Whether it ’s archaeologist , or just some lads on the beach creating a jam mistaken for anasteroid impact , people ca n’t assist wonder what ’s underneath gumption .
The response differ depending on the sand , of form . By the shore , the forever churning sea grinds up rocks over thousands ormillionsof years , creating sand . Underneath the sea sediment you will find the sedimentary rock sandstone , create under the pressure of the layers above . Dig through this and you may find oneself oil ( which isnot made of dinosaur , by the path ) orfossils , create as mineral seep into the organism and turn to Harlan Fiske Stone .
On solid ground , sand can also be organise from rocks , grind down by weathering of rivers and other element . One area covered in the stuff ( well , kind of ) is the Sahara desert . While famous for its expansive gumption dunes , like themajority of desertsthe Sahara mostly not sand .
So , what lie beneath the Saharan sand dunes ? It turn out , plenty of interesting discovery . The Sahara was n’t always the juiceless , desiccated landscape it is today . A recent report showed that it becomes agreen woodlandroughly every 21,000 year , a result of the wobbling of the Earth ’s axis vertebra causing changes to monsoon season .
As well as theworld ’s largestfossil water aquifer system of rules – immobilise groundwaterknown as the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer System – the desert contains other surprisal . One , found back in 2010 , is a prehistoric mega - lake . Looking at Pisces fogey found 400 kilometre ( 250 sea mile ) westward of the Nile , as well as radiolocation data of the area , investigator found evidence that around 250,000 years ago the Nile flooded the Orient of the Saharan desert , hide more than 108,800 straight kilometre ( 42,000 square miles ) .
" These lakes could have originate from overflow of the Nile through Wadi Tushka , the low-spirited point on the west bank of the Nile . An overflow origin is consistent with late hypotheses on the origin of the Nile and its integration with drain from Central Africa , " the team wrote in theirstudy , sum up that " the topographic data add to the growing evidence for legion early and middle Pleistocene lakes across North Africa that could have supported human migration practice . "
According to the team , palaeolithic human being probably made settlements near the ancient mega - lake close to the water source .
As inhospitable as the Sahara may seem , it has been lived in through the centuries , with settlement andfortresses from lost civilizationsbeing find throughout the age . As for what ’s beneath all this , you probably wo n’t be surprised to see it ’s our old friend sandstone again . Dig down through the sandstone and you will find bedrock , and dried - out cadaver .
