An oasis is a space with vegetation located in a desert area.
An oasis is a place with vegetation and sometimes springs , found in the middle of sandy deserts . They usually allow the development of settlements that are dedicated to cultivation and supplying neighboring towns and travelers. There are oases in the Arabian Peninsula and in the Sahara Desert , among other places .
In ancient times, when desert journeys were even more arduous than today, oases were of vital importance. In Egypt , oases such as Dakel , Siwa and El Jariya were dedicated to providing food and drinks to the Bedouin caravans that arrived from different parts of the African continent.
The oases were sometimes confused because of optical illusions ( mirages ) due to the heat and luminosity.
The oasis and irrigation
In the northeast of the Algerian Sahara desert there is the concept of ghout , a type of oasis in which the waters that pass underground are used to irrigate date palms in a space that has shallow aquifers. This cultivation system requires the excavation of a cavity in the sandy soil that ranges from 80 to 200 meters, exceeding the water table by a height of one meter, so that the water constantly touches the roots so that they are irrigated. in a "natural" way.
This type of oasis is very beneficial for cultural and social development , and in fact is considered one of those that make up the list of Important World Agricultural Heritage Systems , named by the United Nations . According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization , which is usually referred to as ONUAA or FAO , there are more than 9,500 ghouts, spread over nearly 53,000 irrigated hectares and thanks to which it is possible to employ more of 45,000 people.
An oasis may feature a spring.
Problems with aquifers
Despite the numbers presented in the previous paragraph, it is necessary to clarify that the majority of these oases have an area of less than half a hectare . These are authentic green islands in seas of sand , as impressive in real life as in fiction. The oldest ones date back to the 15th century , in the Souf region, but in recent decades other more beneficial methods have begun to be used. Another reason why its popularity has decreased is flooding due to drilling of aquifers, which causes groundwater to rise.
This problem due to exploitation took place in the northern Sahara , where there is an immense aquifer , approximately one million square kilometers, which expands to parts of Libya , Tunisia and Algeria . Many of the ghouts affected by the flood were no longer active because there was no way to recover them.
Other uses of the term oasis
The function of oases in the middle of the desert means that the term is also used in everyday language to refer to what is a refuge or a break from life's setbacks . For example: “This park full of palm trees and birds is an oasis in the big city” , “Yesterday I discovered a bar that is an oasis in the downtown area: you can't hear the noise from the street, it has functional music and it has air conditioning ” .
Oasis , finally, is a rock band formed in the early 1990s in Manchester ( England ) that disbanded in 2009 . Its most famous members were the brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher , who used to reach the cover of the media for their constant fights and controversial statements, beyond the undoubted musical quality of their albums.