Bacteria Could Help Stop Desertification 218
Bridgette Steffen writes "In attempt to slow down desertification, a student at London's Architectural Association has proposed a 6000 km sandstone wall that will not only act as a break across the Sahara Desert, but also serve as refugee shelter. Last fall it won first prize in the Holcim Foundation's Awards for Sustainable Construction, and will use bacteria to solidify the sandstone."
Specifics (Score:5, Informative)
To be honest, the part which is more interesting is the fact that desertification will be stopped by using a wall. Sure, the Slashdot summary used bacteria as a hook, but in all honesty, the wall is more important than the bacteria anyway, which is why there's only a small mention of the bacteria in the source article.
Re:deserts move all the time (Score:2, Informative)
How will a wall help ? (Score:4, Informative)
A main part of the problem is that sand storms blow so much sand on surrounding grasslands, it kills the plants and spreads the desert. I don't see how a wall could help, unless it was kilometers high. It would need to stop this [wikimedia.org] ?
It's called "Bacterial cement" (Score:5, Informative)
Bacterial cement [discovermagazine.com] However bacteria need nutrient (urine base btw) to do it. It may happens simple concrete could actually be cheaper.
Re:How will a wall help ? (Score:3, Informative)
Well they have the same problem with desertification in China, where the Gobi and 2 other smaller deserts are growing. Beijing gets regular sandstorms now because of this. It seems like mountains and yes, the Great Wall of China, has little effect in preventing these.
Re:Details (Score:4, Informative)
Actually, many scientists believe that the expansion of the Sahara desert is due to loss of vegetation due to over-grazing.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:How will a wall help ? (Score:3, Informative)
The great wall of China wasn't designed as a wind break. In fact it's in the worst possible location (right at the top of mountains), presenting the bare minimum of resistance to updraft airflow.