Ancient River Discovered Beneath Sahara Desert

Sahara - A stream that formerly filled with water that spread hundreds of kilometers along the Western Sahara are found beneath the pile desert in Mauritania.

The findings were captured by Japan's satellite Earth Observation. The flow of the river stretches beneath the dusty Saharan sand along the 500 kilometers to the beach.

Waterways are buried under dusty sand it is possible that part of the river Tamanrasett allegedly had once flowed Western Sahara. Its head is likely to come from the south of the Atlas mountains and plateaus Hoggar which we now know as Algeria.

The team, led by France findings concluded in ancient times the river flow from upstream, and then to the mouth and ends at the beach during the 'humid' 245 thousand years ago.

At that time, the river is the center of life for humans, animals and plants and bring nutrients essential for marine organisms. Now, he becomes a desert.

If the river was still flowing, the flow will be in the number 12 as the largest drainage basin on Earth.

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Images taken from satellites show that the watershed was aligned almost perfectly hidden in large underwater canyon that extends off the coast of Mauritania. It is predicted to reach more than three kilometers.

Russell Wynn of National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, England is one of the scientists who managed to make three-dimensional map of the Sahara was created in 2003.

Sedimentary rocks in the desert floor turned out to contain the rest of the river water. Not just ordinary river, but the wing swift and deep.

"The discovery is the greatest invention of the detective story geology. The preliminary study us over the rocks in the Sahara finally confirmed by satellite imagery that formerly desert terrain is fertile outstanding with a river that runs everywhere and flow profusely," Wynn said on the latest findings, as reported by The Guardian,

"In other words, the work we were proven, that six thousand years ago, in addition to lush, Sahara river flow has enabled remarkable," he added.

If it is still flowing until now, the water will bring an important material from the mainland towards the sea. However, if the stream unkempt and broken, it will bring the rocks into the sea. The same thing happened in the ancient river that are still active in Taiwan. Instead of bringing the good of the ecosystem, even destroy the submarine cable and other maritime infrastructure.

"People underestimate climate change, even some consider it a fictitious thing. The discovery of the river in the Sahara is evidence of climate change. Look, in time thousands of years, the Sahara was once a fertile transformed into deserts and dry," added Wynn.