Misplaced Pages

#596403

53-466: Timimoun is known for the red ochre color of its buildings. The town of Timimoun lies at an elevation of around 288 metres (945 ft) in the Gourara region of southern Timimoun Province . It is located on the south-eastern side of an oasis which supports the town's population. A sebkha (salt lake) lies further to the northwest, while the plateau of Tademaït rises to the southeast. Timimoun has

106-564: A hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ), with extremely hot summers and warm winters, with minimal rainfall throughout the year. The annual mean temperature almost reaches 25 °C (77 °F). Timimoun lies on the N51 national highway, a road which runs roughly west to east from the N6 (connecting to Béchar in the north and Adrar in the south) to the N1 (connecting from Ghardaïa in

159-500: A 100-mile [160 km] swath of the aquifer has already gone dry." It would take hundreds to thousands of years of rainfall to replace the groundwater in the dried up aquifer. In the 21st century, recognition of the significance of the High Plains Aquifer has led to increased coverage from regional and international journalists. A May 2013 New York Times article "Wells dry, fertile plains turn to dust" recounts

212-408: A U-shaped pipe called a gooseneck attached at the top of the pipe with sprinkler heads that are positioned a few feet (at most) above the crop, thus limiting evaporative losses and wind drift. There are many different nozzle configurations available including static plate, moving plate and part circle. Pressure regulators are typically installed upstream of each nozzle to ensure each is operating at

265-780: A cart by the supply channel. The cart travels with the machine. Farmers might choose lateral-move irrigation to keep existing rectangular fields. This can help them convert from furrow irrigation. Lateral-move irrigation is far less common, relies on more complex guidance systems, and requires additional management compared to center pivot irrigation. Lateral-move irrigation is common in Australia. There, systems are usually between 500 and 1,000 meters long. Center-pivot irrigation uses less labor than many other surface irrigation methods, such as furrow irrigation . It also has lower labor costs than ground-irrigation techniques that require digging of channels. Also, center-pivot irrigation can reduce

318-465: A description of Tuat, a place he had not visited himself, in his Kitab al-ibar : One of their homelands lies three stages to the south of Sijilmāsa and is called Tuwāt. It consists of 200 qușūr strung out from west to east, of which the most easterly is called Tamanțīt, nowadays a flourishing place and a point of departure for merchants who pass to and fro between the Maghrib and the land of Māli of

371-515: A farm's yield. The systems are highly effective on large land fields. Center-pivot irrigation was invented in 1940 by the farmer Frank Zybach, who lived in Strasburg, Colorado . It is recognized as an effective method to improve water distribution to fields. In 1952, Zybach went into business with A. E. Trowbridge, a friend, Ethan James Olson, from Columbus, Nebraska. Trowbridge put up $ 25,000 (equivalent to $ 287,000 in 2023) and got 49% of

424-682: A few years. On every occasion they would affirm their independence and free themselves of any religious vassalage. In 1893, the French government authorized Jules Cambon to occupy the Gourara and the Tidikelt, letting him go so far as to gather his forces at El Golea , then only rescinded the order at the very last moment when his troops were about to depart. The actual intervention in the Gourara-Tuat-Tidikelt did not take place until

477-689: A local council of notables. Prior to 1830 , the Tuat population paid tribute to the Dey of Algiers , but stopped during the Algerian wars . Prior to 1890, the Saharan oases were a part of what was known as the bled es-siba , regions that were nominally Moroccan but which had not submitted to the authority of the central government. Sultan Moulay Hassan decided to reinstate the old Moroccan administration in Gourara-Tuat-Tidikelt. The first Moroccan envoys reached

530-475: A system of foggaras , traditional gravity catchment systems which consist of a tunnel constructed with a gentle uphill gradient from the low ground near the wadi into the aquifer under the nearby higher ground. Vertical access holes every 10–20 m along the tunnel provide ventilation and facilitate construction and maintenance. Many of the foggaras are over a kilometre in length. They typically provide flow rates of between 2 L/s and 3 L/s. In 1963

583-510: A variable emitter flow rate across the radius of the machine. Since the outer-most spans (or towers) travel farther in a given time period than the innermost spans, nozzle sizes are smallest at the inner spans and increase with distance from the pivot point. Aerial views show fields of circles created by tracings of quarter-mile or half-mile (400 or 800 m) radial irrigation pipes, which consume up to several thousands of gallons per minute." Most center pivot systems now have drops hanging from

