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Tons of sand, occupying vast territories and destroying all vegetation, are the result of the destruction of solid rocks. In most cases, each grain of sand is a tiny piece of quartz, but millions of such pieces form destructive sands, under which rivers, lakes and entire cities perish.
Flood and then desert?
A close examination of the old maps reveals many interesting inconsistencies. For example, according to radiocarbon analysis, the Aral Sea was formed 20-24,000 years ago.
And now let's look at the map of 1578 with a fragment of Central Asia.
It is noticeable that the shape of the Caspian Sea differs from the modern one, and the Aral Sea is completely absent. And this is not a cartographer's mistake, because the Caspian on many ancient maps has an oval shape. Looking at old map it can be seen that the territory near the Caspian Sea is densely populated, but in those places where cities and rivers unfamiliar to us are indicated, now there are the deserts of Kyzyl-Kum and Kara-Kum. The ancient cartographers did not designate the Gobi or Takla Makan deserts either. Not because they did not know about them, but because they did not exist, and in their place there were fertile lands and rivers flowing. What happened? A clue may be another old map, which says: "The Caspian region after the flood."
It is noticeable that there have been significant changes in the geography of the Caspian region. It turns out that the flood caused the deposition of huge layers of sand and silt, which turned the Caspian lands into steppes and deserts. And this event happened about two centuries ago, but why is there no mention of it in history?
Indirect evidence of the flood is the fact that in many territories of Russia (in particular, in Siberia or Perm region) there are no trees older than 200 years. There were theories that they were destroyed by a large-scale fire. But in this case, ashes would remain. But if the plants are covered with sand or soil, they will die, and the trees too. A study of the width of the annual rings showed that the trees experienced particularly unfavorable periods in ≈1698, 1742 and 1815. That is, the old trees died relatively recently.
In old photographs, you can see that there are no mature trees even where the most favorable conditions seem to be created for them.
On the left are photographs from different places in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century, on the right are the same places in the 21st century.
Maybe it's the "outsiders" that are to blame?
An interesting version of the appearance of colossal amounts of sand on the earth's surface was put forward by the researcher V.P. Kondratov. He suggested that a certain race that lives under water coexists with us on the planet. In the course of developing new territories and extracting minerals, they throw sand they do not need onto the surface of the earth through a special pipeline. As proof, pictures taken from space are given.
In photographs taken by a satellite above the surface of the water, you can see areas that are very reminiscent of quarry workings. For example, in the photo below, an almost rectangular area is clearly visible.
And here is an enlarged image of the previous photo. It looks like processing with an excavator (especially noticeable at the edges).
Theories that people came out of aquatic environment have been speaking out for a long time. Eyewitness accounts of encounters with humanoid creatures in or near water have been found in literary sources since ancient times. Therefore, the version of V.P. Kondratov may well have a real basis.
Secrets of the Sahara Desert
The largest desert in the world, the Sahara, has been little explored due to its treacherous nature. The scorching sun and sands for thousands of kilometers create serious obstacles for researchers. Nevertheless, scientific expeditions continue to collect material about Great Desert literally bit by bit. A scientific group from Russia, which included the historian and orientalist N. Sologubovsky, brought interesting materials from their last trip to the Sahara.
One of the objects of interest of scientists was petroglyphs - huge drawings carved on rocks and cave walls. Some of the drawings are about 14,000 years old. N. Solgubovsky notes that there are many such petroglyphs in the southern part of Libya, in the town of Wadi Mathandush. Here, on the rocks along the dried river bed, there is an amazing ensemble of drawings 60 km long.
In addition to images of ordinary animals and everyday scenes, there are interesting petroglyphs depicting creatures with hypertrophied reproductive organs, wearing masks on their heads (like space suits). locals give a simple explanation for such drawings: these are genies. There are also people in the engravings that are very similar to bears, and in some drawings there are elephants and even penguins (which are not even mentioned in Africa).
