Oozing of groundwater in Jodhpur city in the desert area of Rajasthan, India has caused weakening of foundations and cellars of buildings and shops. It has become more significant since 1996 when Kaylana lake was connected with Rajiv Gandhi Lift Canal (RGLC) water supply and filling of the lake had started. This has resulted in fear among dwellers about any future calamity. The hydrogeological, hydrochemical and isotopic studies clearly indicated that the lake water is responsible for the oozing phenomenon in the area.

Insects are increasingly being recognized not only as a source of food to feed the ever growing world population but also as potential sources of new products and therapeutic agents, among which are sterols. In this study, we sought to profile sterols and their derivatives present in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, focusing on those with potential importance as dietary and therapeutic components for humans.

Original Source

The impact of Asian dust on the determination of cloud phase is analyzed over dust sources and downwind using cloud phase products from cloud-aerosol lidar and infrared pathfinder satellite observations (CALIPSO), atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS), moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), and polarization and anisotropy of reflectances for atmospheric sciences coupled with observations from a lidar (PARASOL). The results show that the presence of dust greatly affects determination of cloud phase in both source and downwind regions.

It is widely believed that the Sahara desert is no more than ~2–3 million years (Myr) old, with geological evidence showing a remarkable aridification of north Africa at the onset of the Quaternary ice ages. Before that time, north African aridity was mainly controlled by the African summer monsoon (ASM), which oscillated with Earth’s orbital precession cycles. Afterwards, the Northern Hemisphere glaciation added an ice volume forcing on the ASM, which additionally oscillated with glacial–interglacial cycles.

Land-use and land-cover change in the Thar Desert region of Rajasthan threatens the persistence of many ecologically and economically important species. The Bishnoi people of Rajasthan have religiously protected a keystone tree species, Prosopis cineraria, locally known as the Khejeri tree, for over five centuries. We conducted the first comparative study that tests the widely held assumption that Bishnoi presence is positively associated with P. cineraria abundance in nineteen villages in rural Rajasthan.

Plantation drive undertaken by J&K Forest Department in the arid cold region of Ladakh have led to sprouting of innumerable groves that harbor even wild lives across Ladakh, but one of the most remarkable achievements is the successful growth of wild willow in hundreds of acres of land at an altitude of 14000 feet on Changthang tableland since 1962.