SECTION 10

#1732780122597

636-612: Is 540 km southeast of Sijilmasa, considerably more than the three stages mentioned by Ibn Khaldun. Also, the oases are strung out from north-northwest to south-southeast rather than from west to east. We learn more about Tuat from a letter written in Latin in 1447 by the Italian Antonio Malfante from 'Tueto' to a merchant in Genoa . Malfante describes a village which is believed to have been Tamentit : "This locality

689-522: Is 79.6%, and is 87.5% among males and 71.8% among females. As of 1984, the commune was composed of 32 localities: Gourara Tuat , or Touat , is a natural region of desert in central Algeria that contains a string of small oases . In the past, the oases were important for caravans crossing the Sahara . Tuat lies to the south of the Grand Erg Occidental , to the east of

742-524: Is a form of overhead sprinkler irrigation consisting of several segments of pipe (usually galvanized steel or aluminum ) with sprinklers positioned along their length, joined together and supported by trusses , and mounted on wheeled towers. The machine moves in a circular pattern and is fed with water from the pivot point at the center of the circle. For a center pivot to be used, the terrain needs to be reasonably flat; but one major advantage of center pivots over alternative systems that use gravity flow

795-510: Is a mart of the country of the Moors, to which merchants come to sell their goods: gold is carried hither, and bought by those who come up from the coast. This place is De Amament [Tamentit], and there are many rich men here. The generality, however, are very poor, for they do not sow, nor do they harvest anything, save the dates upon which they subsist. They eat no meat but that of castrated camels, which are scarce and very dear." He also comments on

848-595: Is a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers . A circular area centered on the pivot is irrigated, often creating a circular pattern in crops when viewed from above (sometimes referred to as crop circles , not to be confused with those formed by circular flattening of a section of a crop in a field). Most center pivots were initially water-powered, however today most are propelled by electric motors . Center-pivot irrigation systems are beneficial due to their ability to efficiently use water and optimize

901-642: Is being built to connect to Hassi R'Mel . To the north of Tuat is Gourara, a similar region also containing oases with date palms irrigated by foggaras . The largest town, Timimoun , is 162 km north east of Adrar. Saad asserts that Tuat may have been founded by the Malinke of the Mali Empire , based on information from Timbuktu traditionalists and the fact that Tuat always had settlers representing him in Timbuktu. The Tuat oases were important in

954-554: Is one of the biggest villages of the Tuwāt. Its land consists of sand and salt pans. It has many dates which are not good, but its people prefer them to the dates of Sijilmāsa. There is no cultivation there nor butter nor oil. Oil is only imported to it from the land of the Maghrib. The food of its people is dates and locusts. These are abundant with them; they store them as dates are stored and use them for food. They go out to hunt them before sunrise, for at that time they do not fly on account of

1007-537: Is the ability to function in undulating country. This advantage has resulted in increased irrigated acreage and water use in some areas. The system is used in parts of the United States , Australia , New Zealand , Brazil , and in desert areas such as the Sahara and the Middle East. Center pivots are typically less than 500 meters (1,600 ft) in length (circle radius) with the most common size being

1060-642: The Erg Chech and to the south west of the Tademaït plateau. It contains a string of small oases strung out along the eastern edge of the Wadi Messaoud, a continuation of the Wadi Saoura . The oases extend over a distance of 160 km from the district of Bouda in the north to Reggane in the south. The largest town in the region is Adrar , 20 km southeast of Bouda . Adrar was established by

1113-703: The Gourara region where he was well received. The sultan stayed there a while before reconquering Tlemcen from the Merinids in a ksar near a sebkha in Timimoun (dubbed «Capital of the Gourara»). The ksar in question still bears the sultan's name, Tal n Hammu. Through tribal alliances, the Ziyyanids had a certain influence over the Touat. From the start of the 15th century , political relations between

SECTION 20

#1732780122597

1166-794: The Moscovian and the Cenomanian periods that extends over 600,000 km , an area that includes parts of Algeria, Libya and Tunisia. It forms the deeper of the two aquifers of the North Western Sahara Aquifer System (NWSAS). Tuat is situated at the southwestern boundary of the Continental Intercalary where the aquifer lies only 2–6 m below the surface. The oases contain 700,000-800,000 date palms ( Phoenix dactylifera ) in an area of 4,500 hectares. The palm groves are irrigated by

