A provenance study was conducted on the Mid-Proterozoic Newland Formation, in which petrographical features of sandstones and geochemical characteristics of shales were integrated to arrive at an internally consistent interpretation. Sandstones of the Newland Formation are typically arkosic sands and arkoses with very well rounded quartz and feldspar grains and only minor amounts of extrabasina...

Agriculture has played an essential role in the provision of food and been a major factor overall economic development for societies around world millennia. In past, agriculture hot, arid countries like Qatar faced many challenges, primary one being dearth water irrigation. Historically this severely limited Qatar’s development, which was based largely on resource exploitation, pearl fishing, o...

The Leaf Area Index (LAI) is a key variable in many land surface and climate modeling studies. To date, a number of LAI datasets have been developed based on time series of medium resolution optical remote sensing observations. Global validation exercises show the high value of these datasets, but at the same time they point out shortcomings, particularly in the presence of persistent cloud cov...

Relatively little research has been expended on developing plants for use in urban desert landscapes or “xeriscapes.” However, because of reduced availability and increased cost of water, water conservation needs, and concerns for our environment, increased awareness and demand for arid-adapted landscape plants have developed. An especially important need is for groundcover requiring little wat...

For the frangible ecological environment, it is very important to reasonably develop and utilize groundwater resources in Northwest China. Shallow groundwater level is an essential factor related to the eco-environmental problems such as oasis degeneration and land salinification. The lack of groundwater dynamic data is a critical concern for water resources management in the arid region. This ...

Cynara cardunculus.L exhibits an important adaptability to arid and semi-arid regions where high salinity is frequently present. Aiming to introduce its cultivation in the Mediterranean environment especially in Tunisia, it seemed interesting to study seed germination of eight populations of cardoon in four concentrations of NaCl: 0g/L, 2g/L, 4g/L, and 8g/L. Our results showed a good variabilit...

In many arid and semi-arid regions whether or not to desalinate seawater has long been a non-issue and policy debates are focused on the timing and extent of the desalination activities. We analyze how water scarcity and demand structure, on the one hand, and cost reduction via R&D programs, on the other hand, affect the desirable development of desalination technologies and the time profiles o...

Water has become increasingly scarce in northwestern China due to climate change, economic growth and burgeoning population. Improving agriculture water use efficiency is of strategic significance in promoting socio-economic water productivity for arid and semi-arid inland river basins. Based on the household-level data collected in Zhangye City, which is located in the middle reaches of Heihe ...