عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

Iraqis Cover Soil with Clay to Curb Sandstorms

Excavators clear sand dunes and extract clay in the desert south of Samawah on December 21, 2025. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Excavators clear sand dunes and extract clay in the desert south of Samawah on December 21, 2025. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
TT
TT

Iraqis Cover Soil with Clay to Curb Sandstorms

Excavators clear sand dunes and extract clay in the desert south of Samawah on December 21, 2025. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)
Excavators clear sand dunes and extract clay in the desert south of Samawah on December 21, 2025. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP)

Deep in Iraq's southern desert, bulldozers and earthmovers spread layers of moist clay over sand dunes as part of a broader effort to fight increasingly frequent sandstorms.

Iraq has long suffered from sand and dust storms, but in recent years they have become more frequent and intense as the country falls prey to the effects of climate change.

Sand and dust storms -- driven by severe drought, rising temperatures and deforestation -- have cloaked cities and villages in an endless ochre haze, grounded flights and filled hospitals with patients suffering from breathing difficulties.

Iraqi authorities have warned that these suffocating storms will intensify further, adding urgency to address the root of the problem.

In a relatively small area between the cities of Nasiriyah and Samawah, not far from ancient Sumerian ruins, laborers are working hard to stabilize the soil by applying a layer of moist clay 20-25 centimeters thick.

The project also includes planting heat-tolerant seedlings like Prosopis and Conocarpus to further stabilize the soil.

"The main goal is to reduce the impact of transboundary dust storms, which may reach Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar," said Udai Taha Lafta from UN-Habitat, which is leading the project to combat sandstorms with Iraqi expertise.

"It is a vital area despite its small size, and will hopefully help reduce dust storms next summer," AFP quoted Lafta as saying.

A short-term objective is to shield a southern highway where many traffic accidents have occurred due to poor visibility during dust storms.

The Ministry of Environment estimates that Iraq now faces about 243 storms per year, and the frequency is expected to increase to 300 "dust days" by 2050 unless drastic mitigation measures are adopted.

In 2023, Iraqi authorities teamed up with the UN-Habitat and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development in areas that have been identified as major sources of sandstorms.

The project has been implementing several methods in three southern areas, including digging water canals and supplying electricity to pump water from the Euphrates river, preparing barren lands for vegetation.

One of the project's ultimate goals is to increase green spaces and for farmers to eventually sustain the lands after droughts and chronic water shortages have drastically reduced agricultural areas.

Qahtan al-Mhana, from the agriculture ministry, said that stabilizing the soil gives agricultural efforts in sandy areas a chance to endure.

He added that Iraq has extensive "successful" experience in combating desertification and dust storms by stabilizing sand dunes.

Since the 1970s, the country has implemented such projects, but after decades of turmoil, environmental challenges have largely fallen by the wayside.

With the severe recent impact of climate change, "work has resumed," said Najm Abed Taresh from Dhi Qar University.

"We are making slow but steady progress," Taresh said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Research Reveals Decades-Long Silverpit Crater Triggered by Tsunami 40 Million Years Ago

A massive asteroid struck the North Sea millions of years ago (Getty)
A massive asteroid struck the North Sea millions of years ago (Getty)
TT
TT

Research Reveals Decades-Long Silverpit Crater Triggered by Tsunami 40 Million Years Ago

A massive asteroid struck the North Sea millions of years ago (Getty)
A massive asteroid struck the North Sea millions of years ago (Getty)

A long-running dispute about the origin of a North Sea crater has finally been settled, as new research finds a massive asteroid hit the water and triggered a towering tsunami millions of years ago.

Scientists have found that the Silverpit Crater – which lies around 700 meters beneath the southern North Sea seabed, roughly 80 miles off the coast of Yorkshire – was formed when an asteroid or comet struck the region roughly 43 to 46 million years ago, sparking a 330 feet tsunami.

Since geologists first identified the formation in 2002, the 3km-wide crater and its surrounding ring of circular faults spanning about 20 km have sparked intense debate, according to The Independent.

But researchers say their new study marks the clearest evidence yet that the structure is one of Earth’s rare impact craters.

This confirmation places it in the same category as well-known structures such as the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico, which is linked to the dinosaur mass extinction.

The team used computer modelling and analyzed newly available seismic imaging and microscopic geological samples taken from beneath the seabed.

Dr. Uisdean Nicholson, a sedimentologist in Heriot-Watt University’s School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, who led the investigation, said: “New seismic imaging has given us an unprecedented look at the crater.”

He said samples from an oil well in the area also revealed rare ‘shocked’ quartz and feldspar crystals at the same depth as the crater floor.

“We were exceptionally lucky to find these – a real ‘needle-in-a-haystack’ effort. These prove the impact crater hypothesis beyond doubt, because they have a fabric that can only be created by extreme shock pressures,” said Nicholson.

The scientists say these microscopic minerals form only under the extreme pressures generated during asteroid impacts, providing strong confirmation of the event.

Early research proposed that the feature was created by a high-speed asteroid impact. Supporters of that idea pointed to its round shape, central peak, and surrounding concentric faults, which are often seen in known impact craters.

But other scientists suggested different explanations. Some proposed that underground salt movement distorted the rock layers and created the structure.

Others argued that volcanic activity may have caused the seabed to collapse.

In 2009, geologists even voted on the issue. According to a report in the December 2009 issue of Geoscientist magazine, most participants rejected the asteroid impact explanation at the time.

The latest findings, published in the journal Nature Communications and funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), now appear to overturn that conclusion.