1219-509: The trans-Saharan trade because of their location at the northern end of the Tanezrouft route. Reggane is around 1150 km north of the town of Gao and a similar distance from Timbuktu . Caravans from the Sudan would continue northwards to towns such as Sijilmasa or Tlemcen . The oases are not mentioned by any of the early Arabic geographers, but it appears that Jews lived in

1272-473: The water table dropped more than 1.5 m (5 ft) per year. In extreme cases, wells had to be greatly deepened to reach the steadily falling water table. In some places in the Texas Panhandle , the water table has been drained (dewatered). "Vast stretches of Texas farmland lying over the aquifer no longer support irrigation. In west-central Kansas, up to a fifth of the irrigated farmland along

1325-499: The French after their conquest in 1900 and had a population of 43,903 in 2002. Associated with each oasis are small walled villages called ksour (singular ksar or gsar ). There are also some forts ( kasbahs ), most of them abandoned. There is almost no rainfall in the region and agriculture depends on groundwater from an enormous aquifer in the Continental intercalaire , a layer of porous sandstone deposited between

1378-597: The Gourara-Tuat-Tidikelt. In the 1890s, the French administration and military called for the annexation of the Tuat, the Gourara and the Tidikelt, a complex that had been part of the Moroccan Empire for many centuries prior to the arrival of the French in Algeria. According to Alfred Le Chatelier , French soldier, ceramicist and Islamologist, Tuat, at any moment of history, had not been an integral part of Morocco. The inhabitants never depended from them more than

1431-508: The Jewish population: "There are many Jews, who lead a good life here, for they are under the protection of the several rulers, each of whom defends his own clients. Thus they enjoy very secure social standing. Trade is in their hands, and many of them are to be trusted with the greatest confidence." The Sultan of the Ziyyanid dynasty of Tlemcen , Abu Hammu II (1359-1389) took refuge in

1484-588: The Saharan oases in 1889 and in 1890. In 1891 Moulay Hassan called on the oasis peoples to begin paying taxes, thus formalizing the recognition of his suzerainty. That same year the Tuat and the oases which lay along the Oued Saoura were placed under the authority of the son of the Moroccan khalifa , who resided in the Tafilalt . Then, in 1892, a complete administrative organization was established in all of

1537-648: The Sūdān. ... The town of Būdā, the most westerly of these qușūr , used to be the point of departure for Wālātan, the outpost of the Mālī territory, but it was abandoned when the bedouin Arabs from the desert of the Sūs took to acts of brigandry on the highway and molesting the caravans. They left that place and followed the route to the land of the Sudān by way of Tamanțīt. Note that in reality Adrar

1590-735: The Tuat and the Gourara oases. The Moroccan conquest of Tuat stopped Ottoman expansion into the Sahara, which had started with the occupation of the oasis of Ouargla in 1552 and the Fezzan in 1577, and secured the Moroccan advance toward the south. The area remained politically dependent upon Morocco but the sovereignty of the Alawite sultans became almost nominal. The Alawite Sultan of Tafilalt, Sidi Muhammed ibn Sharif embarked on an eastern Saharan expedition and conquered Tuat first in 1645 and again in 1652, at which point he assigned his qaids to

1643-468: The amount of soil tillage . Therefore, it helps reduce water runoff and soil erosion that can occur with ground irrigation. Less tillage also encourages more organic materials and crop residue to decompose back into the soil. It also reduces soil compaction. In the United States early settlers of the semiarid High Plains were plagued by crop failures due to cycles of drought , culminating in

Timimoun - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-407: The area was known as the " Territoire des oasis sahariennes ". During 1903, attacks on the lines of communication by local tribes caused the French troops to suffer serious losses. To punish the tribes the town of Figuig was bombarded by the French on 8 June. On the following 2 September a band of nomads attacked the escort of a convoy going to Taghit at a place called El Mungar . After maintaining

1749-473: The bend at the joint exceeds a certain threshold. When the angle is too large, the wheels rotate to keep the segments aligned. Typical periods for a full rotation include three days; while other sources have the outer edge of the structure moving at 2 to 3 m (6.6 to 9.8 ft) per minute, which would equate to 14 to 21 hours for one full rotation of a 400-meter-radius ( 1 ⁄ 4  mi) system. To achieve uniform application, center pivots require