Here, in Libya, there are places that the locals do not go to. One of these places, a high plateau, is located near the city of Garama. It is believed that evil genies live there.
Another "bad" place is the Wau an Namus volcano. It is not a mountain, but a huge funnel (12 km in diameter), 200 m deep. At the bottom of the funnel there are three lakes: green, blue and red. When the expedition members decided to spend the night at one of the lakes, the guides were categorically against it, they claimed that a monster lives in the lake. As a result, the guides spent the night upstairs, while the explorers stayed by the lake. The night was really restless for them: inside the volcano there was a rumble, strange and frightening sounds and groans. And once, large circles suddenly began to scatter across the water surface. Maybe some kind of monster really lives in the lake?
Perhaps, under a thick layer of desert sands, there are entire cities of ancient civilizations. The result of one of the remote sensing of the Earth by a spacecraft showed that in the sands of the Sahara at a depth of 100-150m a structure resembling a city is determined. However, this information was only glimpsed in media sources, more accurate data could not be found. Probably the "object" was classified. In this regard, N. Sologubovsky put forward an interesting hypothesis that the disappeared Atlantis could well have been absorbed not by the ocean, but by tons of sand.
Unusual properties of sands
It turns out that the sands can sing. For example, the loudest "singing" dune is located in Kazakhstan, on the territory national park"Altyn - Emel". When the sand is dry and moving, the dune makes buzzing and vibrating sounds, but wet sand is always silent.
Scientists suggest that "singing" appears as a result of the movement of air between grains of sand. The grains of sand are electrified, radiate a charge of current and thus "make a voice". Local residents claim that if you bring the singing sand home in a box, it will sing there too.
The Singing Dune is also unusual because it differs in pale yellow color from the surrounding brown and purple ridges. The musical dune consists of fine quartz sand - and this is another mystery, because the version that the wind brought this pile of sand to the desert is very unlikely. The dimensions of the dune are about 3 km long and 140 m high, it is hard to imagine that the wind (by the way, almost always blowing from the river) could bring such a whopper.
"Sand" technologies
Back in the period of the USSR, our scientists made interesting discovery- Metals converted into a colloidal form dissolve in water. The list of such metals also includes gold, silver, platinum, titanium, palladium and others. Moreover, the most promising source of their production is sand. After all, every grain of sand was once part of a rock.
Therefore, sand can be a real storehouse of metals and minerals. It is known that Novosibirsk scientists have developed a technology for grinding sand into sand into powder, from which the required concentrates are then extracted. This development is economically very profitable, but, unfortunately, on this moment this project (like many other alternative programs) has no financial support.
In conclusion, we can say that, like ice, sands are fraught with many mysteries, and it is difficult to predict what surprises they will once again amaze researchers with.
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The Aral Sea was literally an oasis in the desert. It was a huge natural lake along the border between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the east of the larger (and much more famous) Caspian Sea. For thousands of years, the Aral Sea has been inhabited by freshwater fish, and next to the sea - fishermen who made a living by fishing. Constant flows from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rivers kept the world's fourth largest lake supplied with constant water flows. At the peak of its activities in the fishing industry Aral Sea 40,000 people were employed. The fishermen here occupied one sixth of the entire supply of fish to the Soviet Union. Then everything changed. The area itself was a dry, arid part of the world. The Aral Sea maintained a delicate balance between more evaporation due to hot summers and replenishment from rivers. The lake maintained an almost constant water level. But Soviet Union began to use both rivers for irrigation. The country wanted to expand its agricultural activities and its homegrown economy. The Soviet regime didn't want fish, it wanted wheat. In the 1960s, farmers needed water for dry land, and the solution was to use the rivers - the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya. By the 1980s, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya had become scorched deserts during hot summer months. Worse, the poor irrigation practices of the Soviets did not work - 25 to 75 percent of the water diverted to farmers' fields was evaporating into the atmosphere. The water