Dr. Nicholson said: “Our evidence shows that a 160-meter-wide asteroid hit the seabed at a low angle from the west.”

“Within minutes, it created a 1.5 km high curtain of rock and water that then collapsed into the sea, creating a tsunami over 100 meters high.”

The impact would have produced a violent explosion at the seafloor and sent enormous waves spreading across the region.

Professor Gareth Collins, of Imperial College London, who attended the 2009 debate about the crater’s origin and contributed to the new research, said the researchers have “finally found the silver bullet” to end the debate.

He said: “I always thought that the impact hypothesis was the simplest explanation and most consistent with the observations.”

“It is very rewarding to have finally found the silver bullet. We can now get on with the exciting job of using the amazing new data to learn more about how impacts shape planets below the surface, which is really hard to do on other planets,” Collins added.

Dr. Nicholson also expressed his excitement about using the new findings for further research into asteroids.

“Silverpit is a rare and exceptionally preserved hypervelocity impact crater,” he said.

“These are rare because the Earth is such a dynamic planet – plate tectonics and erosion destroy almost all traces of most of these events.”

Varieties

Naples Museum to Allow Visually Impaired Visitors to Experience Art Through Touch

Giuseppe Sanmartino's sculpture of the Veiled Christ housed in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, Italy, 10 March 2026. EPA/CIRO FUSCO
Giuseppe Sanmartino's sculpture of the Veiled Christ housed in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, Italy, 10 March 2026. EPA/CIRO FUSCO
TT
TT

Naples Museum to Allow Visually Impaired Visitors to Experience Art Through Touch

Giuseppe Sanmartino's sculpture of the Veiled Christ housed in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, Italy, 10 March 2026. EPA/CIRO FUSCO
Giuseppe Sanmartino's sculpture of the Veiled Christ housed in the Sansevero Chapel in Naples, Italy, 10 March 2026. EPA/CIRO FUSCO

The Sansevero Chapel Museum in Naples will allow dozens of visually impaired visitors to take part in a rare tactile experience, letting them touch celebrated works of art including the Veiled Christ, which is widely regarded as one of the most striking masterpieces in the history of sculpture.

On March 17, the museum will host an initiative called La meraviglia a portata di mano – Wonder within reach – organized in partnership with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Naples, offering about 80 blind and partially sighted visitors a chance to encounter the marble masterpieces.

According to The Guardian, visitors will be guided through the chapel by guides who are also visually impaired in a program designed to place accessibility at the center of the museum experience.

The protective barrier surrounding the sculptures will be removed, allowing participants, wearing latex gloves, to explore by touch the intricate marble surface of the sculptures including Giuseppe Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ, which depicts Jesus covered by a transparent shroud made from the same block as the statue. The tactile route will also extend to the reliefs at the feet of the sculptures La Pudicizia and Il Disinganno.

Chiara Locovardi, a guide, told the state agency Ansa: “The veil covering Christ is extraordinary. It’s impossible to understand how Sanmartino managed to create it. The veil defies explanation – for those who can see and for those who cannot. When you touch it, you can feel the veins pulsing beneath.”

“This initiative forms part of our wider program to create a cultural space that is inclusive and accessible through dedicated pathways and tools tailored to the different needs of museum visitors,” Maria Alessandra Masucci, the president of the Sansevero Chapel Museum, said.

Varieties

All But 2 of Austria's 96 Glaciers Have Retreated Over Last 2 Years

FILE - The Sulzenauferner Glacier is visible near Innsbruck, Austria, on Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
FILE - The Sulzenauferner Glacier is visible near Innsbruck, Austria, on Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
TT
TT

All But 2 of Austria's 96 Glaciers Have Retreated Over Last 2 Years

FILE - The Sulzenauferner Glacier is visible near Innsbruck, Austria, on Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)
FILE - The Sulzenauferner Glacier is visible near Innsbruck, Austria, on Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, File)

All but two of Austria’s 96 glaciers have retreated over the last two years, monitors in the Alpine country reported Friday, saying the “dramatic development” highlights the impact of climate change.

The latest report from the Austrian Alpine Club shows the Alpeiner Ferner in the western Tyrol region and Stubacher Sonnblickkees in Salzburg to the east are facing the greatest loss, each with a retreat of more than 100 meters (about 330 feet). The average retreat was more than 20 meters (65 feet).

“The disintegration of the glacier tongue is also progressing at the Pasterze, Austria’s largest glacier, making the consequences of climate change visible,” the club said in the report covering 2024 and 2025.

The report, it added, “confirms once again the long-term trend: Glaciers in Austria continue to shrink significantly in length, area, and volume.”

FILE - The Gaisskarferner Glacier is visible near Innsbruck, Austria, Monday, Sept. 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader, file)

The retreat of glaciers in Europe has vast implications for drinking water, power generation, agriculture, infrastructure, recreational activities, the Alpine landscape and more.

Neighboring Switzerland, which is home to the most glaciers in Europe, has noted a similar retreat in its glaciers in recent years, a trend that has been reported around the world.

Poor weather conditions including low snowfall, warm temperatures including an exceptionally hot June last year — nearly 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average — have contributed to the retreat, The Associated Press quoted the club as saying.

“The glaciers are melting — and with every new report, the urgency grows,” club vice president Nicole Slupetzky said. “It’s no longer a question of whether we can still save the glaciers in their old form; it’s about mitigating the consequences for ourselves.”

Such changes in the Alps should serve as a “wake-up call” for policymakers and the public in its behavior, the club said.

It said the current figure was lower than during the previous two years, but still ranks as the eight-largest retreat in the 135 years of measurements.