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Alluvial describes rich, fertile soil deposited by rivers and streams, so the alluvial desert is a desert that has been created from two large rivers leaving behind their rich, fertile sediments. The world's first civilization, which was
Mesopotamia, developed in this region in between the
Tigris and
Euphrates Rivers. At one time, it was believed that they began food production here because of the rich soil, but although there was this rich soil present, it was still necessary for them to invent
irrigation in order to successfully farm this alluvial desert.
I think this whole thing is a non-sequitur. A desert is defined not by what it is made up of, but by its rainfall. A desert isn't technically a geological feature, but a climatological feature.
I can see what the author of this "paragraph" is trying to say; that covilisation has been able to make use of more land for farming by expanding irrigation. But this is true regardless of whether it is on alluvial floodplains (Egypt, Mesopotamia, Murray Basin), or mountains (Nepal). It is perhaps a truism that you can only farm in the desert via irrigation, but again, why does this have to make use of alluvium? Technically you could grow crops on poor colluvium given enough water.
My vote is for basically deleting this. It is an argument of anthropology, not pedology or geology; perhaps this could be turned over to a discussion with climatolgists, but basically, the alluvium has nothing to do with desertification. And who is to say whether the Euphrates in 6,000 B.C. was not less desertified than today? That was true for Israel and many areas of the Middle East which have been denuded of trees and vegetation by the encroachment of human civilisation and goat herding.
Rolinator10:00, 29 October 2006 (UTC)reply
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