Although today it looks like a sand mound, the Sahara desert, about 10,000 years ago, was a land rich in vegetables and covered with lakes. New research says that humans could influence and accelerate that transition to its current state.
The article, by scientists at the National University of Seoul in South Korea and published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science, has analyzed since African Neolithic communities experimented with agriculture near the Nile River about 8,000 years ago, A technique that slowly began to flow westward. As communities spread, they increasingly introduced livestock and removed an increasing amount of vegetation to graze and house them.
This exploitation of vegetation reduced the grasses to scrublands, without being able to protect the soil from the rays of the sun, thus increasing the amount of sunlight reflected on the surface of the Earth instead of absorbing it. This influenced the atmospheric conditions, causing a reduction of the monsoon rains that led to a greater desertification and loss of vegetation. This vicious circle spread and transformed a gigantic area into an infernal desert.
The findings of this study challenge most previous studies, suggesting that this transition was caused by changes in the Earth's orbit or natural changes in vegetation. The activity of Neolithic humans, however, has been known to drive ecological change in parts of Europe, East Asia and the Americas. For example, some speculate that Madagascar was shaped by humans through extensive man-made forest fires about 1,000 years ago.
However, the researchers say they have to keep working to confirm this theory at 100%. Experts hope to return to the Sahara to build new research based on this speculation.