Fellowship of the Spring: An initiative to document and protect the world's oases.
Aquifers
Arid-lands
Drylands
Endemism
Groundwater management
Oases
Journal
The Science of the total environment
ISSN: 1879-1026
Titre abrégé: Sci Total Environ
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 0330500
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
20 Aug 2023
20 Aug 2023
Historique:
received:
06
12
2022
revised:
30
04
2023
accepted:
30
04
2023
medline:
14
6
2023
pubmed:
7
5
2023
entrez:
6
5
2023
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
An 'oasis' signifies a refugium of safety, recovery, relaxation, fertility, and productivity in an inhospitable desert, a sweet spot in a barren landscape where life-giving water spills forth from the Earth. Remarkable mythological congruencies exist across dryland cultures worldwide where oases or 'arid-land springs' occur. In many places they also provide specialised habitats for an extraordinary array of endemic organisms. To inform their management, and maintain their integrity, it is essential to understand the hydrogeology of aquifers and springs. Gravity-fed vs artesian aquifers; actively recharged vs fossil aquifers, and sources of geothermal activity are important concepts presented here. There consequences for oases of sustainable and unsustainable groundwater extraction, and other examples of effective conservation management. Oases are archetypes for human consciousness, habitats that deserve protection and conservation, and a lingua franca for multicultural values and scientific exchange. We represent an international Fellowship of the Spring seeking to encompass and facilitate the stewardship of oases and aquifers through improved knowledge, outreach, and governance.
Identifiants
pubmed: 37149179
pii: S0048-9697(23)02557-3
doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163936
pii:
doi:
Types de publication
Journal Article
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
163936Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts
Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interest for the manuscript ‘Fellowship of the Spring: an initiative to document and protect the world's oases.