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Dubai: Groundwater reserves under Arabian deserts have yet to be exploited but could provide vital resources for agriculture in some of the world's driest areas, according to a space photography expert.
Large underground reserves are situated under what appears to be barren deserts, said Farouk Al Baz, a veteran of the Apollo Programme, and Research Professor and Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing at Boston University in the United States.
Speaking at a community lecture held by the Emirates Environment Group, Al Baz said radar images of Arab deserts have revealed numerous courses of rivers and streams that led to depressions where lakes have formed.
Al Baz is renowned for pioneering work in the application of space photography to the fields of archaeology, geography and geology, with particular emphasis on the location of groundwater resources in desert regions.
Renewal
"A lot of pumping in one area at the same level is not good. What is there is probably all there is. The underwater reserves won't be renewed by rainfall, they might be filled from the sides but you shouldn't count on it," said Al Baz.
Some underwater lakes have been found at depths of 25 metres below the surface. Al Baz said the Empty Quarter most likely has large water reserves underneath it. "When you look at the UAE and the wadi system, a lot of water could be underneath despite the rock being granite and not porous, the wadis have cracks and water has seeped underneath," he said.
Apparently fresh water has been found to seep out off the coast of Oman in the ocean. "Pearl divers who knew their environment very well knew this and would dive with jugs to collect freshwater to have enough to drink during long months at sea," he said.
Al Baz is behind the recently announced 1000 Wells For Darfur programme.
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