Abstract
Today the Sahara comprises an area of more than eight million square kilometers of the desertic geobiome (ecosystem). Vegetation is sparse, rare or absent. Lithosoils are dominant between large sand dunes areas (Erg) and organic carbon is low to absent in the soils. The total vegetation biomass (phytomass) and soil organic matter probably does not exceed 8–15 gigatonnes (1012 kg) of carbon. A mean annual rainfall of 100 mm or 150 mm is usually taken as the edge of the Sahara, but wide areas receive less than 5 mm annual rainfall.
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References
Petit-Maire, N. et al (1982) Le Shati: Lac Pléistocène du Fezzan (Libye). Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.
Vernet, R. (1992) Le Sahara et le Sahel Paleoenvironnements et Occupation Humaine d la Fin du Pleistocene et d l’Holocene. Inventaire des Datations 14C. CMA, Meudon.
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© 1998 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Faure, H., Denard, L.F. (1998). Sahara Environmental Changes during the Quaternary and their Possible Effect on Carbon Storage. In: Issar, A.S., Brown, N. (eds) Water, Environment and Society in Times of Climatic Change. Water Science and Technology Library, vol 31. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3659-6_15
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-3659-6_15
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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