1802-530: The cold." Ibn Battuta stayed in Bouda for a few days and then continued on to Sijilmasa with a caravan. Bouda, as well as Sijilmasa, Timbuktu and Gao, are marked on the 1375 Catalan Atlas of Abraham Cresques . At some point Bouda was abandoned and replaced by Tamentit as the main ksour of the region. Tamentit was more centrally situated and perhaps easier to defend. The Arabic geographer and historian Ibn Khaldun (born Tunis 1332, died Egypt 1406) provides

1855-402: The correct design pressure. Drops can also be used with drag hoses or bubblers that deposit the water directly on the ground between crops. This type of system is known as LEPA (Low Energy Precision Application) and is often associated with the construction of small dams along the furrow length (termed furrow diking/dyking). Crops may be planted either in straight rows or in circles to conform to

1908-786: The dignitaries of the oasis implored the intervention of the Beylerbey of Algiers. The Tuat-Gourara called upon the Beylerbey of Algiers since Tlemcen had been annexed by the Regency of Algiers . Ottoman efforts to gain control over Tuat misfired in 1578, by the Turks of Algiers, and 1582, by the Turks of Tripoli . Sometime between 1583 and 1588 the forces of the Moroccan Saadi Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur took control of

1961-531: The disastrous Dust Bowl of the 1930s. Only after World War II when center pivot irrigation became available did the land mass of the High Plains aquifer system transform into one of the most agriculturally productive regions in the world. Groundwater levels decrease when the rate of extraction by irrigation exceeds the rate of recharge. By 2013 it was shown that counterintuitively, as the water consumption efficiency of center-pivot irrigation improved over

2014-676: The eight states of South Dakota , Nebraska , Wyoming , Colorado , Kansas , Oklahoma , New Mexico , and Texas , beneath the Great Plains in the United States . The total water extraction from center-pivot irrigation in the area is estimated to be about 5.42 million acre-feet of water per year. In 1950, irrigated cropland covered 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres). With the use of center-pivot irrigation, nearly 1.2 million hectares (3 million acres) of land were irrigated in Kansas alone. At some places, during maximum extraction,

2067-636: The fight for over seven hours the French were reinforced and their attackers drew off. Out of 115 combatants the French lost 38 killed and 47 wounded. To consolidate their position the French authorities determined to connect the oases with the Algerian Sahara proper by carriage roads and railways. 27°20′00″N 0°13′00″W  /  27.33333°N 0.21667°W  / 27.33333; -0.21667 Center pivot irrigation Center-pivot irrigation (sometimes called central pivot irrigation ), also called water-wheel and circle irrigation ,

2120-423: The north to In Salah and Tamanrasset in the south). Regional roads also lead south to Aougrout and Deldoul communes, and north to Tinerkouk , Ksar Kaddour and Ouled Said . Timimoun is served by Timimoun Airport , which is about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southeast of the town. 7.0% of the population has a tertiary education, and another 19.3% has completed secondary education. The overall literacy rate

2173-484: The oases at an early date as a tombstone discovered in a village of the Bouda region has an inscription in Hebrew with a date of 1329. The earliest written reference to Tuat is by Ibn Battuta . He visited Bouda in 1353 after crossing the Sahara from Takedda in present-day Niger , a distance of 1390 km. He travelled with a large caravan that included 600 slave girls. He wrote: "Then we arrived at Būda, which

Timimoun - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-436: The oasis, who was then accepted as suzerain as far east as Aougrout . Beginning in 1692, during the reign of Sultan Moulay Ismail , and for one hundred years after, Gourara-Tuat-Tidikelt was administered by a succession of Moroccan governors. Faced with constant rebellion throughout his empire, Sultan Moulay Slimane recalled his governor from Gourara-Tuat-Tidikelt in 1796. Following the 1579 Algerian expedition to Tuat ,

2279-504: The patent rights. Zybach moved back from Colorado to Columbus, opened a shop, hired a few men, moved the height of the pipe up to 1.8 m (6 ft), and went into business. In the first two years of operation, they sold only 19 systems. The early designs were finicky and few farmers understood the systems. Zybach kept improving his designs and focused on making his machines better, rather than attempting to sell systems with problems. Zybach saw success with modified designs, which improved

