The Western Desert
- Created by: Abbieua
- Created on: 06-04-19 20:39
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- The Western Desert
- Location
- Contains: Mojave desert, part of Sonoran and part Chihuahuan
- Indigenous people populated the western desert like Navajo people in Arizona
- Includes parts of: California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico
- development opportunities
- farming
- Aquifers and irrigation systems can provide water
- High temperatures and sunlight
- Mineral Extraction
- Rich in copper uranium, lead, zinc and coal
- carry out open cast mining on a large scale
- Energy
- solar power
- The Sonoran Solar project- produce energy for 100,000 homes
- Hydroelectric power
- powered by Lake mead.
- Hoover dam employed 5,000 people at its peak mid-1930s
- solar power
- Tourism
- Grand Canyon
- Las Vegas
- 37 million visitors per year
- Lake mead and Lake Powell
- farming
- Development challenges
- high temperatures stop areas populating
- carrying capacity
- accessibility
- but is improving
- climate
- adapting houses to cope (whitewashing, flat roofs to collect water)
- high temperatures stop areas populating
- Water crisis
- Benefits of using River Colorado's water to irrigate
- able to cater for all cities throughout the Western Desert
- benefit agriculture bringing in $1.5 billion per year
- Costs of using River Colorado's water to irrigate
- silts and sands get trapped behind both dams - causes dam to heat changing ecosystem
- Sandbanks along the sides of the river in the lower course will be starved of sediment and animal and plant species will decline
- population increase
- limited to amount of water they can take due to political agreement
- water security is threatened by climate change
- Benefits of using River Colorado's water to irrigate
- Location
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