supply going to the Aral Sea has been drastically reduced. The remaining water became more and more salty. The fish died and all fishing communities were destroyed. Within 30 years, the Aral Sea split into two different reservoirs to the north and south. The fourth largest lake in the world has shrunk by half. In the early 2000s, Kazakhstan decided to do something about this problem. In 2005, the country filled in the massive Kok-Aral dam and dam to keep water from flowing into southern part Aral Sea. A constant flow of water began in the North Aral Sea. Despite the changes made to the north, most of the once teeming lake's eastern basins had largely disappeared by 2014. The Aral Sea has ceased to exist. The destruction was the fault of all mankind. As of 2018, the Aral Sea is 1/10 of its original size. Thankfully, recovery efforts are ongoing. Fish communities along the North Aral Sea are making a comeback. Fishermen catch more than 45 kg of pike, perch and bream in just a few hours of work. Although this is only a small part of the once mighty lake, even such progress is better than nothing. The lesson here is that humans can quickly wreak havoc on the natural landscape. For example, Owen Lake, north of Los Angeles near the California and Nevada border, dried up completely in 1926 after the city of Los Angeles began using it for the city's drinking water. Lake Chad, in Central Africa, occupied more than 16,000 square kilometers. Irrigation canals divert the Chari River, which feeds Lake Chad, to farmland. From 1963 to 2001, over 95 percent of Lake Chad disappeared. Luckily for Kazakhstan and the people around Lake Chad, efforts are underway to restore these large bodies of water. The plan in Africa is to pump water from the famous Congo River north to the Chari River to restore the lake. Influence environment on the Congo River remains to be seen.
Death of the Aral Sea
Coastline of the Aral Sea
Trying to restore balance
The Takla-Makan Desert is an endless sea of sand under the hot sun of Central Asia. It was here that an incredible number of travelers and traders died, entire caravans disappeared without a trace, and the name of this second largest desert in the world is translated from ancient Uyghur as “You will enter - you will not exit.”
According to another version, Takla-Makan means "abandoned place", which also correctly reflects the state of affairs. For hundreds of kilometers there are no residential places, only the ruins of medieval cities, long abandoned by the inhabitants.
In the 20th century, when China entered the era of industrialization and rapid economic development, the country's leadership turned its gaze to the west. In the Takla Makan desert, according to scientists, significant oil reserves could be stored. Therefore, the Chinese government in the 1980s began to actively study this lifeless region. In the most difficult conditions, explorers moved kilometer after kilometer deep into the desert, drilling and taking rock samples for further study. Oil was believed to have been discovered at Takla Makan, bringing vibrant life, manufacturing and infrastructure to the vast sands. 
But as it turned out black gold- this is not the main wealth of the desert. Specialists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have discovered that this barren area has an abnormally high absorption of carbon dioxide. Similar processes are usually observed over forests or water bodies, but this is not typical for the desert. Interested in this phenomenon, scientists set off in search of its cause. Surprise knew no bounds when colossal reserves of water were discovered under the layers of sand. According to rough estimates, the volume of water under the desert exceeds the reserves of the Great Lakes in America at times. True, the sudden joy of the find was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that water has a high degree mineralization and not suitable for drinking. But it can be used for the needs of industry or Agriculture. There is no doubt that in a country like China, it will definitely find application.
According to experts, the water under the desert has accumulated as a result of its geological structure. Located in a vast depression surrounded by large mountain systems, Takla-Makan is a natural place for the flow of melted spring waters. But, as it turned out, not all water evaporates under the scorching rays of the sun and dissolves without a trace in this sandy sea. Some part, penetrating through the sands, accumulates above impervious rocks and forms a colossal accumulation of water, which experts have already dubbed the "underground ocean". 
In the photo: Sandstorm in the Takla Makan desert
This amazing discovery prompted scientists to reconsider their previous views on the structure of the desert regions of the planet. In the American Mojave Desert, where the famous Death Valley is located, there is also excess carbon sequestration. Therefore, the researchers hope that there may also be previously unknown water supplies.
