oh there´s lots of plants that loves growing in the desert, as long as there´s water.

Try doing an image googling on "desert bloom", which is what happens when it does rain in a desert.
Very few gardens can top a desert area shortly after enough rain has come.






https://www.wannado.com/uploads/1619/20 ... owers1.jpg
http://www.jhfineart.com/Giclee-New/Gic ... Bloom.html
http://www.sunset.com/travel/california ... 000016510/

[Ellen Kuhfeld]

The Sahara desert used to be green and fertile. Then the weather patterns changed. They can change back. On the other hand, I don't see much hope for the Gobi.

[Crimson Vixen]

The Sahara desert used to be green and fertile. Then the weather patterns changed. They can change back. On the other hand, I don't see much hope for the Gobi.

With how the Gobi is expanding and the rate of it? I agree, not much hope for the Gobi becoming green for a very Very long time.