2332-465: The region of Tuat contained 531 foggaras , of which only 358 were functioning. The total combined flow rate was approximately 2000 L/s. Foggaras are expensive to construct and to maintain. As they collapse they are often not repaired. Instead, water is obtained from vertical wells and electric pumps allowing grain to be grown using a center pivot irrigation system. A single well can provide 30 L/s to 50 L/s of water. In addition to water,

2385-573: The region were established with the Kingdom of Tlemcen . According to a Touati source, quoted by Alfred Georges Paul Martin, a French officer of the Legion of Honour , a text written by a certain al-Amuri recites a conflict in 1435 opposing a group of nomads (Ouled Ali Ibn Hariz) and the Jews of Tamantit . The nomads bought some dates on credit and refused to pay for them, the Jews of Tamantit called upon

2438-602: The rock beneath Tuat contains pockets of natural gas. Sonatrach , the Algeria state-owned oil company, collaborates with foreign companies in joint ventures to exploit these gas reserves. Sonatrach and the China National Oil & Gas Exploration & Development Corporation (CNODC) have constructed a refinery near the village of Sbaa, 40 km north of Adrar. This refinery began operating in 2006. Separate projects led by Gaz de France (GDF Suez) and Total are both scheduled to start supplying gas in 2013. A pipeline

2491-469: The standard 400-meter ( 1 ⁄ 4  mi) machine, which covers about 50 hectares (125 acres) of land. Originally, most center pivots were water-powered. These were replaced by hydraulic systems and electric motor-driven systems, usually driven by a motor mounted at each tower. The outside set of wheels sets the pace for the rotation. The inner sets of wheels are mounted at hubs between two segments and use angle sensors (microswitches) to detect when

2544-459: The sultan of Tlemcen, Abū l-‘Abbās Aḥmad al-‘Akil ( 1430 - 1466 ), the sultan sent a small expedition to end the conflict. Around 1490, encouraged by Muhammad al-Maghili , a Maliki scholar from Tlemcen , the Moslem population of Tamentit destroyed the Jewish synagogue and forced the Jews to move elsewhere. Following the expeditions of the tribes of Tafilalt in the Tuat region in 1578,

2597-449: The systems operational efficiency. In 1954, he licensed his patent to Robert Daugherty and his company, Valley Manufacturing. Daugherty's engineers spent the next decade refining Zybach's innovation, making it sturdier, taller, and more reliable, and converting it from a hydraulic power system to electric drive. Daugherty's company went on to grow into Valmont Industries , with Valley Irrigation being its subsidiary. Center pivot irrigation

2650-431: The travel of the irrigation system. Irrigation equipment can also be configured to move in a straight line, where it is termed a lateral move , linear move , wheel move or side-roll irrigation system. In these systems the water is supplied by an irrigation channel running the length of the field. The channel is positioned either at one side or in a line through the center. The motor and pump equipment are mounted on

2703-534: The tribes continued to pay tribute to Hassan Veneziano and the rest of the Algerian Deys until the fall of the Regency of Algiers in 1830. as they revolted many times against the Alawites and their nominal at best control over the Tuat region. In 1800, the Tuat population agreed to pay taxes when Moulay Slimane granted them local autonomy, preferring to entrust the administration of their territory to

SECTION 50

#1732780122597

2756-779: The very end of 1899. The military contingent escorting the mission quickly routed the Saharans and took advantage of the opportunity to occupy the oasis of In Salah . An armed conflict opposed the French 19th Corps Oran and Algiers divisions to the Aït Khabbash , a faction of the Aït Ounbgui khams of the Aït Atta confederation. The conflict ended by the annexation of the Touat-Gourara-Tidikelt complex to Algeria by France in 1901. Under French rule,

2809-618: The years, farmers planted more intensively, irrigated more land, and grew thirstier crops. This is an example of Jevons paradox . In parts of the United States, sixty years of the profitable business of intensive farming using huge center-pivot irrigators has emptied parts of the Ogallala Aquifer (also known as the High Plains Aquifer). One of the world's largest aquifers , it covers an area of approximately 450,000 km (170,000 sq mi) in portions of

#596403