Archaeologists recently made a sensational discovery. They found a myriad of human remains, weapons and jewelry. It turned out that scientists have finally found the place of death of a huge Persian army that died in the sands 2,500 years ago.
In 525 BC. The Persians conquered Egypt. The Persian king Cambyses began to think about further campaigns to the south. In particular, he was worried about the Siwa oasis, located in the Libyan desert. He gathered a large army - 50 thousand people and sent it to Siwa. The warriors left the Nile valley and came to the Kharga oasis (confirmed by archaeologists: one of the Kharga oases is indeed Persian). And then the army disappeared without a trace.
A huge army disappeared without a trace, dissolving into the desert like sugar in tea.
The German traveler of the century before last, G. Rolfs, was the first to come into contact with the mystery of the disappearance of the army. Here is what he wrote: “I found myself in an area where there were indisputable traces of a long stay of people, because a large fenced area, a fence skillfully made of brushwood could not mean anything else. The path led me to a place where shards of clay vessels appeared in front of me in a huge number. Perhaps some army stopped here for a halt, since it is difficult to imagine that in such a place, in the complete absence of wells and springs, there could be a permanent settlement.
But there was no evidence. Later, in one of the Egyptian archives, a document was found containing the words of an old sheikh from Siwa. The sheikh knew some 15th-century manuscript that contained a reference to ancient legends. It was said that in ancient times the king of Egypt sent a huge army to Siwa, which, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe small oasis of Bahrain, fell into a sandstorm and all died. The dunes located in the oasis area are really difficult to pass. More than one modern expedition got stuck in them. And the ancient warriors were less mobile.
The German surveyor Joachim Esch in 1933, having organized an expedition, tried to find traces of the disappeared army. He followed in the footsteps of Rolfs. On the way, Ash realized that the shards discovered by Rolfs must lie between the Dakhla oasis and the Allu-Mungar well. The troops had to pass only there, because. they needed wells located in this place to replenish water supplies.
The expedition carefully examined the soil in the oasis area, but found only some kind of copper fragment. Climbed during the search violent storm. Members of the expedition could hardly reach the oasis. They were next to the remains of the army. Very close. If not for the storm, the dead army would have been found forty years earlier.
Terrible event - sandstorm. It begins quite imperceptibly. And then, the earth begins to "smoke". Myriad grains of sand rise into the air. Carried away by the wind, in a few minutes they are able to turn a blooming oasis into one of the lifeless parts of the desert. For people caught in a storm, the sand clogs all the pores, painfully cuts open areas of the skin and makes it difficult to breathe. Pain is caused not only by the impact of grains of sand on the skin, but also by their burning temperature. The great and mighty army of King Cambyses, with its power, inspired fear in neighboring states. But she was powerless before the sandstorm. She was swallowed up and destroyed by a myriad of small but formidable grains of sand.
Remains of the army found Italian archaeologists brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni. The desert reluctantly, as if doing a favor, revealed one of its many secrets.
"It all started in 1996 during an expedition to study the presence of iron meteorites near Bahrin, a small oasis near Siwa," said Alfredo Castiglioni. During research work in these places, scientists noticed a pot half covered with sand and human remains. Nearby stood a rock 35 meters long and 1.8 meters high. It was the only rock in the large area. "Its size and shape made it the perfect sandstorm shelter," Castiglioni said.
In the sands of the West Egyptian desert, archaeologists have discovered countless bones, jewelry and weapons. All that remains of the once formidable and mighty army.
According to Italian scientists, the Persian army from the city of Kharga moved along the western road to the Gilf-Kebir plateau, passed through the dry riverbed of the Wadi Abd el-Melik, and then headed north to Siwa. “The advantage of this path was that the army bypassed the enemy from behind. In addition, no one interfered with the movement of the Persian army itself in the direction they needed. And the oases located along the other road were controlled by the Egyptians, so the Persian army would have to take every city with a fight, ”said Castiglioni.
