Abstract
THE theory that Central Asia, particularly the Tarim basin, furnishes evidence of progressive desiccation during historic times is refuted by Lieut.—Col. R. G. F. Schomberg in a paper on alleged changes of climate in Southern Turkestan in the Geographical Journal for August. Lop Nor, he maintains, is not drying up. Its change of level is due to the loss of the Qurug River water. That river changed its course and though its waters reach the lake they do so by a longer course via the Tarim River and so presumably are partly lost on the way. The Qurug is said now to have returned to its old course. Col. Schomberg gives reasons for denying that any of the rivers are drying except where increased cultivation calls for more irrigation water. He lays no value by the so-called evidence of depopulation in a land where the population is always sporadic and insecure. Dust storms, moving sand, and insect pests may easily cause abandonment of peopled sites. He denies that the many dead toghraqs or desert poplars necessarily imply want of water. Sometimes they are killed by the rapidly growing tamarisk, sometimes by disease and sometimes even by too much water. The paper is full of valuable arguments bearing on this much-debated problem.
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Climatic Changes in Central Asia. Nature 130, 537 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/130537d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/130537d0