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The Mesopotamian Marshes were drained in Iraq and to a smaller degree in Iran between the 1950s and 1990s to clear large areas of the marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. The marshes formerly covered an area of around 20,000 km 2 (7,700 sq mi).
As their name suggests, the Mesopotamian Marshes are located in the larger region which used to be called Mesopotamia. Modern day Mesopotamia is now occupied by Iraq, parts of eastern Syria, south-eastern Turkey, southwest Iran, and northern Kuwait. The marshes lie mostly within southern Iraq and a portion of southwestern Iran and northern Kuwait.
The Central or Qurna Marshes are a large complex of wetlands in Iraq that, along with the Hawizeh and Hammar marshes, make up the Mesopotamian Marshes of the Tigris–Euphrates river system. Formerly covering an area of around 3000 square kilometres, they were almost completely drained following the 1991 uprisings in Iraq and have in recent ...
After the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq's President Saddam Hussein initiated a drainage project on these marshes, leading to degradation of ecosystem services that caused economic and social issues for civilians. [17] The Mesopotamian Marshes, which were inhabited by the Marsh Arabs, were almost completely drained.
The Mesopotamians introduced clay sewer pipes around 4000 BCE, with the earliest examples found in the Temple of Bel at Nippur and at Eshnunna, [15] utilised to remove wastewater from sites, and capture rainwater, in wells. The city of Uruk also demonstrates the first examples of brick constructed latrines, from 3200 BCE.
Massive drainage projects were started in the 1990s. Canals and embankments were built that split the once contiguous wetland into two, the West and East Hammar Marshes. An additional barrier between the two parts is the Rumaila oil field. [1] By 2000, less than 15% of the Hammar Marshes remained.
The marshes are fed by two branches of the Tigris River (the Al-Musharrah and Al-Kahla) in Iraq and the Karkheh River in Iran. The Hawizeh marsh is critical to the survival of the Central and Hammar marshes also make up the Mesopotamian Marshes, because they are a refuge for species that may recolonize or reproduce in other marshlands. Hawizeh ...
The draining of the Mesopotamian Marshes occurred in Iraq and to a smaller degree in Iran between the 1950s and 1990s to clear large areas of the marshes in the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Formerly covering an area of around 20,000 km 2 (7,700 sq mi), the main sub-marshes, the Hawizeh , Central , and Hammar Marshes were all drained at ...